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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Paul Wheelock

Everton 'favourites' to sign Ashley Young and Wilfried Gnonto as new left-back target emerges

You have to go back to September 1 for the last time Everton signed a player (sorry Eldin Jakupovic, but we're not counting you).

Since the deals for James Garner and the returning Idrissa Gana Gueye were announced, Blues fans have had to watch on as their Premier League rivals bolstered their squads.

But while finances are clearly tight at Goodison Park, now more than ever Everton are going to have to strengthen their ranks after a season in which they escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth and after a summer in which they lost six first-team players (Asmir Begovic, Tom Davies, Yerry Mina, Andros Townsend, Niels Nkounkou, Ellis Simms) plus some of the top young talents from the club's academy (Ishe Samuels-Smith, Isaac Price).

The sales of Samuels-Smith, Price, Simms and Nkounkou - following that of Anthony Gordon in January and Moise Kean's permanent move to Juventus - should soon enable Sean Dyche to make his first signing since being appointed Blues boss in January.

But as his paper-thin squad prepare for the second week of pre-season, which will see the players fly out to Switzerland, Dyche has yet to welcome a new face through the Finch Farm doors. That, however, has not stopped Everton from being linked to new signings.

And, as Evertonians patiently wait for some proper news, we've rounded up the latest transfer gossip concerning the Blues.

First up - Ashley Young. A source as good as Alan Myers said last night that the former England international - who turns 38 today - "has turned down a number of other offers" from the Premier League and the Championship after leaving Aston Villa and that "Everton are favourites" to sign him after talks.

While there has been no further update today as of yet, it appears that Young could well become Dyche's first signing. Our EFC correspondent Joe Thomas has looked at why it is a deal that could make sense and also revealed that the Blues have discussed the possibility of signing Rogerio, the 25-year-old Brazilian who plays left-back for Serie A side Sassuolo.

Everton survived last season at Leeds United's expense. And to rub salt into the wounds, the Blues have since regularly been linked with picking off players from Leeds' relegated squad.

Now, according to Italian journalist Alfredo Pedulla, Everton lead top-flight rivals Aston Villa as well as beaten Champions League finalists Inter Milan in the race to sign the Whites' 19-year-old Italy international Wilfried Gnonto.

Another winger to have been linked with a move to the blue half of Merseyside is Newcastle United's Allan Saint-Maximin. However, the ECHO's sister site in the North East, the Chronicle, report that "the public discussions over his uncertain future is seemingly having no effect on Saint-Maximin himself ahead of the new campaign. The forward posted a snap of Newcastle International Airport on Saturday with the caption 'back home', ahead of sharing a series of clips as he practised a number of skills."

Newcastle are said to be ready to strengthen their options out wide with a move for Harvey Barnes from relegated Leicester City. Which could spell bad news for Saint-Maximin. And maybe good news for the Blues. We'll see.

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