Andrew Johnson set to leave Goodison as Everton accept £10.5m Fulham bid
ANDREW JOHNSON was on the brink of ending his Everton career today after Fulham had a £10.5m bid accepted by the Blues.
The England international travelled to Deepdale with the rest of Everton's squad for last night's 1-0 win over Preston North End but was not included in either the starting line-up or among the substitutes.
He will now be given permission to discuss terms with Fulham over a move to Craven Cottage and it is now inevitable that Johnson will bring the curtain down on his two-year stay at Goodison Park in the next few days.
Wigan Athletic and Sunderland had led the chase for Johnson, who has scored 22 goals in 74 appearances, but Fulham are the only side prepared to make Everton an offer that will provide them with a healthy profit on the £8.6m they paid for him in May 2006.
Blues boss David Moyes - who wants to make "five or six" new signings - will now intensify his own search to find a new striker, with Real Zaragoza's Diego Milito and Darren Bent of Tottenham Hotspur high on his wanted list.
Moyes had stated less than a month ago that he wanted to keep Johnson - who signed a five-year contract extension last October - but has sanctioned his imminent departure after it became quite apparent that Johnson was keen to leave.
Phil Jagielka, meanwhile, was a relieved man today after he scored the only goal against Preston but - more importantly - played his part in helping Everton keep their first clean sheet of pre-season.
Having felt the wrath of Moyes following the 4-2 defeat against Cambridge United last Saturday, there was a determination amongst Everton's defenders not to put a foot wrong and they comfortably kept Preston at arm's length.
"Yes, we got a bit of a telling off from the Gaffer on Saturday," Jagielka confirmed. "Rightly so. We didn't perform well, it wasn't good but the boys showed their character out there and it wasn't just the older lads.
"The younger lads played their part in a nice victory. When we got 2-1 up against Cambridge, we should have put the game to bed. But it was the pre-season blues. It was warm, the pitch was dry and I don't think everyone was concentrating 100 per cent.
"Four or five mistakes later, we found ourselves 4-2 down. But with the back four we put out last night, it was Premier League standard. The Gaffer put a lot of emphasis on that beforehand and we were delighted to keep the clean sheet."
*Everton have confirmed they have ended their interest in pursuing a deal for Serbian goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic.
bad decision-we wont get anyone better than Johnson because nobody wants to come to us anymore.
we need 5 or 6 players? i think the way its going they will be coming up from the academy.
When exactly did EFC accept this bid ?
On their website the have denied accepting anything.
Yes, I too am under the impression that AJ will be a goner soon, but nothing has been agreed as yet.
Or has it ?
I think Andy Johnston is a fantastic player, however can he play with Yakubu? The partnership does not seem to have worked and with Yak being our main man, it may be time to sign Kaka haha!