Bournemouth have beaten Nottingham Forest to the £40 million signing of FC Porto forward Evanilson in a deal which leaves Eddie Nketiah stuck in limbo at Arsenal.
Having already snapped up the extremely highly-rated Dean Huijsen from Juventus, Andoni Iraola’s side are on the verge of securing another eye-catching signing.
Evanilson, like former AS Roma loanee, had caught the eye of some of England’s biggest sides.
HITC can confirm that Evanilson’s agent had contact with Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Newcastle, West Ham and Arsenal during the summer transfer window.
The 24-year-old was part of the Porto team which defeated Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal in the Champions League knockout stages last season, albeit before The Gunners turned the tie around in the second leg before progressing on penalties.
understands, however, that Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth are the only two clubs who really formalised their interest.
The Cherries now appear to have won the race, too. Evanilson is flying into England for a medical after Bournemouth agreed a club-record fee of £40 million.
Bournemouth win race for Porto striker Evanilson
The two-time Brazil international will cost considerably more than their previous record signing; Jefferson Lerma. But Bournemouth have serious money to spend after selling last season’s 21-goal top scorer Dominic Solanke to Tottenham Hotspur for £65 million.
have been told that Evanilson was one of two strikers Bournemouth had narrowed their search down to. The other was Eddie Nketiah.
Despite agreeing personal terms, a proposed move to Marseille collapsed after the French giants opted against meeting his staggering £50 million asking price.
Marseille have since brought in Elye Wahi from Ligue 1 rivals RC Lens.
And while Arteta would be happy to keep Nketiah in his squad – the academy graduate has proven himself to be a useful back up over the years – there will be concerns over how this affects their pursuit of Real Sociedad midfielder Mikel Merino.
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