Everton have been in hot pursuit of Wilfried Gnonto this summer and now a fresh update has emerged on the club's progress of completing a deal for the player.
Is Wilfried Gnonto joining Everton?
According to Italian news outlet Sports Italia (via Sport Witness), Everton are now close to completing a deal to sign the Leeds United winger.
As per the report, Gnonto's agent, Claudio Vigorelli, is working on a move to Goodison Park for his player and it is expected there will be progress in the coming days.
The publication notes that whilst the most recent reports from Italy haven't confirmed the transfer fee involved, previous reports from the Italian media have suggested that Everton had made an initial bid of €18m (£16m), plus €6m (£5m) in bonuses.
How good is Wilfried Gnonto?
If the reports from Italy are to be believed, Sean Dyche is now wasting no time in assembling an improved attacking threat for next season as Villarreal winger Arnaut Danjuma is also heading to Goodison Park.
Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Danjuma is set to complete a season-long loan move to the blue side of Merseyside, and if Gnonto follows the Netherlands international it would provide the Everton boss with great options to rely on in the final third.
Despite only joining Leeds last summer and falling out of favour in the second half of the season, Gnonto – hailed as a "special player" by his former coach Michael Skubala – has been attracting a lot of attention for his performance in west Yorkshire over his short time in English football and would be a much better option than fellow Everton target Anthony Elanga.
When comparing the two young players in their outputs over last season, Gnonto has comfortably outperformed the Manchester United talent in a number of attacking attributes including assists per 90 (0.27 v 0.16), progressive carries per 90 (4.39 v 3.20) and tackles per 90 (1.79 v 0.96).
Not only that, Elanga failed to score a single Premier League goal and registered just one assist over his 16 appearances last season, whilst Gnonto scored two goals and delivered four assists over his 24 league appearances.
In fact, in all competitions, Alexi Iwobi (10) and Dwight McNeil (10) were the only two Everton players in the entire squad who delivered more goal contributions than the Italy international last season (8), proving that he could significantly improve the goal-scoring opportunities in the team next season.
Football talent scout Jacek Kulig has heaped praise on Gnonto in the past, claiming that the player has "electric pace, stature, low centre of gravity, mobility, bravery and a powerful finish" – all attributes that could see him excel in the attacking threat at Goodison Park.
With that being said, the signing of Gnonto would be a great piece of business for Everton in their pursuit of strengthening the quality in the final third and if he could continue his development with Dyche's guidance he would no doubt become a valuable asset to the club for years to come.