€35m market value 

©IMAGO

Last week Dominic Solanke sealed his €64.3m move from Bournemouth to Tottenham. It was a club-record signing for Spurs and a club-record sale for the South-coast club. The Englishmen scored 19 Premier League goals last season. The Cherries have taken no time finding a replacement. Bournemouth have reportedly agreed a club record €47m deal to sign Brazilian striker Evanilson from Porto. They will pay €37m with the potential for another €10m in add-ons, should certain clauses be met. Evanlison boasts a current market value of €35, making him Porto’s second most valuable player and the seventh most valuable player in the entire Liga Portugal. The Cherries had also been looking at Arsenal forward Eddie Nketiah. 

However, Bournemouth announced this Friday that the deal for Evanilson has been completed, with the 24-year-old having flown in for his Bournemouth medical today. Evanilson was called into the Brazil squad for this summer’s Copa América and has won his first two caps this calendar year. He joined Porto in 2020 for €8m and scored 25 goals in all competitions last season and particularly stood out in Europe. Porto were eventually eliminated by Arsenal in the round of 16 on penalties, but Evanilson scored four goals and provided one assist in seven Champions League games. 

The deal is not only a Cherries club-record, but if the reported fee is correct, it would make Evanilson the sixth most expensive transfer to a Premier League club this summer if all the add-ons were met. Bournemouth’s previous record signing was Jefferson Lerma, who cost £30.5m when he left Spanish side Levante in 2018. Andoni Iraola’s side start their Premier League campaign away at Nottingham Forest this Saturday. Turkish striker Enes Ünal is currently out injured, with Antoine Semenyo largely expected to deputise up front – making the confirmed signing of Evanilson crucial to Bournemouth.

Gonçalo Tristão Santos is a content manager for Transfermarkt in Portugal, and gives us a full rundown of what to expect from Bournemouth’s potential new striker: “In my point of view, Evanilson is a very complete forward. I say this because not only does he know how to position himself in the box and score many goals, but he also knows how to play away from the goal and with his teammates. He is fast, agile, and very mobile.”

“It’s no coincidence he recently made his debut for Brazil. There were some doubt about his qualities when, in the 2022/23 season, he scored only 10 goals, but the truth is that it was a season in which he had some physical problems that continued to affect him at the start of last season. However, he managed to overcome them and was very important for Porto in 2023/24. He even scored a hat-trick on the Champions League group stage against Antwerp. Given his qualities, I believed that Evanilson would join a team of a higher calibre, or that at least plays in European competitions. But Bournemouth has a lot of money after selling Solanke, and I think they made the right choice in Evanilson, who is now heading to a top league. His style of play has everything to suit the Premier League.”