‘Big hopes for him’ - Everton’s £15m star targeted for future loan move if takeover happens

Everton’s Youssef Chermiti has been heralded as one of the ‘best’ young talents in Portugal but he may be heading on loan to earn regular football, according to the latest reports.

Chermiti, 19, arrived this summer in a £15m deal from Sporting, putting pen to paper on a four-year-deal.

However, he’s fallen behind both Dominic Calvert-Lewin and fellow summer signing Beto in the pecking order and has played just 27 minutes of Premier League football so far in what has been a patient start.

He did start in the EFL Cup victory over Doncaster, but he was hooked at half-time after struggling to get into the game and was replaced by Beto who went on to score the equaliser that helped them overturn that defeat.

It’s been reported that he is being viewed as a long-term star for the club and that he was left out of international duty with the Portugal U20 side because he was on a special strength and conditioning programme at Finch Farm to fast-track him physically for the Premier League. At six foot four, he already boasts the height, but he needs to build a more stronger all-round physique to deal with English football.

According to the Independent, if the 777 Partners takeover progresses, theoretically releasing funds for squad building, Chermiti could be allowed to leave on loan to collect first-team minutes. With Calvert-Lewin, Beto and Arnaut Danjuma in reserve, it would certainly be a move that could be viable.

Especially given that Chermiti has less than 1000 minutes of senior football league action across his young career to date and his 22 games at Sporting illustrates that he needs a loan in England, preferably the Championship where he can really thrive.

The highly-rated Portguese football analyst Sebastiao Macias, who is a former coaching colleague of Carlos Queiroz, has spoken out on how strongly Chermiti is rated in his own country.

“Chermiti is one of the best Portuguese forwards of his generation, no question. He’s one of the best in the U20 group and there are big hopes for him.

“But he is still young and developing. He has a good profile of the Premier League, he is at one of the big English clubs so there is pressure but he has the talent.”

With the takeover edging ever closer, January could be the right time for Chermiti to earn a short-term loan deal. He will not likely feature too much until then and it is clear a loan move would be extremely beneficial for all involved.