Everton fall behind Premier League rivals in the race to sign Theo Walcott successor

Everton has fallen behind Newcastle United in the race to sign Grady Diangana, touted as Theo Walcott successor, from West Ham United.

Everton is sweating to find a successor to Theo Walcott. The 31 year old hasn’t impressed Carlo Ancelotti leaving the Italian in a very tricky position when it comes to choosing the player on the right wing. A right winger is on Toffees’ agenda and enquiries for players like Wilfried Zaha and Cengiz Under have already been made. West Ham United winger Grady Diangana has also caught Ancelotti’s attention but recent events suggest Everton are falling behind Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion in the 22 year old’s chase.

The lack of options at right wing has dearly cost Everton, forcing Ancelotti to improvise and deploy out of position players at the right wing. To bring things into perspective, Everton has used 8 players on the right wing this season yet none of them have been able to make ends meet. Gylfi Sigurdsson, Alex Iwobi, Djibril Sidibe, Bernard all have featured in the wide right role and underperformed massively.

The experiments failed, leaving Marcel Brands with only one option to go into the market and sign an outright right winger. West Ham United winger Grady Diangana was a collective name that was passed by the club hierarchy.

The 22 year old has sparkled since making his Premier League debut in 2018-19 season. The English-Congolese was sent out on loan at West Brom for the 2019-20 season to continue his development into a top rated winger.

At the Hawthorns, he contributed 8 goals and 7 assists in 30 Championship games, playing an important role in West Brom’s promotion to the English Top Flight. Now that the loan spell has ended, Diangana will return to his parent club and a flurry of offers will start to arrive for the pacey winger.

West Brom were the first side to make an official move, with Slaven Bilic, the West Brom coach, raving about the 22 year old sensation. The newly promoted side tabled a £15 million offer which was quickly rejected by the Hammers. The London club values their rising player at  £20 million.

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According to Daily Star, Newcastle United are set to fasten their chase for Grady Diangana and an official bid may be on the cards. The approaches from West Brom and Newcastle spell trouble for Everton who are not very active in the race.

Celtic is another side that is considering a move for the left footed right winger but with three Premier League clubs in the running, a move to Scotland is not very likely. Everton need to buck up if they are truly considering Grady Diangana as a strong option in the team. The Hammers man is touted as Theo Walcott successor should he come to Goodison Park and at £20 million, it seems to be a far reasonable fee than paying £45 million for Under.

Diangana has his best years ahead of him and a well renowned coach like Carlo Ancelotti can infuse the champion mindset into the youngster, but it all depends on how rapidly Everton move because at the moment the Royal Blues are definitely falling behind their rivals in the winger’s chase.

Is Grady Diangana a suitable player for the Toffees?