James Beattie will become Everton's record signing later today after turning down a more lucrative wage offer from Aston Villa in favour of sealing his £6 million transfer to Merseyside.
The 26-year-old striker is due at Bellefield to undergo a medical this morning, after agreeing personal terms yesterday, with Everton hoping to parade Beattie before kick-off of the Premiership game against Portsmouth tomorrow night.
The striker, whose fee beats the £5.75 million Everton paid Middlesbrough for Nick Barmby eight years ago, will sign a four-and-a-half-year contract which will increase his weekly salary from £18,000 to nearer £30,000.
Villa were prepared to break their recently imposed wage structure - which has a ceiling of £20,000 a week - to offer the England striker more money, having also seen their bid accepted by Southampton. But Beattie spent yesterday pondering his options before deciding to return to his native north-west.
The Lancaster-born forward has long been David Moyes's principal transfer target, the Scot having attempted to sign him immediately after Wayne Rooney's sale to Manchester United for £27 million back in August.
The closure of the market scuppered any chance of a deal then but Beattie has been impressed by Everton's resurgence this season. Despite having lost their last two matches, the Merseysiders remain five points clear of fifth place and are entrenched in the race for a Champions League place.
Southampton will receive around £4.8 million for the striker, who scored 76 goals in 233 appearances for the club after signing from Blackburn six years ago in a deal worth £1 million.
A proportion of the remainder of the fee will go to Rovers as part of a sell-on agreement while Beattie will also receive a cut.
Southampton manager Harry Redknapp will be given funds to add the players he is seeking to his squad following the completion of the sale.
Villa were still coming to terms with missing out on Beattie last night, having believed at one stage they had landed him.
Meanwhile, the agent for Everton midfielder Thomas Gravesen,John Sivebaek, was in Madrid last night after reports that the midfielder was the subject of a £2 million bid from Real. He has six months left on his contract and there have been no talks on a new deal. Everton refused to comment last night.