Everton signed a striker who surprised Tottenham by making an unexpected turnabout.

TalkSPORT understands that Everton and Marseille are nearing an

agreement to sign former Sheffield United forward Iliman Ndiaye.

The French behemoths want to recover most of the £20 million

they spent on Sheffield United in the previous summer.

Ndiaye left the Blades after four years, including two incredible Championship runs, and moved to the Stade

Velodrome in the summer of last year.

He appears destined to return to England, though, having only managed

three goals and three assists in 19 starts and

eleven substitute appearances in Ligue 1.

Ndiaye had great success with the Blades, who he joined from Boreham Wood in 2019.

A breakout campaign in 2022/23 saw him become a mainstay in Paul Heckingbotham’s team the next season.

They finished second in the Championship and were promoted to the Premier League thanks to his 14 goals and 10 assists.

Ndiaye’s goal earned Sheffield United a 1-0 fifth-round victory over

Tottenham Hotspur, helping them pull off an FA

Cup surprise.

Even though the Blades were sad to see the player go, they acknowledged there was little they could do to stop him.

Heckingbotham stated, “It’s his boyhood club, his dream club,” at the time.

That was the opponent we faced. That’s the issue. It’s not about the

money since in January of last year, Iliman

turned down enormous sums of money to stay with us and assist us in becoming promoted.”

However, it was in spite of the fact that the team had apparently

recorded a video announcing that he was getting a

new contract and receiving the No. 10 shirt—which had belonged to club icon Billy Sharp—for him.

This season, Everton seemed determined to wrap things off early.

They have already secured Jack Harrison on a two-year loan from

Leeds and signed Tim Iroegbunam from Aston Villa.