Everton face West Ham in their next league match.placeholder image
Everton face West Ham in their next league match. | Getty Images
The one position Everton have struggled to fill is the no9 shirt and the recruitment team blundered again in the summer.
Everton underwent a significant rebuild during the summer with David Moyes battling to fill several gaps in his squad.
The Toffees boss complained about how hard it was to get deals over the line as he looked to add depth and quality throughout the team but it was a no.9 who was among the first to arrive. Thierno Barry arrived from Villarreal with a growing reputation, but no goals in 11 games isn’t the sort of return that was expected from a £27.5m transfer fee. It is the one position that Moyes will be desperate to get right and he will be kicking himself at missing out on a £10m bargain.
Why Everton should have signed Hamza Igamane
Everton were linked with Rangers’ Hamza Igamane early in the transfer window before reports emerged that they were “unconvinced” about the Morocco international. Whoever filed the scouting report must be kicking themselves given how quickly the 22-year old has settled at his new club Lille after his £10m release clause was triggered. Despite only playing 400 minutes, Igamane already has seven goals and one assist in 13 appearances and is creating quite the highlight reel in the process.
Lille boss Bruno Genesio is already a fan, explaining what Igamane needs to do to become a regular fixture in the starting XI via Ouest France: "We have Olivier Giroud who is also an exceptional player. We are lucky to have him, I think he arrived late and needed to adapt. He is a boy who listens, always ready to come on, no qualms. What I like about him is the freshness he brings. He is a boy who is quite unpredictable. I advise him to keep that and to manage to structure himself a little more on his positioning without the ball, on his movements in our game.”
How Everton could have landed Igamane bargain
That Rangers lost Igamane and replaced him with Youssef Chermiti only adds to the irony. Chermiti at least opened his account with the Ibrox outfit in Danny Rohl’s first domestic game in charge. Everton could have afforded Igamane, but there was another swap deal solution that we presented at Liverpool World in the summer that could have solved a lot of problems for everyone: “Rangers are at a crossroads. They know that they need to have a proper player trading model and they only paid in the region of £1.5m for Igamane, a £15m valuation is reported, however, this figure will probably rise due to the interest. They also have two other strikers who can score goals in Danilo and Cyriel Dessers.
“What they also need is a right back to replace the ageing and much-maligned James Tavernier who will be 34 early into next season and who is starting to show signs of decline. Being available for every game for the best part of a decade will have that effect. With his future at Everton in doubt, Nathan Patterson would relish the chance to return to Rangers and the club he supports but this time as the first choice and Tavernier as his back up.”
If only Everton had listened. Igamane and Grealish would have been a lot of fun together in a forward line that has just one vital component missing, one that could have been easily and affordably filled.
Continue Reading