The latest Everton transfer rumor involves a player that David Moyes coached during his last stint at West Ham United: midfielder Tomáš Souček.
This is not a terribly surprising development, but both West Ham Central on Twitter and Claret & Hugh are reporting that a move for the Czech international is "seemingly imminent."
Souček just turned 30 in February, so while he is a little older than you'd like to see Everton go after, it is unreasonable to think that the Toffees will be able to rebuild the squad using only up-and-coming young talent. A sprinkle of veterans will be necessary.
The question is whether Souček is the type of player that will improve the team, and where he would slide in if Everton were to bring him on board.
On one hand, he's a goal scorer who has pretty consistently done so in both the Premier League and other high-level competitions. This season, he's scored nine goals (on an xG of 6.6) after scoring seven (on an xG of 6.7) as season ago. His high-water mark in the Premier League came in 2020/21, when he bagged 10 goals (on an xG of 8.4).
The xG feels important in this context, because Soucek is a fairly high-volume shooter (his shots per 90, according to FBref, are in the 94th percentile for his position), but he manages to convert at a high rate as well.
And on a team that needs goals, Souček is likely to provide them.
That being said, he isn't going to add a lot of athleticism to the midfield, nor is pace a major part of his game. He's more crafty than anything, as evidenced by his goal at Goodison in March of this year.
He's a hard working player, an attribute he'd need to possess to play in a Moyes side, and in that regard there's little negative to say about him. But again, the fit is in question.
The current state of the midfield is that both Idrissa Gana Gueye and Aboulaye Doucoure are out of contract at the end of this season, and if anything, Souček would be a replacement for the latter as opposed to the former.
Outside of that, Everton have James Garner and Tim Iroegbunam in the center of the park, two young players with potential but, especially in the case of Iroegbunam, lacking in experience. The hope is that Charly Alcaraz also returns, but he's more of an attacking midfielder, which Souček could also step in as, although with considerably less dynamism.
That midfield, absent a ball winner like Gana, would make Everton fans quite nervous, so while Souček might be an intriguing replacement for Doucoure, he isn't ideal in many ways.
The price is going to be an issue as well (Transfermarkt has his value at €22 million, a nearly €8 million profit for the Hammers). Whether it makes sense to spend that money on that player isn't clear to me.
This is especially true if there are younger, cheaper options who can handle a similar position on the pitch.