Rennes winger Kamaldeen Sulemana has reportedly chosen to join Southampton over Everton.
Both Premier League clubs had £22m bids accepted by their Ligue 1 counterparts, leaving it down to the player to decide on his future.
Sulemana has opted to join the Saints and is now set to move to St Mary’s ahead of yesterday’s deadline, according to L’Equipe.
This news was a setback for Everton, who were running out of time to bring in reinforcements for new manager Sean Dyche.
Dyche was officially confirmed as Frank Lampard’s replacement on Monday, and is keen to rectify the relegation-threatened club’s struggles in front of goal by adding a forward to his squad.
The Toffees look set to miss out to one of their relegation rivals for Sulemana, but they are in talks with 33-year-old forward Andre Ayew after he cancelled his contract with Qatari club Al Sadd.
Ayew, formerly of West Ham and Swansea, offers a cheap and reliable goal-scoring alternative for Everton with a lack of recognised strikers available to the club. The Ghanaian attacker scored 21 goals in 89 appearances in the English top-flight. —MailOnline
