Brands eyes young striker for Everton
It’s been another quiet few days on the transfer rumour front for Everton with the latest international break taking place.
But a story in the Mail on Sunday claims that Everton Director of Football Marcel Brands is working on prospects and casting his eye over young attacking talent, specifically a 19-year-old Portuguese forward.
Rafael Leao is a young player currently plying his trade in France with Lille. The Mail is claiming that Brands has been running the rule over the player with a view to making a move in the summer transfer window.
Leao is a versatile forward who has shown plenty of promise although he’s not scored a huge number of goals this season. But he is one of a number of young players impressing in France’s Ligue 1.
Another young forward linked to the Blues is a player who has also been linked with Everton recently, Jean-Kevin Augustin. This player is another footballer who seems to fit the type that Brands is looking to recruit.
He is focussing on players with pace, versatility and the potential to develop further. Such players are likely to be more affordable too, which seems to be in line with the club’s less extravagant transfer policy.
Adding to any new recruits is a striker who has been largely forgotten recently, Henry Onyekuru. The Nigerian is a player signed two years ago and who has since spent the past few seasons on loan at several clubs in Europe, waiting for clearance to come to Merseyside.
Assuming he can and still wants to finally make the move to Everton this summer, he could be joined by at least one other forward.
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All this points to a definite summer effort to add quality and depth up front alongside the existing young attacking talent like Richarlison, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Ademola Lookman.
It would also seem to indicate that players like Cenk Tosun and Theo Walcott are on borrowed time at Goodison Park.
Neither player has impressed this season and look almost certain to be amongst those being shipped out in the summer.
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Obviously these stories and rumours are always to be taken with a certain pinch of salt coming from papers looking to fill their pages and player agents trying to boost their clients profile and earning potential. As always we wait and see what happens this summer.