Everton have signed Andros Townsend on a two-year deal after the winger’s contract at fellow Premier League club Crystal Palace ended while veteran goalkeeper Asmir Begovic penned an initial one-year contract, the club announced yesterday.

A veteran of nearly 250 Premier League appearances with Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Newcastle United, former England international Townsend spent five seasons with Palace and is Everton’s first signing under Rafa Benitez.

“Everton is a massive football club and has big ambitions next season. As the old cliché goes, it was a no-brainer,” Townsend, 30, said.

“Rafa is very experienced. He does a lot of work on the tactical side on the training pitch, he leaves no stone unturned... He’s a great man-manager and he’s always talking to you. I’m sure he will be very successful here.”

With Begovic, Everton said they had the option to extend his contract for a further year.

Begovic was a free agent after his contract with Championship side Bournemouth expired. The 34-year-old won the Premier League title with Chelsea in the 2016-17 season.

“The ambition is to get this club to where it belongs. We want to be challenging for those European spots, challenging for trophies and being in that upper echelon of the league,” Begovic said.

Everton begin the new league campaign at home to Southampton on August 14.

Liverpool midfielder Marko Grujic has completed a permanent move to Porto, the Premier League club have announced.

Serbia international Grujic, 25, Jurgen Klopp’s first signing as Liverpool manager in 2016, made only 16 appearances in all competitions during five years at Anfield.

Liverpool said on their official website: “The Serbia international returns to the Portuguese club after making 39 appearances and scoring two goals during a loan spell in 2020-21.”

“Grujic joined up with Klopp’s squad for this month’s pre-season training camp in Austria and will now bid farewell to link up with Porto permanently.”

Grujic, who also spent two seasons on loan at Hertha Berlin, agreed to join Liverpool from Red Star Belgrade in January 2016 before completing the move later that year.

His eight Premier League appearances for Liverpool were all as a substitute and he featured on eight further occasions. He spent the second half of the 2017-18 season on loan at Cardiff.