Yesterday, we noted that Liam Delap's name was back in the rumor mill, albeit via a few pundits noting that the striker would be a good fit for Everton.
Now Sky Sports has doubled down on the rumor, indicating that David Moyes prefers a loan for the out-of-favor Chelsea striker rather than making a permanent deal for the player.
On the surface, this makes a lot more sense than splashing cash for a player who is over a year away from his most successful season, when he bagged 12 goals for a relegated Ipswich Town side before joining Chelsea last summer.
Injuries and poor performances led to Delap managing just 12 starts in 28 appearances for the London Blues, with just a single goal to his name in the Premier League.
Because of that, it makes sense, if Everton are intent on bringing Delap in, to try a loan as opposed to buying him.
But the issue is that Everton already have two strikers in the squad, Beto and Thierno Barry, and without European football, having three on the roster doesn't make any sense.
Rumors surrounding Thierno Barry's exit are popping up
And so it comes as no surprise that all the talk about Delap also coincides with supposed interest in Barry from RB Leipzig.
The Liverpool Echo is reporting that while there has been no formal offer from the German side, the club "made an enquiry about the forward," who joined Everton from Villarreal for £27 million. Barry, who is about 6 months older than Delap, scored 8 goals in just over 2000 minutes across all competitions last year.
The concern here is that Barry, while he got off to a slow start and showed inconsistencies and immaturity at times off the pitch, appears to be a player with a higher cieling than Delap. Barry did fairly well last year given the setup of the team, and with a full year of Premier League experience, the hope is he'd show great improvement if the rest of the squad gets better around him.
This might be a controversial take among the supporters, especially the subset that wanted Barry gone after the Arsenal incident last year, but the move from the French Youth international to Delap would be a downgrade, and the England Youth international would not be a good fit with Beto.
These rumors are going to continue to fly, but the hope is that cooler heads will prevail, especially since striker is far behind fullbacks and a no.6 on the list of Everton's needs this summer.
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