Everton have signed striker Beto from Udinese for an undisclosed fee, the 25-year-old agreeing a four-year contract until the end of June 2027.
The 6ft 4in Portuguese - whose full name is Norberto Bercique Gomes Betuncal - becomes the Blues’ fifth signing of the summer transfer window following the arrivals of Ashley Young, and forwards Arnaut Danjuma, Youssef Chermiti and Jack Harrison.
A powerful, hard-working forward boasting a quick burst of pace, aerial ability and with excellent hold-up play, Beto has reached double figures for goals in each of his past four seasons.
He was Udinese’s top scorer in 2022/23, having netted 11 times in his debut campaign for the Serie A side in 2021/22.
After completing his move, Everton’s new number 14 spoke of his pride to join the Club he has supported since his childhood hero Samuel Eto’o played for the Blues in 2014.
Beto told evertontv: “It feels good to join Everton. I have always appreciated them as a club.
“Everton is a big, big club in the Premier League, well respected and has big history. It was easy to make this move.
“When a club like Everton tries to buy you in January and then comes again in the summer, you feel like, 'Okay, they want me for real', so that made the decision easy for me as well. My idol, Samuel Eto’o, played here, too, which makes it even more special.
“I can bring courage, I can bring confidence and I think my biggest thing is effort. I will always bring enthusiasm to the team and to our games. I feel like my style is a really good fit with Everton.
“I am looking forward to getting started - today, right now. I know the team needs to score more goals and I will try to help with this. I love to score goals. I know we need this and I am here to help. I will always give my best to score goals.
“It feels really good to be here and I want to make my mark. Let's do it.”
Welcoming his fifth summer signing to the Club, Everton manager Sean Dyche said: “We have been eager to strengthen our striking options to add more attacking quality to our squad and the arrival of Beto gives us that.
“He has impressed in a top league like Serie A for the past two seasons and scored goals. As a powerful striker who can carry the ball, hold up play, is strong in the air and works hard for the team, he has a lot of attributes that we hope can see him prove to be a success with Everton.”
Born in Lisbon, Beto spent time in Benfica's famed academy before becoming a regular scorer with Portuguese sides URD Tires, Clube Olimpico do Montijo and Portimonense.
That caught the attention of Udinese, leading to a switch to the Serie A outfit on the final day of the 2021 summer transfer window, initially on a season-long loan.
Beto scored four goals in his first 10 league appearances in Italy, going on to grab a hat-trick in a 5-1 win over Cagliari in April 2022.
In 2022/23, the Portuguese averaged 0.42 goals per 90 minutes in Serie A, while his aerial duel success of 51.2 per cent put him in the top 20 per cent of forwards across Europe’s top five leagues.
On his excitement to play for Evertonians and at Goodison Park, Beto said: “The fans’ support for me means a lot because I didn’t even make a session with the team and everybody text me saying, ‘Beto, come to Everton. Everton is a great club. Come, come join us. Come to score’. For me that feels really good and I just want to contribute with goals and appearances.”
Having spoken to former Everton forward Gerard Deulofeu - who was Beto’s teammate at Udinese - he added: “I talked to him the day before I travelled. He told me Everton is a big club, has crazy fans, they love you and it is a really good club to play for.
“Words can’t express the feeling I have right now to play in Goodison Park because it was a stadium I admired when I was in high school.
“I always wanted to play there because of the city, the derby and everything. I think the fans at Everton are a little bit more of a step up than the other fans so I am excited to play in front of them.”
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