Everton expected to sign Charlton Athletic starlet Ezri Konsa in January

Everton are ready to make an offer for highly-rated Charlton Athletic youngster Ezri Konsa and are expected to bring the 20-year-old to Merseyside before the end of the January transfer window, according to reports.

The troubled Merseysiders have been monitoring Konsa, a young centre-half, since the summer and are now ready to push on with a deal to bring the £4m-rated starlet to Goodison Park, according to KentLive.

Konsa has made 23 league appearances for Karl Robinson's side as they strive to earn promotion back to the Championship, but their realistic hopes of elevating themselves to the second tier of English football will be significantly dashed if Everton manage to pilfer their prized defender.

Everton already have one of Charlton's famed academy graduates bobbing around the first-team; young winger Ademola Lookman joined the Toffees in January last year, though his chances of game-time have been severely diminished by the return to fitness of Yannick Bolasie and the arrival of Theo Walcott, who completed his £20m move from Arsenal on Wednesday (17 January).

Charlton have already sold one of their most important players this month; Ricky Holmes joined League One rivals Wigan Athletic on Monday in a deal worth around £400,000, a figure many believe to be below his true worth.

The club's owner Roland Duchatelet has been known to take every opportunity he can to strip the former Premier League outfit of its most lucrative assets, and he will presumably have no qualms with ignoring Robinson's requests to keep him - or even just ensure he is loaned back to Charlton until the end of the season - and selling Konsa to Everton, though it remains to be seen if the Toffees match the defender's £4m valuation.

Everton have spent a lot of money on players for the future in recent months, the most notable purchase coming in the form of 17-year-old defender Lewis Gibson, signed from Newcastle United in the summer for £6m. Konsa would be the Toffees' signing third signing of the January transfer windows, following forwards Cenk Tosun and Walcott, but Sam Allardyce is keen to close deals for a left-back and Sevilla's Steven N'Zonzi before the month is over.