Everton close to signing Malaga striker Sandro Ramirez

Young Spanish striker Sandro Ramirez is on the brink of joining Everton, according to Sky sources.

The Toffees are said to have met the 21-year-old's buy-out clause of £5.25m, taking their spending so far this summer past £60m.

The 21-year-old, one of Spain's most promising young talents, joined Barcelona's youth set-up aged 14 before going on to make 17 senior appearances for the club, scoring two goals.

Following his release from the Nou Camp a year ago, Ramirez joined Malaga where he enjoyed a breakthrough campaign in La Liga, scoring 14 goals and registering three assists from 30 appearances last season.

If Everton complete the deal they will have successfully beaten off competition from Juventus to secure the services of the Spaniard, who is currently away with Spain's under-21 squad in Poland.

Earlier this summer it looked likely Ramirez would sign for Atletico Madrid but their subsequent transfer ban, which makes the club unable to make any signings until January 2018, created an opening for manager Ronald Koeman and director of football Steve Walsh to swoop to activate the release clause in the Spaniard's contract.

The news of the signing comes just days after the Toffees signed former Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford for a club-record fee of £30m and Ajax captain Davy Klaassen for £23.6m.