Everton have made an offer for Monaco forward Folarin Balogun – who is valued at £40m by the French club.

The Toffees want to strengthen their forward line before Tuesday’s transfer deadline, with Balogun and Tottenham attacker Richarlison among their targets.

Richarlison is believed to have reservations about returning to Everton, the club he left to join Spurs in 2022.

But Everton are pressing ahead with their interest in United States striker Balogun and have made a bid for the 25-year-old.

Whether the offer is enough for Monaco to part with Balogun remains to be seen.

But the former Arsenal player has emerged as a key target for Everton ahead of the deadline.

Balogun was at the centre of a major controversy during this summer’s World Cup.

He was dismissed for serious foul play against Bosnia-Herzegovina in the last 32 match and should have received an automatic suspension.

However, Fifa’s disciplinary committee suspended his ban for a year – a decision that prompted widespread condemnation, particularly when it emerged US President Donald Trump and White House officials had lobbied football’s world governing body about the American’s sanction, external.

Balogun, who scored three goals at the World Cup, was able to start the USA’s last-16 defeat by Belgium – a decision European football’s governing body Uefa called “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable”.

The head of Fifa’s disciplinary committee refused to answer BBC questions about the decision-making process which led to Balogun avoiding a ban.

Fifa president Gianni Infantino denied having influence over disciplinary decisions.

England’s Jarell Quansah was similarly shown a red card in England’s 3-2 win over Mexico following a high challenge on Jesus Gallardo, and the same committee ruled he should serve a two-match ban.

It was classed as serious foul play, meaning the Bayer Leverkusen player was handed an extra match on top of the automatic one-game suspension by Fifa.