After an historically quiet transfer deadline day Everton got a deal to sign Bournemouth forward Joshua King over the line just before the window shut.
Going into yesterday it looked very possible that Everton wouldn’t sign anyone and instead would simply be concentrating on moving fringe squad players on.
There had been the usual large number of players linked with a move to Goodison Park over the course of the last month or so but none of these rumours seemed to have any real substance.
Finally there were the comments of both Marcel Brands and Carlo Ancelotti apparently making it clear there wouldn’t be any additions coming in.
But then the likely exit of Cenk Tosun would leave the Toffees facing the rest of the season without any senior forward cover going into the second half of the season.
And so when Tosun did finally leave and returned to his former club Besiktas, the Blues turned their attention late in the day to a player long rumoured to be a target of the club: Joshua King.
More from Prince Rupert's Tower
- Everton 0 Arsenal 1: Blues fall to third home defeat
- Further chaos in Everton takeover as other lenders not keen on 777 Partners
- Everton need repeat of Arsenal win to kick-start their season on Sunday
- More madness at Everton as Moshiri now agrees to sell club to 777 Partners
- Everton takeover talk cools after UK govt doubts and further questions
The Bournemouth forward has been linked with Everton for a while now but a possible deal for him seemed to have died when press and media stories claimed he was asking for a huge wage to move back to the Premier League.
Anyway while that seemed to rule out a move for him, a deal was revived last minute yesterday evening by the Blues when Anthony Gordon also joined Tosun through the exit door.
The Toffees were competing with Fulham who were also keen on the Norway forward. I thought he might opt for them as the west London club would probably offer more of a guarantee of regular first-team football.
But in the end King went for Everton and has signed for six months with an option for the deal to be extended in the summer.
King is a good all-round forward with pace and power and he has shown plenty of evidence that he can make and score goals in the Premier League although the past few seasons have seen his goal tally decline and he’s not netted once in the Championship this campaign.
King had a fine match in the final game of last season against his new club, scoring and assisting a goal and hopefully he will now re-produce those sorts of performances in a royal blue shirt.
So at least the Blues have got another good quality forward in to replace all those who have left since last summer. Let’s see if he can deliver some crucial goals in the season run-in.