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Everton are on track to appoint Marco Silva this week.

The Blues are close to finalising an agreement with the 40-year-old and hope to be in a position to announce his arrival before the weekend.

Everton sacked Sam Allardyce two weeks ago and Silva was immediately made the No1 target to replace him.

New director of football Marcel Brands was appointed on the same day and has been leading the search for Big Sam's replacement ever since.

The Blues have a long-standing interest in Silva and he has been the front-runner from the start but Brands wanted to run the rule over other potential candidates before pressing ahead with the Portuguese's appointment.

Everton are confident talks will reach a conclusion in the coming days and his arrival can be confirmed before the end of the week.

It is understood that issues between Everton and Watford, Silva's old club, are close to being resolved - but have never been a stumbling block to his Goodison appointment.

Watford were angry after the Blues made two approaches to speak to Silva in November about replacing Ronald Koeman and complained to the Premier League.

A slump in form following Everton's advances saw the Hornets sack the former Sporting Lisbon boss and with the Vicarage Road club blaming the “unwarranted” interest for their poor run.

(Image: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)

The dispute has rumbled on with Watford, asking for compensation but their complaint, it is understood, will not result in Premier League sanctions as had been suggested.

The two clubs are, instead, thought to be close to reaching an agreement.