Rumours are cranking up regarding possible summer signings for Everton with one suggesting the Blues are interested in signing another Ukrainian international defender.
According to some reports Everton are tracking Shaktar Donetsk centre-back Mykola Matvienko with a view to moving for him in the upcoming transfer window.
Were he to come to Merseyside in the summer he would of course join up with his international team-mate Vitalii Mykolenko who it seems is now beginning to find his best form for his new club after a difficult first few months in England.
All this is the usual speculative media talk and first of all Everton need to ensure they are not playing the Championship next season, as the sorts of players they are being linked with again certainly won’t be joinng the club if they are.
But, assuming the Blues’ do stay up, then as I and many others have said, they will certainly need central defensive reinforcements this summer if they are to avoid a repeat of this season next time round.
Again and again during this campaign defensive errors and individual mistakes have cost the team dearly and this problem is obviously a major priority for Frank Lampard to solve.
Micheal Keane and Mason Holgate have both let down their team on many occasions over the past few months. If there was any prospect of getting them off the club’s books this summer then that would be ideal, but given their poor form this season that seems unlikely.
The Toffees’ have two young defenders in Ben Godfrey and Jarrad Branthwaite both of whom have had their chances with Godfrey in particular regularly playing over the past two seasons.
The ex-Norwich player has terrific pace and man-marking abilities and has often played left-back before moving to central defence recently where he has sometimes struggled to play with the right nous for a centre-back.
Branthwaite, while a promising and elegant left-footed defender with fine ability on the ball, is still young and a little inconsistent.
While it’s good news for Lampard to now have his best centre-back Yerry Mina returning from injury again, given the Colombian’s regular absences it would be foolish to rely on him to carry the defence for a season.
So, it does seem necessary for the club to look at reinforcements in the summer.
In line with that, Everton are being linked with a host of other defensive options such as Gilson Bremer and Matvienko among others.
Bremer is a centre-back previously mentioned as a possible Toffees’ target but his fee of around £40 million would seem to rule out a move by the Blues’ for the highly-rated Brazilian.
Matvienko would seem a more reasonable option. He’s a good age at 25 and like Mykolenko is already a seasoned international footballer. The Shaktar player is also versatile and can operate anywhere across the backline.
In addition, his fee, which is roughly £10 million or so is very much more affordable given the Toffees’ immense financial problems.
And, while it’s probable several other Premier League clubs will be looking at him, the fact his Ukraine team-mate is at Goodison Park might well sway things in Everton’s favour allowing him to rekindle his international partnership with Mykolenko at club level.