Everton sign England U18 international Dennis Adeniran from Fulham

Everton have announced the signing of Fulham's highly-rated England Under-18 international Dennis Adeniran.

The 18-year-old, a former striker who now plies his trade in central midfield, has penned a four-year contract at Goodison Park. He will immediately join up with David Unsworth's Under-23 side, who won the Premier League 2 title in 2016-17 and currently sit fourth after three matches of the new season. They meet Tottenham Hotspur next on 11 September.

A quarter-finalist with the Young Lions at the 2016 European Under-17 Championship, Adeniran already boasts limited experience of senior club football after being handed his competitive debut by Slavisa Jokanovic during Fulham's 3-2 EFL Cup first-round victory over Leyton Orient in August 2016.

He featured in further cup ties against Middlesbrough, Bristol City and Cardiff City and made his Championship bow as a late substitute in a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest last September.

According to Sky Sports, the deal to take Adeniran to Merseyside could eventually be worth as much as £4m ($5.1m) with add-ons.

Everton have been eager to further strengthen their strong U23 group this summer, with the likes of Boris Mathis and Nathangelo Markelo both recruited. Talented defensive prospect Lewis Gibson was also signed from Newcastle United in a deal that could amount to £6m and winger Josh Bowler arrived from Queens Park Rangers.

Belgian forward David Henen stayed with the Toffees despite reported interest from QPR and Spanish outfit Malaga, although Callum Connolly and Liam Walsh were loaned to Ipswich Town and Birmingham City respectively on deadline day.

Teenage Croatian frontman Nikola Vlasic will likely also get some game time under Unsworth after joining from Everton's Europa League play-off round opponents Hajduk Split in a late £10m deal.

Everton were hoping to add a more senior striker and another defender to their first-team squad on deadline day, although failed to strengthen either position despite well-established links to the likes of Olivier Giroud, Lucas Perez, Raul Jimenez and Thomas Vermaelen.

That made it a somewhat anti-climatic finish to an otherwise stellar transfer window in which the club significantly boosted their hopes of securing a top-four Premier League berth by lavishing approximately £200m on a total of nine new players.