Everton are interested in Sporting left wing-back Ruben Vinagre, the ECHO understands.
The 23-year-old former Wolves player has been linked to a return to the Premier League and interest from the Blues is understood to be genuine.
Everton's director of football Kevin Thelwell is known to be a fan of Vinagre and oversaw him being handed a new deal while he was sporting director at Molineux. At the time he praised Vinagre's development on the pitch and his maturity off it.
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Vinagre moved to the Midlands from Monaco in 2017 and played nine times in the Wolves side that clinched the Championship. He made 35 Premier League appearances and scored twice in the side's 2019/20 run to the Europa League quarter finals.
He has since had loan spells in Greece with Olympiacos and Portugal, first with Famalicao and then, last season, at Sporting. After 18 appearances for the Lisbon-based side last season he joined the club on a permanent deal earlier this month.
Portuguese media reported that Sporting signed him in a deal worth up to £8.5m but his new club appear willing to allow him to play elsewhere this season and this summer he has been linked with a return to the UK with speculation including a loan move to Nottingham Forest and now Everton.
That interest from the Blues, whose only signing of the summer to date has been the arrival of James Tarkowski, is genuine and Vinagre is well known to Thelwell following their time together at Wolves.
Speaking highly of Vinagre as recently as 2019, when he signed a five year deal with Wolves following a campaign in which he made 17 Premier league appearances, Thelwell said: “As the club has grown in recent times, Ruben has done the same, and performed commendably when called upon in the Premier League last season.
"Off the pitch, he provides a mature head for someone so young and is a popular personality inside the dressing room."
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