Everton want to sign the Sporting Lisbon winger Gelson Martins, one of a number of players who cancelled his contract at the club this week, as well as the highly-rated young Ajax defender Matthijs De Ligt.

The future of Martins, 23, part of Portugal’s World Cup squad, is unclear with such widespread unhappiness at Sporting but he is likely to be available this summer. He is one of the club’s key targets identified by Marcel Brands, the new sporting director, and manager Marco Silva, who have not yet added a new player to the squad.

There will be a lot of competition for Martins, especially if he is successful at freeing himself from his contract. There are a number of Premier League clubs, including Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur who have expressed an interest.

It will be the same with De Ligt, 18, a centre-back who has also been scouted by leading Premier League clubs including Manchester City and could potentially cost as much as £50 million if any of the big hitters are able to agree a deal for him.

De Ligt is now represented by the Dutch-Italian agent Mino Raiola who has a glittering roster of clients including Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The teenager was thrown into Holland’s qualifying campaign early in his career and struggled in their defeat to Bulgaria but impressed in the win over England in March.