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Everton are a striker short of being a very good team with a former Premier League goalscorer tipped to be a target.
Everton couldn’t have entrusted the move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium and a squad rebuild to anyone more competent than David Moyes.
The veteran Scot is the proverbial safest pair of hands and has always guided the Toffees with a consistency that most managers spend their careers trying to achieve. There is more to Moyes than his first spell in charge with a creativity that was sometimes missing from his workmanlike sides. Jack Grealish attracts the headlines but the boss has been impressed with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s impact since signing from Chelsea. All the two playmakers need now is a striker to finish off the chances that they conjure.
Everton tipped to move for Ivan Toney
Everton missed the chance to sign Hamza Igamane for a bargain release clause of £10m with the Moroccan now lighting up Ligue 1 for Lille and already being tipped for a big money move in January. According to former Man United chief scout Mick Brown though, Everton have their eye on a proven Premier League goalscorer: “Ivan Toney is certainly somebody Everton will look at,” he told Football Insider. “Moyes is desperate to bring a new striker like Toney into his squad, and Toney is one of the best strikers who could be available if you look at his goalscoring record.
“If he’s available on loan especially, it should be a no-brainer for Everton to make a move. If you look at who else is out there, they’ve either already moved, or they’ll cost a huge fee. Everton can’t afford to go out and spend that sort of money, so the opportunity to sign somebody like Toney on loan is something they wouldn’t be able to pass up on. Plus, he’s an Everton-type player if that makes sense. He would fit in very well there.”
Could Everton be an option for Toney?
Everton have options in wide areas, in midfield and defence, even if injuries are affecting the depth of cover in the defence at this moment in time given the surgery that Jarrad Branthwaite has recently undergone. The one area where there is questionable quality and depth is in the forward line with Beto and Thierno Barry the only recognised, out and out strikers. Barry might yet come good but Everton need someone reliable and consistent to lead the line and few would be better than Toney.
Motivated by the prospect of forcing his way into England’s World Cup squad, Toney, with 36 Premier League goals, could be the perfect striker to link up with the mercurial talents of Grealish and the endeavour of Dewsbury-Hall. The form of Iliman Ndiaye has also improved with the strengthening of the attack and he too could benefit from a more assured central striker available to take chances. Toney always had aspirations of playing for a bigger club and Everton could be a match made in heaven.
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