Everton have a strong spine of a team but need more potency up front so they should make a move for Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic next summer reckons former Blues captain Don Hutchison
Juventus and Serbia striker Dusan Vlahovic
Juventus and Serbia striker Dusan Vlahovic
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Everton have been backed to make a move for Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic next summer in order to get themselves a prolific marksman without having to splash out on a massive transfer fee. With over a quarter of the Premier League season gone, current Blues strikers Beto and Thierno Barry have just one goal between them in the competition.
If David Moyes – who broke Everton’s transfer record three times in as many years on strikers during his first spell (James Beattie, £6million in 2005; Andrew Johnson, £8.6million in 2006 and Ayegbeni Yakubu, £11.25million in 2007) – is unable to compete with the astronomical fees that some of his Premier League rivals are now shelling out, then he should box clever by snapping up a high-profile target on a Bosman free transfer.
That’s the verdict of former Blues captain Don Hutchison, who said: “I look at Everton now and I've commented on them quite a few times, and what they’re crying out for is a number nine.
“I know they’ve signed Barry, who's a young kid, and he cost a lot of money, I know they've got Beto. But when I look at the profile of players, they're both exactly the same in terms of their movement, their touch.
“Barry’s a little bit better coming short and linking the play, I suppose. But Everton are in this sort of a funk where they’re spending £20-30 million pounds on centre-forwards who only hit between 12 and 15 goals a season.
“They've got to somehow find a way of finding the man that’s going to get them 20, which I know is very difficult, but there’s players out there like Dusan Vlahovic from Juve, who’s on a free transfer in the summer, so that’s probably the bracket that they're looking in, even though he will demand big wages.
“I look at the spine of the side, I think: England’s number one, Jordan Pickford. I look at the centre backs, very strong. I look at the full-backs, really good. The midfield is excellent, Idrissa Gueye is still producing at his age, James Garner is versatile.
“You look at the number 10s that they've got. I mean Alcaraz can't get a game, Dibling can't get a game. So, Dewsbury-Hall’s playing really well. Grealish and Ndiaye are impressing.
“It just feels like to me that they need to splash out big or get Vlahovic on a free transfer. I think the number nine with 20 goals a season is the last piece.”
Hutchison, who made 89 appearances and scored 11 goals for Everton between 1998-2000, added: “What you can do is invest a bit of time in Barry or Beto and find out which one you think is the one going forward. It’s probably Barry.
“So, you’ve got to sort of be patient with him, school him, coach him. David Moyes has got good coaches behind the scenes, the likes of Billy McKinlay, he’s got really good guys behind the scenes that can coach him into potentially being a bit of a better number nine, and a more of an all-rounder.
“Or, you can go down the route where you could play Ndiaye as a false nine, which gets Alcaraz into the team or Tyler Dibling more game time. I think there’s enough quality there for sure.
“It’s just trying to figure out and problem-solve in which way you want to go. I think that most David Moyes’ sides and any good Everton side has always had a recognised number nine, so the false nine would go against the grain but maybe that's something they need: something a little bit different.”
Hutchison, who previously made his top flight breakthrough at Liverpool is one of just a clutch of players to turn out for both the Merseyside giants, but having graced both Anfield and Goodison Park, he’s a big fan of Everton’s new home by the waterfront.
Speaking on behalf of www.sportscasting.com, he said: “The new stadium is amazing. I was lucky enough to be contacted by the club a couple of years ago because they’d done a former players’ brick outside the stadium, and they said: ‘Would you like one? What’s your message that you want to put on your brick?’
“You only get about six or seven words and I just put my name, the Everton crest and just put: ‘Proud to wear the Everton shirt. Proud to be captain.’
“I’ve got a brick outside the stadium, one of the walkways in a beautiful stadium. I mean absolutely stunning, the atmosphere is so good.”