Everton will return to Sporting Lisbon with a club-record £15m offer for Joao Moutinho, having agreed to sell Andy Johnson to Fulham for a fee that could ultimately rise to £13m.

Johnson underwent a medical in London yesterday and, barring unforeseen problems, may be confirmed as Fulham's record signing today. The former Crystal Palace striker has agreed personal terms with the Cottagers and favours a return to the capital over Wigan and Sunderland, who were both prepared to match the initial £10.5m that Everton are to receive for the 27-year-old.

Fulham's basic offer gives Everton an eye-catching profit on a player who struggled to build on an impressive start at Goodison Park, and Everton claim that the price will rise by £2.5m to £13m depending on appearances. Johnson scored six league goals in his first seven games for them after a then club-record £8.6m move from Palace in May 2006 but, hindered by an ankle problem and then the form of Yakubu Ayegbeni, he only matched that tally in the entire league campaign last season. He has scored 22 goals in 74 appearances in total for Everton.

Despite that return last season, and David Moyes' preference for playing Yakubu as a lone striker last season, the Everton manager was reluctant to sell Johnson this summer. However, he has been told that his transfer budget stands at approximately £15m plus whatever he can raise through sales and, desperate to improve his central midfield and hopeful of adding five faces to a slender squad, he accepted that the occasional England international represented a solution to that dilemma. "Everton can confirm that it has agreed an eight-figure sum with Fulham for the services of Andrew Johnson," read a club statement. "This is subject to the player agreeing personal terms and negotiating a medical."

Johnson's anticipated departure will leave Moyes in need of a striker, with Tottenham's Darren Bent and Real Zaragoza's Diego Milito under consideration, but the Scottish manager's priority is midfield and Sporting's prized asset, Moutinho.

Everton had an £11.8m bid rejected out of hand for the 21-year-old Portugal international on Saturday, but Moutinho publicly confirmed his desire to move to Goodison. "I want to leave Sporting and I hope an agreement can be found and that a good solution can be found for both parties," said Moutinho, who impressed at the recent European Championship and can also operate as an auxiliary striker.

The Merseysiders' initial offer included additional payments should the team qualify for the Champions League but, once the Johnson sale is complete, they are expected to lodge a straight £15m bid for the midfielder. That still falls short of Sporting's valuation - the Portuguese club are insisting on £20m - but negotiations have continued since Saturday, with the agent Pini Zahavi conducting talks on Everton's behalf, and a compromise price of about £16m might be sufficient to give Moyes his first signing of the summer. The Everton manager is also believed to be interested in the Galatasaray midfielder Mehmet Topal.

Moyes and the rest of the Everton squad are currently in the United States, where they will play Chicago Fire in a friendly tomorrow and Colorado Rapids on Sunday. They have been joined by Joseph Yobo, who was given extended leave after his brother was kidnapped in Nigeria - he has since been released - and by Tim Cahill, who yesterday made a surprise appearance at the training camp as he continues his rehabilitation from foot surgery at the end of last season.

The Australian suffered three metatarsal fractures last season and had been expected to miss the start of the campaign but is now in contention for the opener with Blackburn Rovers, having made a rapid recovery in recent weeks. "He is running now and everything seems to be going on the right track, touch wood, so we are looking to have him fit ready for the season," said Everton's new assistant manager, Steve Round.

Bad precedent

Fulham's previous biggest signing was the French striker Steve Marlet, who joined the newly promoted club in 2001 as Mohamed Al Fayed spent £11.5m in pursuit of his dream of making Fulham "the Manchester United of the south". But Marlet struggled, labouring to six league goals in his first season, and Fayed became convinced his manager, Jean Tigana, had ripped him off, taking backhanders in exchange for negotiating inflated fees. It ended horribly: Tigana was sacked in 2003, Fayed lost £3m when a judge threw out his claims and Marlet saw out his £40,000-a-week contract on loan at Marseilles.