Everton 'make new centre-back priority for January window'

Everton head coach Rafael Benitez will reportedly look to target a new centre-back in the January transfer window.

The Spaniard already has four central defenders at his disposal, three of whom – Michael Keane, Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey – were signed by the Toffees for fees in excess of £20m.

According to football.insider, Benitez is after a "world-class" centre-back who can make the same impact as the likes of Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk and Manchester City's Ruben Dias.

Everton's director of football Marcel Brands has held discussions with Benitez and is currently working on drawing up a shortlist of senior centre-back targets.

Previous defenders the Toffees have been linked with include Barcelona's Samuel Umtiti and Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly, two players with plenty of experience at the highest level.

Everton owner Farhad Moshiri is set to back Benitez in 2022, after the club decided the spend just £1.8m over the summer on signing Demarai Gray, Asmir Begovic and Andros Townsend, due to financial fair play restrictions.