Earlier this week, Sport Witness reported that Everton had submitted a "concrete offer" for Bayern Leverkusen striker Christian Kofane.
Kofane, who is set to turn 20 in a few weeks, is also on the radar for Arsenal. He is coming up just his second season in professional football, having made the move to Leverkusen from Albacete in La Liga 2 last summer.
Despite playing a mere 49 matches (29 starts), the Cameroon international has already bagged 13 goals in just under 2500 minutes, adding five assists to his locker as well. He made his debut for his country at the Africa Cup of Nations, too, starting all four matches, scoring twice.
The young striker has been making a rapid rise since his single-year stint in Spain, and he made good on Leverkusen's €5 million move for him last summer. And it now appears that the German club, which finished 6th in the Bundesliga table last season, qualifying for the Europa League, are trying to cash in.
The initial report is supported by another one from yesterday via Africa Foot, who noted that Everton have taken the lead for the player's signature, with photos of Kofane's agent, Eric Depolo, at Finch Farm circulating around online.
Everton's striker situation
The interest from Everton forces us to stop and consider the club's current striker situation.
Beto and Thierno Barry held down the position throughout last season, with the Guinea-Bissau international bagging 9 goals to lead the team, with Barry right behind him with 8 goals, joint second with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
From a pure value standpoint, it would be interesting to see which of those two Everton would be willing to sell if the were successful in convincing Kofane to join.
Beto's contract expires at the end of this season, and he'll turn 29 in the middle of this upcoming campaign. Barry, on the other hand, only came to Merseyside last summer after an elongated transfer saga, will only be 24 in October, and is under contract until June of 2029.
Logic would dicate that David Moyes and his transfer committee could get more money from selling Barry, given his age and years remaining on his contract. But the question is whether they want to rely on the French Youth international alongside Kofane, or if they prefer the more veteran Beto to mentor the youngster.
The real question, however, is what the expenditure would be for Everton in order to bring Kofane to Merseyside. Transfermarkt has his value at €40 million, roughly €8-13 million more than they paid for Barry last summer.
There could be an offset for selling one of the current strikers, with Beto's value at €18 million and Barry's at €30 million. But that requires some transfer gymnastics, since the club would need to be confident in two moves happening simultaneously, or risk losing both (or paying big money for three strikers).
It's a situation to continue to keep an eye on, something we'll do as things progress.
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