Everton given boost in pursuit of former Barcelona striker

Everton have been given renewed hope in their pursuit of signing Malaga striker Sandro Ramirez after Atletico Madrid failed with their attempts to overturn a FIFA-imposed transfer ban, reports The Independent.

Diego Simeone’s side were hopeful they would succeed in their appeal and be able to strengthen their squad with plenty of new additions over the coming months but on Thursday morning found out they would not be able to sign players this summer.

Atletico are still able to buy players this summer but would not be able to register them to play until January 2018, which would mean convincing targets to potentially give up six months of their careers similarly to what Barcelona did with Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal.

The Spanish giants had earmarked the signing of former Barcelona striker Ramirez as one of several summer additions but Everton are now confident of completing a deal for the 21-year-old, who has a measly €6m (£5.1m) release clause in the deal he penned when he joined Malaga last summer.

Of players currently aged 21 and under in Europe’s top five leagues this season, only Timo Werner (21), Dele Alli (18) and Kylian Mbappe (15) scored more goals than the Malaga striker (14).

For more stats on Sandro Ramirez, click here to visit his WhoScored player page