Everton have been banned from signing academy players for two years after being found guilty of breaching Premier League recruitment rules.
The Premier League revealed Everton academy staff had offered inducements to a player and his family to encourage him to register with the club.
Everton will not be allowed to recruit any academy player who has registered with another Premier League or Football League club in the preceding 18 months.
The club have also been fined £500,000.
The Premier League also disclosed that Everton’s own internal inquiry found similar misconduct regarding six other academy players.
Accepting the penalty, an Everton statement said: “We are extremely disappointed with some of the practices we have found which are not in line with our values and not acceptable to Everton Football Club.
“We have already commenced a full review of our academy operations and are committed to ensuring that issues like this do not happen again at Everton.”
