Martinez confirms Norwich-linked Naismith close to Everton exit

To see a list of completed deals in the January window thus far, visit theScore's Premier League transfer tracker.

Steven Naismith is finally nearing the exit door at Goodison Park after Everton manager Roberto Martinez confirming a transfer is "more or less agreed."

Norwich City has been a long-term admirer of the Scot and nearly acquired him last summer. Naismith's compatriot, and Canaries' gaffer, Alex Neil recently declared his intention to reinvest much of the £8 million received for the sale of Lewis Grabban to Bournemouth, seemingly paving the way for a fresh approach to Everton.

Relegation-threatened Swansea City was also linked with a move for Naismith, but Martinez claimed at Friday's media conference "there has been no approach" from the Welsh outfit, while continuing: "There has been another Premier League club that has made a lot of progress in that respect.

"Everything is more or less agreed in terms of a possible transfer. But the situation with Steven Naismith is that he has a knock on his ankle, and that's why he hasn't been involved."

Naismith has been reduced to a peripheral role for much of the campaign, only completing 90 minutes once since scoring a hat trick off the bench against Chelsea in September.

"We are open to the Steven Naismith situation because in the last days of the previous window it's an open secret Steven wanted to know about his future, and at that time we couldn't replace him and it wasn't right to be done," Martinez continued.

"The promise was we would review it in the next window and see how he is. Steven is in a position where he hasn't played as much as he would have liked as a senior player."

Martinez concluded by stating that the decision on whether to make the switch lies with Naismith.

Everton makes the trip to Chelsea on Saturday, boosted by two consecutive clean sheets following its previous struggles in the defensive department.