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Everton looking at Lemina and Tomori

By Matt Townsend

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - APRIL 20: Newcastle striker Miguel Almiron (r) is challenged by Mario Lemina of Southampton during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Southampton FC at St. James Park on April 20, 2019 in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - APRIL 20: Newcastle striker Miguel Almiron (r) is challenged by Mario Lemina of Southampton during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Southampton FC at St. James Park on April 20, 2019 in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) /
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The frantic transfer rumours continue as Everton are now linked with moves for Southampton midfielder Mario Lemina and Chelsea youngster Fikayo Tomori.

Along with further news on the Wilfried Zaha saga, these stories have surfaced once again on Sky Sports as the news outlet reports on all the moves Everton are making at the moment.

As Idrissa Gueye’s long mooted move to PSG inches forward ever so slowly with the player in Paris to complete the transfer, the Blues are apparently looking at Lemina as his replacement.

While after failing to get Kurt Zouma on a permanent deal, the Toffees are trying to prise a different centre-back away from Chelsea with yet another loan deal, this time for the England Under-21 international Tomori.

So what can we make of all this alleged activity?

For a start it seems that Everton are in danger this summer of simply ending up replacing existing players with new and obviously, untried, replacements rather than actually improving and strengthening the squad overall.

With Gueye on his way and having sold players like Nikola Vlasic and Ademola Lookman without replacing them as yet, the Toffees will be lighter in numbers.

So there is a real danger therefore that the Blues will simply be treading water again and could be in for a very similar season to the last campaign.

That will be immensely frustrating and I’m not sure how long Evertonians will put up with another season of such inconsistency and fleeting promise. It feels like the club and first team really have to make a breakthrough this coming campaign or risk being permanently left behind.

It will be difficult to make any genuine progress though unless all the presumed replacements are of better quality and are an immediate success. And existing players like Richarlison and Gomes also have to make a significantly bigger impact this season.

All that is a lot of what ifs and maybes.

it seems to me that no matter who’s in charge Everton always struggle to make the kind of progress other clubs manage to. But before we get too depressed let’s have a look at these two players.

Lemina is a solid defensive midfielder who seems to score very well across the board and might also offer a bit more offensively then Gana. Perhaps surprisingly, Southampton are apparently content to allow him to leave.

I’ve no idea how much the Blues might have to pay for him but he would seem an ideal replacement for the Senegal player. And at 25 he’s five years younger.

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Given all this I can see Lemina forming a potentially strong central midfield partnership with Fabain Delph and Andre Gomes.

Its a bit more difficult to find a lot of detail about Tomori. But he does seem to have very much impressed during his loan spell at Derby County last season.

Of course that’s a different level of football and the youngster is pretty much untried in the Premier League.

Ideally I would personally like the Toffees to sign a defender permanently rather than on loan and risk going through this same process again next summer, if he’s a success.

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