Club have now made £35m forward Everton want to sign their ‘top target’ this summer

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Serie A side Atalanta are pushing to complete the signing of Everton target El Bilal Toure.

That’s according to Fabrizio Romano who says it’s a race between the two clubs for the 21-year-old Almeria striker.

Romano said: “Atalanta are pushing to sign El Bilal Touré from Almeria, revealed as top target one month ago.”

“Negotiations are ongoing but Everton interest remains.”

“Atalanta want Touré as priority but new striker has to join ASAP in any case because Man Utd will bid for Højlund soon.”

Everton have reportedly had a bid rejected already for Toure as the Spanish side considered it too low.

West Ham have also been credited with interest in the £35m La Liga forward but need to offload a striker first.

And the race for the forward seems to have taken a key swing in the direction of Atalanta via this update.

Sean Dyche’s Everton will be very keen to sign a striker this summer given their reliance on the injury-prone Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

The striker, who is excellent on his day, missed the majority of last season due to injury and the likes of Neal Maupay weren’t up to the test.

Ellis Simms, who had some good cameos, has departed the club on a permanent deal to Coventry City.

The Championship side welcomed the 22-year-old on a four-year-deal to replace Viktor Gyökeres.

Like Dyche, Everton fans will be increasingly stressed about the striker position and may hope their side increases efforts to sign Toure.

Atalanta could beat Everton to Toure deal

El Bilal Toure joined Almeria from Reims last summer and has since scored seven goals in 21 La Liga matches.

The 21-year-old has a good amount of experience and also played 64 times for Reims in Ligue 1.

The Mali international is likely to leave Almeria this summer, who are just waiting for a club to meet their valuation.

Everton already look beaten to the signing of Anthony Elanga by Nottingham Forest and will not want to miss out on another target.

The club reportedly also hold interest in Watford’s 25-year-old Ismaila Sarr.

The winger is often linked with moves away from the London side in almost every transfer window.

But with Watford again failing to gain promotion to the Premier League you wonder if it may now be Sarr’s time to leave Vicarage Road.

If you assess it by their targets, it seems Dyche’s men are targeting reinforcements up front and on the wings this summer.

However, a quality striker to back up Calvert-Lewin surely must be the priority and Toure could fit the task.