Everton are set to sign former Wolves defender Ruben Vinagre on loan.
According to Portuguese outlet Record, the Toffees and Sporting CP are now ‘very close’ to reaching an agreement over the 23-year-old.
Vinagre spent last season on loan at Sporting, having caught their eye after a productive stint with Farmalicao the season before.
Vinagre had impressed their, having started the 2020/21 season with Olympiacos.
He struggled for game time with the Greek giants, so Wolves decided to facilitate a fresh move for him.
Last term, Vinagre again struggled for minutes.
He started well, but a nightmare showing against Ajax in the Champions League then made it difficult for him to feature regularly under Ruben Amorim.
A Bola reported how the player had confidence issues following that outing, and that Amorim was working hard to restore it.
But he had competition in the form of Matheus and Nuno Santos.
Sporting had actually made the decision to sign Vinagre permanently quiet soon into his loan move.
His transfer, which was officially completed earlier this summer, set Sporting back £8.5 million, with Wolves agreeing a 50% sell-on clause (via Birmingham Mail).
It looks as though Vinagre will now be heading back to the Premier League.
Ruben Vinagre will be out to point after tough season in 2021/22
It will be interesting to see how Vinagre gets on at Goodison Park if he does complete a move to Everton.
Clearly he has not made the start he would have liked at Sporting CP, with Amorim seemingly happy for him to go out on loan.
Vinagre has previous Premier League experience and will be looking to prove a point.
He’ll have Ukraine international Vitaliy Mykolenko for competition and be looking to be the number one choice under Frank Lampard.
Hopefully he is able to shine and Wolves are eventually able to benefit from that sell-on clause.