According to Kaustubh Pandey at Sport Witness, Everton have already submitted a bid for right back Brooke Norton-Cuffy, who is currently playing for Italian side Genoa.
The offer is said to be €15 million, although the Italian club is looking for a few million more for a player they signed just two summers ago for just €3.5 million.
Everton, of course, are not the only club eyeing Norton-Cuffy for a return to England, having grown up in the Arsenal academy and spent subsequent years on loan at Lincoln City, Rotherham, Coventry City, and Millwall before heading out to Italy.
Fulham is also reportedly in the mix as well, with Genoa holding out for the highest bidder in order to maximize their current dire financial straits.
Norton-Cuffy just turned 22 in January, so he's even though he's played just over 9000 professional minutes, he's still got youth on his side, and his addition could mean Everton have a player they could count on to hold down the right back position for several years to come.
He possesses good size and pace, with the ability to stand up in 1v1 situations defensively, while managing to show himself as an impactful carrier of the ball and make runs into the final third.
All that said, he's a pretty modern fullback, which calls into question how he'd fit in with David Moyes, given his aversion to players at that position bombing forward, preferring the defensive ability of Vitalii Mykolenko over a young and exciting dual threat like Adam Aznou at left back, for example
So maybe the moves for the likes of Norton-Cuffy, along with previous links to players like Rico Lewis, Djed Spence, and Guela Doue, and others, Everton are finally coming around to the need to not only find a long-term answer at right back, but also the need to find a more modern option there.
The fact of the matter is that Everton likely need two players to fill the role, especially if someone like Nathan Patterson is allowed to leave this summer. So maybe Norton-Cuffy is a depth option, or maybe he's someone Moyes sees as a potential starter.
The latter would be a bit of a surprise given that BNC has no previous Premier League experience, but maybe Moyes is changing, too.
If anything, it's good to see the links continue to come in. But eventually, Everton need to sort it out and get someone in the door.
Add us as a preferred source on Google