Everton fined and hit with signings ban

EVERTON have been fined £500,000 and banned from signing some academy players for two years after admitting offering inducements to players and their families.

The Premier League has handed out the sanctions, which prevent the club from snapping up young players who have been registered with another top flight or EFL club in the previous 18 months, after the Toffees launched an internal investigation when presented with an allegation of wrongdoing.

A statement from the governing body said: “The Premier League received evidence alleging that Everton Academy staff offered inducements to a player and his family to encourage the player to register with the club.

“When presented with this information, Everton immediately admitted the allegations and set up its own internal inquiry which established that similar misconduct had occurred in relation to six other Academy players.

“In certain cases, it was found that the club provided false information to the League when questions had previously been raised about the circumstances in which Academy players registered with the club.”

Everton have accepted the punishment and apologised for breaching academy player recruitment rules.

A club statement said: “We are extremely disappointed with some of the practices we have found which are not in line with our values and not acceptable to Everton Football Club.

“We have already commenced a full review and are committed to ensuring that issues like this do not happen again at Everton.”