Everton Closing in on First Two Summer Signings as Bids for Richarlison & Lucas Digne Are Accepted

Everton are close to completing the signing of Watford attacker Richarlison, who will become their first signing of the summer.

The 21-year-old will join the club for £40m, according to the Liverpool Echo, with £5m of that figure coming in the form of add-ons.

He will not cost the inflated £50m figure that has been widely reported by various media outlets in recent days and weeks.

Talks between Everton and Watford have 'progressed' in the last 48 hours, and Richarlison is now due for a medical at Everton's Finch Farm training ground on Monday morning.

The Brazilian was not involved in Watford's friendly against Fortuna Dusseldorf yesterday, which saw the Hornets run out 3-1 winners to draw a close to their week-long pre-season training camp in Austria.

Jan Kruger/GettyImages

Marco Silva brought Richarlison to the Premier League last summer - when he was in charge of Watford - from Brazilian club Fluminense. He featured in all 38 Premier League games for Watford last season, scoring five goals. The youngster had a fantastic start to the season, but seemed to fade into the background from November onwards.

Everton director Marcel Brands is also said to be a 'long-term admirer' of Richarlison and sanctioned his move to Goodison Park.

According to the Mirror, Everton have also had £22m offer for Lucas Digne accepted by Barcelona.

Left back Digne was on standby list for France at the World Cup in Russia this summer, having made 21 caps for Les Blues. This demonstrates the depth that the world champions have in their talent pool, with Digne having made 46 appearances for Barcelona over the past two seasons - following his move from Paris Saint-Germain in 2016.