As Everton prepare to take on Aston Villa at Goodison Park this afternoon, once again without their main striker, the club are apparently targetting a young Dutch striker.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s absence from the Toffees’ team to play Villa is the latest in a series of injury problems stretching back for well over a year now.
Once again, without him, it’s hard to see Everton offering much of a goal threat today. And, although Sean Dyche’s men won again by a single goal against Leeds last weekend, that doesn’t seem a sustainable formula for success over the rest of the season.
Unfortunately, having failed to bring in any forward reinforcements in the last transfer window, Dyche has precious few choices and will have to find creative ways of conjuring more goals from this team during the next few months.
Even if Calvert-Lewin does return quickly from his latest setback, I don’t see him staying fit for more than a week or two at a time and it’s the biggest single reason why I am not optimisitic that the Blues’ can stay up this season.
However, if they do, then clearly from day one of the summer window there must be a plan in place to secure striking reinforcements as a matter of overwhelming urgency.
There have been a plethera of forwards associated with the club in recent times, particularly duiring the January window, when virtually every forward you could think of was allegedly under consideration.
Another name to emerge now is a young striker in Belgian football, Noa Lang. According to reports the 23-year-old is a supposed potential target once the summer window does open.
Lang is ready to move on from the Belgian league when this season finishes and the English Premier League is his prefered destination.
It is the usual story of player’s agent talking up his client and putting feelers out and all this is once again basically just media talk.
The Dutch forward hasn’t set the Juliper League on fire and he is not the sort of direct goal-scoring centre-forward Everton need most of all.
He is probably more suited to a wide attacking role. That is certainly something the Toffees’ do also need more of, especially having sold Anthony Gordon in January leaving them short of one of their previous first-choice wingers.
No doubt he and a ever-lengthening list of strikers will continue to be linked with a move to Merseyside as the weeks and months tick by and the tranfer window edges closer.
In the meantime Dyche will have to make do and mend with today’s clash against Villa the latest test of his managerial skills.