Hajduk Split leave door open to potential Nikola Vlasic exit as Everton eye £10m transfer

Hajduk Split president Ivan Kos does not want to lose any key players before Thursday night's (31 August) transfer deadline, although does not appear to have ruled out the prospect of teenage forward Nikola Vlasic joining Everton.

According to multiple outlets including the BBC, the Toffees are hoping to seal a £10m ($12.9m) deal for the Croatian who is said to have caught the eye of manager Ronald Koeman and director of football Steve Walsh during Everton's recent Europa League play-off round victory over Hajduk.

Vlasic played all but six minutes of a two-legged 3-1 aggregate defeat that saw Joan Carrillo's side miss out on the group stages of Europe's secondary club competition.

The 19-year-old vice-captain has racked up 119 appearances for Hajduk since making his senior debut three years ago, scoring 12 goals and laying on 20 assists.

"The transfer window runs until August 31, sometimes transfers happen a minute before midnight," Kos reportedly told daily Split publication Slobodna Dalmacija when quizzed about Everton's reported interest in Vlasic.

"We don't want to lose 1% of our quality. We also have to think about financial stability."

He added: "I don't like to talk about things I cannot say with certainty. We'll keep track of how things are going."

A potential transfer appeared to edge one step closer on Tuesday, when the Croatian Football Federation confirmed that Under-21 national coach Nenad Gracan had agreed to allow Vlasic to depart a training camp being held in advance of Thursday night's European Championship qualifier against Moldova in Chisinau.

It is unclear at this stage if Vlasic would go straight into Everton's first-team squad or be immediately loaned out in a similar fashion to Henry Onyekuru, who completed a £7m switch from KAS Eupen in June before being dispatched to Anderlecht for the 2017-18 season.

Koeman has made no secret of his desire to acquire a new striker before the transfer deadline in order to plug the considerable gap left by Romelu Lukaku's switch to Manchester United, with Chelsea rebel Diego Costa, Cardiff City marksman Kenneth Zohore and Benfica's Raul Jimenez all said to be on the Dutchman's radar.

Everton have already bolstered their attack by securing a return to Goodison Park for Wayne Rooney, splashing out a club-record £45m fee on Gylfi Sigurdsson and recruiting Sandro Ramirez from Malaga.

The ambitious top-four chasers have spent approximately £131m on eight new additions so far this summer, with Jordan Pickford, Michael Keane, Davy Klaassen and Cuco Martina also heading to Merseyside.