Everton step up pursuit of Swansea star Gylfi Sigurdsson with £50million part-exchange package including young defender Callum Connolly

EVERTON have stepped up their pursuit of Swansea star Gylfi Sigurdsson - and are offering young defender Callum Connolly as part of a new £50million package .

The Toffees have already seen a £40m bid for the Icelandic ace rejected, while Leicester and Tottenham are also interested in the Swans star.

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Now, Ronald Koeman and Co are confident they can get the Welsh outfit to budge with an improved offer.

Everton are set to offer Swansea £40m plus £5m-rated Connolly, with an extra £5m in add-ons based on things including goals scored, appearances and Premier League position.

Koeman has urged the Goodison Park board to fund the move, claiming Sigurdsson will be "the difference between Champions League football and a Europa League place".

At the weekend, Sigurdsson was left out of the Swansea squad for their pre-season game against Birmingham due to the speculation.

A club statement read: “Gylfi Sigurdsson will not feature as it was agreed between the club and player that he would sit this game out due to the current transfer speculation surrounding him.”

Everton are now increasingly optimistic they will land the Icelandic ace to fill the void set to be left by the outgoing Ross Barkley.

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Gylfi Sigurdsson factfile

• Born in Reykjavik, Iceland in September 1989
• Signed for Reading on a scholarship in 2005 before earning professional contract two years later
• Had loan spells at Shrewsbury and Crewe
• Joined Hoffenheim in 2010 before spending time on loan at Swansea two years later
• Earned a £8.8m move to Tottenham under Andre Villas-Boas
• Moved back to Swansea in 2014
• Won Swansea's Player of the Season for the last two years
• Six-time Icelandic Footballer of the Year

The England man appears dead-set on a move to Tottenham this summer.

The Toffees have been extraordinarly, uncharacteristically busy this window so far - bringing in no fewer than seven new faces already.

On top of the signing of Wayne Rooney in an emotional homecoming, Everton have also spent big on Michael Keane, Jordan Pickford, Davy Klaassen, Henry Onyekuru and Sandro Ramirez.

Cuco Martina also arrived from Southampton in a free transfer as Everton look to break into the top four or the first time since 2004-05.

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