Everton seem to be running out of summer window striker options
As the days and weeks go by Everton are still desperately trying to add new forwards to their squad. But, are they in danger of runnning out of options once more?
The stories in this transfer window have of course been many and numerous as the Blues are linked with an almost never-ending number of strikers and forwards, yet again.
So far though only one, Arnaut Danjuma, has joined the club as Everton finally secured the signature of a player they have been pursuing for six months.
Danjuma’s arrival is, despite my own recervations about a player who turned down the Toffees in January, a welcome one given the paucity of options Sean Dyche has to play with.
However, he is the only player the club have so far signed along with Ashley Young as one of just two new additions since Dyche succeded Frank Lampard in the New Year.
The Dutchman is also the only recognised senior centre-forward option alongside the ever injury-prone Dominic Calvert-Lewin now that Ellis Simms has departed. Clearly more new faces are needed urgently.
Just recently several other strikers that Everton were strongly linked with, have decided to move on to other clubs.
Both Rodrigo and Moussa Dembele have left their respective clubs for the Saudi version of the Premier League, while it looks very likely that the Blues will lose the battle for El Bilal Toure to Atalanta.
Another forward alledgedly targetted by the Toffees, Ajax’s Brian Brobbey is happy to stay at the Dutch club and won’t be seeking a move to England anytime soon.
A deal for Toure or Brobbey may still be on the cards but it looks a long shot in both cases.
So, who else might be a realistic candidate for Dyche to focus on?
The other obvious target would be Boulaye Dia. He is another forward who’s name has certainly done the rounds recently.
He had a release clause which the Blues didn’t activate and now if they are serious about the Senegal player they will probably have to pay a lot more for him.
Dia seems a decent potential addition and slightly strangely his club in Italy are apparently very interested in Neal Maupay a striker who scored just one Premier League goal for Everton last season.
There is the possibility of a swap deal to be done.
The Toffees are though running out of the obvious and preferred candidates but are there any other players out there who could be worth a look at?
One forward who might be worth taking a punt on is Middlesborough’s Chuba Akpom.
The former Arsenal youth team product has done the rounds playing in Belgium and Greece on loan before returning to England and Boro.
He had a breakthorough campaign in the Championship last time round scoring twenty-eight goals in total.
That is actually seven more than Coventry’s Viktor Gyokeres managed, a player Everton along with other top flight clubs were looking at very closely both in January and earlier this summer.
He is valued at around £12 million according to transferrmarkt.com, which is not prohibitive for the Toffees even though money is tight.
Another player to run the rule over possibly, is actually Akpom’s team mate Cameron Archer.
The 21-year-old managed a highly impressive eleven goals in nineteen appearances for promotion-chasing Boro.
He is young and inexperienced although that is true of a number of players claimed to be on Everton’s radar.
Obviously, it is always an unknown as to whether a player can replicate his goalscoring form in the top flight and that would be a major issue to consider.
But, the Blues were supposedly looking at several Championship players like Jack Clarke, and I think Everton are going to have to be increasingly creative and look at all sorts of options if they are going to find more affordable striking talent before the window closes.