Scott Carson, the England Under-21 goalkeeper, is expected to join Aston Villa on a season-long loan today after Liverpool reluctantly bowed to his wish to pursue his international ambitions. Manchester City are also in the frame, but Carson was leaning towards a move to Villa last night in the hope of securing a place in the England squad, with Liverpool set to sign Charles Itandje from Lens as his replacement.

Rafael Benítez had wanted Carson to stay at Anfield this season as understudy to José Manuel Reina, but the Liverpool manager has agreed to let the 21-year-old move on loan.

A move to Villa is expected to go through today, providing that Benítez can finalise a deal to sign Itandje before this evening’s 11pm registration deadline for next week’s Champions League qualifying tie against Toulouse. Itandje, 24, was at Anfield yesterday to negotiate a transfer for what is likely to be a nominal fee.

Villa entertain Liverpool in their opening Barclays Premier League fixture on Saturday, but Carson, under Premier League rules, will not be eligible to play in that game. He is expected to make his debut against Newcastle United seven days later.

There is a clear opening for Carson to become the main threat to Paul Robinson’s position as England’s first-choice goalkeeper. He impressed on loan to Charlton Athletic last season, having been named in England’s World Cup squad last summer by Sven-Göran Eriksson. Now in charge of City, Eriksson considered taking Carson on loan this season, but he may now move for one of Italy’s finest young goalkeeping prospects, Marco Amelia, of Livorno.

Itandje had been linked with Manchester United, with Sir Alex Ferguson looking into signing a goalkeeper before the transfer window closes on August 31. With Ben Foster, another England candidate, set to miss at least half of the season because of cruciate knee ligament damage, Ferguson has only Tomasz Kuszczak as cover for the ageing Edwin van der Sar and may yet send the young Pole out on loan if he can find another goalkeeper to challenge Van der Sar.

Back on Merseyside, Everton are hopeful of completing a club-record deal to sign Yakubu Ayegbeni from Middlesbrough. A firm inquiry was made yesterday, with a formal offer in the region of £9 million likely to follow in the next 24 hours.

Yakubu, who has also attracted interest from City and Portsmouth this summer, met Gareth Southgate, the Middlesbrough manager, this week and asked to leave but was told that it is too close to the start of the season for the team to be disrupted.

These are interesting times at Everton, who, having been cautious in the transfer market for much of the summer, appear to have decided that further investment is needed to build on last season’s sixth-place finish.

David Moyes, the manager, signed Leighton Baines from Wigan Athletic for £6 million on Tuesday and was given permission to pursue an £11 million deal for Luis González, the FC Porto midfield player, before moving his attention back to Manuel Fernandes, of Benfica, who spent four months on loan at Goodison Park last season.

Bill Kenwright, the chairman, has stepped up negotiations for Fernandes and Yakubu over the past 48 hours.