Romano: Everton leading race to sign £40m star with same agent as Barry

da heads bet： This weekend, Everton will have their first-ever Premier League game at their new Hill Dickinson Stadium as David Moyes’ side will face Fabian Hurzeler’s Brighton.

da poker： Ahead of the fixture, Hurzeler has spoken about what he expects from Moyes’ side: “Moyes’ teams are always very organised and difficult to create chances [against]. You have to be awake all of the time. [Jack] Grealish is a great signing and I’m sure he will help Everton, he is an unbelievable talent.”

“The atmosphere [at Goodison Park] was a special atmosphere so I expect the same this weekend. We are looking forward to seeing the new stadium but we are not there to be the nice club.”

The Toffees have their new ground and a few new players sorted, but whilst there’s time left in the transfer window, they are looking to conclude one of their longest transfer sagas of the summer.

Everton still leading the way for Dibling signing

Everton are still in talks to sign Tyler Dibling from Southampton, and despite interest from other clubs, they are the only ones currently in negotiations. Everton previously placed a bid worth £27 million that Southampton rejected, with their asking price being cited at £40 million.

And the latest update comes via Fabrizio Romano’s YouTube channel. It had been previously theorised that Everton’s loan signing of Jack Grealish was for the club’s alternative to Dibling, but Romano has revealed that negotiations are still ongoing.

Dibling has been a difficult deal for Everton to get done. At first, Southampton were claiming to have a £100 million price tag on Dibling, which they now seem to have dropped to a more reasonable figure. However, Everton are now facing competition for the transfer. Romano went on to add that Tottenham are holding internal talks regarding Dibling as they see Morgan Rogers as a difficult transfer to complete, and they’ve had their pursuit of Eberechi Eze hijacked by Arsenal.

Where the deal may become easier is on the personal side of things, as Everton already has a working relationship with Dibling’s agency ROOF. Everton and ROOF have already worked together this summer for the signing of Thierno Barry from Villarreal.

Dibling and Grealish play to Everton's strengths

Before signing Jack Grealish, Everton already had wingers Dwight McNeil and Iliman Ndiaye in the squad. The main problem for Moyes is that all three of these players prefer to play on the left-hand side. With Dibling, the boss would have the option of playing either a traditional right-winger or an inverted right-winger, and rotating them mid-game may catch teams by surprise, allowing Everton to create chances.

If they successfully bring in Dibling, they will also have brought in two forwards who rank among the top 14% for fouls won per 90 (with Grealish being in the top 2.5%).

This will give Moyes’s side plenty of set-piece opportunities. Last season, Everton ranked as the joint most dangerous team on set pieces, alongside Arsenal, with 8 set-piece goals. If they can fend off Tottenham and complete this deal, then the signings of Dibling and Grealish will offer new ways for Everton to attack the opposition, as well as providing them with more opportunities to play to their strengths with set pieces.