EVERTON ARE close to easing their transfer frustrations by signing the Brazil striker Vagner Love on a season's loan. The club has proposed a temporary deal for the CSKA Moscow forward with an option for a permanent €19 million move next summer, and Alan Smith and Stephane M'Bia are also expected at Goodison Park before the transfer window closes.
The 24-year-old Love is due to meet Everton officials today and will become the club's first signing of a problematic summer should he accept the personal terms on offer.
Negotiations with the Russian club and Love's advisers have progressed smoothly since they opened on Friday and, despite Love's previous reluctance to leave CSKA for the Premier League, his willingness to travel to Liverpool has encouraged Everton to believe a deal could be concluded before Saturday's season opener against Blackburn.
The Rio-born forward may require a work permit, however, before he is cleared to play.
Though central midfielders are still the overriding priority for Everton's manager, David Moyes, who had no option but to start 17-year-old Jack Rodwell in Saturday's 1-1 draw with PSV Eindhoven, he has been left short in attack following last week's sale of Andy Johnson to Fulham, Victor Anichebe's Olympic commitments and with James Vaughan facing a possible three-match suspension for a pre-season dismissal in the United States.
Love rejected the chance to join Manchester City last season but has since seen his compatriot and former CSKA strike partner Jo leave for Eastlands and may be ready to sever his ties with the Moscow club, whom he joined from Palmeiras in 2004 and where he has scored 44 goals in 90 league appearances.
Everton also hope to conclude a deal of about €7.5 million for the Rennes midfielder M'Bia, who has informed the French club of his wish to move to the Premier League, and the Newcastle striker Smith is close to joining Everton in a €3 million move, although the transfer is being stalled by Kevin Keegan's reluctance to lose the former England forward without a replacement at St James' Park.
Moyes's interest in Joao Moutinho looks to be over, however, after Sporting Lisbon insisted on receiving the bulk of the €23 million fee up front.
Meanwhile, fresh doubt was cast over Manchester City's financial future last night amid claims that the club's owner, the former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, would not return home to face corruption charges and is seeking exile in London.
Shinawatra did not take his scheduled flight to Bangkok yesterday and Pracha Prasobdee, a member of the pro-Thaksin party that won the post-coup election in December, later announced: "He will not return to Thailand again."
The City owner had vowed to clear his name and thereby release about €1 billion of assets frozen by the Thai government last year. Without those assets Shinawatra is worth an estimated €256 million and will struggle to finance his ambitions of turning City into a Champions League club.
City officials last week confirmed the club held talks with several investment groups but not with a view to selling the club.
Arsene Wenger will intensify his search for a new central midfielder after conceding that Abou Diaby will be ruled out for at least a month with a thigh injury. With Alex Song's unavailability due to his participation with Cameroon at the Olympic Games Wenger is stretched in midfield.
He has lost Lassana Diarra, Mathieu Flamini and Gilberto Silva from the squad that started last season as he prepares for the first leg of the Champions League qualifier against Steve McClaren's FC Twente in The Netherlands on Wednesday.
