Everton can gain huge advantage by beating Aston Villa to £20m star

What is this? Could my eyes be deceiving me? Everton are about to make a signing, and it’s exciting and good and could potentially benefit them for years to come? I quite simply refuse to believe it.

In recent times, the Toffees’ recruitment has been, for want of a coarser word, lacklustre. A combination of ill-advised stop-gaps and unexpected damp squibs have slowly dragged the club into a perpetual battle for survival, and this summer, Sean Dyche has been left with the unenviable task of rejuvenating a squad without the obvious means to do so.

Thus far, that has led to nothing more than a couple of frugal, savvy acquisitions. Veteran wide man Ashley Young has arrived at Goodison Park on a free transfer, while Arnaut Danjuma - the Villarreal winger who slipped their clutches back in January - has signed on a season-long loan.

But if recent reports are to be believed, the pair could soon be joined by precocious Leeds United forward Wilfried Gnonto. According to Football Insider, an agreement for the Italian international is edging ever closer to completion, with a transfer fee of around £20 million being touted. The 19-year-old is also garnering attention from the likes of Aston Villa and Serie A champions Napoli, but it is understood that Everton remain firmly in pole position to lure him away from Elland Road.

And at the risk of cursing it all, this feels like a serious coup. Gnonto’s impact for Leeds last season, although ultimately inconsequential, was still (g)notable, and it is a measure of his palpable potential that were he to snub the Toffees and instead put pen to paper for either Villa or Napoli - both with their respective continental aspirations to consider next season - nobody would question the wisdom of their business for a second.

The diminutive attacker has an explosivity to his game that Everton have lacked far too often in their past two brushes with an unthinkable relegation, and Dyche will know the value of bringing in a player who can disarm an opposition defence in a flash of unpredictability. In 28 games for Leeds, Gnonto has registered four goals and four assists, but in reality, those relatively conservative figures only tell half the story.

For instance, the numbers fail to capture the manner in which he can drive at a hapless defender, pinning him back like a round of suppressing fire from a keen-eyed turret gunner; they omit entirely the way in which he arrives at the back post, flinging himself at teasing crosses like a rubber bouncy ball ricocheting off the brickwork of a narrow alleyway; they don’t for one second allude to the frightening propensity he has for drifting and writhing his way out of impossibly tight predicaments like a plume of smoke squeezing itself from the nooks and crannies of a closed phonebox.

Gnonto, at his most thrilling, has already proven himself to be a special talent - and the expectation is that he will only get better and better from here on out. He has charmed the Elland Road faithful, he has convinced a number of genuinely impressive suitors of his worth, and he has won a steadfast admirer in Italy manager Roberto Mancini. He is versatile and creative, and if he makes good on even a fraction of his obvious promise, then the £20 million or so that Everton are said to be coughing up will look like an absolute bargain in transfer windows to come.

If anything - and especially given the Toffees’ recent record in the transfer market - it all feels a little too encouraging to be true. This is a deal that has one eye firmly fixed on the future while also improving Dyche’s squad in the here and now.

Nothing is concrete until we get a snap of the little Italian holding a royal blue scarf at Finch Farm, but the noises are heartening, and if Everton can get this one over the line, they will be bagging themselves an absolute cracker.