Sources: Everton, Crystal Palace and Wolves all converge on free-agent midfielder with Ligue 1 winners’ medal

Everton, Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sheffield United are the Premier League sides who have shown a strong interest in Portuguese free agent Xeka, TEAMtalk understands.

Xeka is a 28-year-old central midfielder who represented Portugal U20s earlier in his career. He joined Lille permanently in July 2017, following an initial loan, and went on to play 144 times for the French outfit.

Xeka even has a Ligue 1 winners’ medal to his name, having made 33 appearances during Lille’s shock triumph over usual winners Paris Saint-Germain in the 2020-21 season.

Xeka’s Lille contract expired last summer and he went on to spend the 2022-23 campaign with Rennes, though he suffered a turbulent time there and had to undergo ankle surgery in January.

The former Braga man is once again a free agent and TEAMtalk understands Everton, Palace, Wolves and Sheff Utd are all vying to sign him. However, it is not just top-flight clubs who are in the mix. From the Championship, Southampton and West Bromwich Albion have also made enquiries to his agent.

Xeka is also being offered the chance to continue playing in France by Ligue 1 sides. Plus, there is interest from clubs in Italy, Spain and Turkey.

Meanwhile, a pundit has expressed his shock that neither Manchester United or Chelsea took concrete steps towards signing an Everton star in the summer.