Everton have signed Udinese striker Beto on a four-year contract.
The Athletic reported on Sunday that the Premier League side had made positive progress in their bid to sign the 25-year-old, who will cost €25million (£21.5m, $27m) plus €5m in potential add-ons with no payment due until the next financial year.
“It feels good to join Everton,” Beto said on signing for his new side. “I have always appreciated them as a club.
“Everton is a big, big club in the Premier League, well respected and has big history. It was easy to make this move.
“When a club like Everton tries to buy you in January and then comes again in the summer, you feel like, ‘Okay, they want me for real’, so that made the decision easy for me as well. My idol, Samuel Eto’o, played here, too, which makes it even more special.
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Beto, who joined Udinese in the summer of 2022, has scored 22 goals and provided three assists in 65 games for the Italian side.
Standing at 6ft 4in (194cm), Beto adds presence to a frontline that is in need of reinforcements. The Portuguese forward, who Everton targeted in January, is the club’s fifth signing of the summer.
Everton have recorded zero points and are yet to score a goal in their first three Premier League games of the season for the first time in the club’s history.
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What will Beto bring to Everton?
Analysis by Patrick Boyland
Everton have needed someone to ease the burden on Dominic Calvert-Lewin for a while.
At his best, the 26-year-old is an expert foil and a reliable scorer, but his last few seasons have been punctuated by a series of regular injuries.
In Beto, Dyche now has someone who can fill the void when Calvert-Lewin isn’t there.
Physically imposing, standing at 6ft 4in, the Portuguese won over 52 per cent of his aerial duels last year. He is a very direct option who likes to dribble and generates lots of danger in the box.
Beto can be quite untidy on the ball. No player miscontrolled the ball more than his 4.8 per game last season in Serie A, while he attempted just 12 passes per game.
But his strong form at Udinese saw him named in Portugal’s preliminary squad for the last World Cup and he was also linked with Napoli this summer.
After a couple of productive seasons in Italy, he is now ready for the next step in England.
(Photo: Getty Images)
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