Everton could target a striker who scored 12 goals in Serie A last season.
David Moyes could hardly have been clearer on the need for reinforcements particularly in attack following Everton’s 1-0 defeat to Leeds, but the resounding response to his continued pleas has been crickets as the transfer window continues to inch shut.
“The attacking players, we are desperate to get more quality. But let's be fair, it's something I think I've been saying for a while that I'm having to try and find ways of getting that better.”
It was a perfect illustration of Mike Tyson’s famous mantra “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face” as all the pre-season optimism around Everton’s move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium, Jack Grealish’s arrival and David Moyes’ first full season on Merseyside since 2012/13 evaporated in the face of a febrile Elland Road crowd and a determined Leeds United side.
Yet while Daniel Farke’s Whites were certainly earnest, they weren’t exactly clinical at either end of the pitch and perhaps most frustrating for Moyes (apart from the penalty decision itself) will be this was at least one, if not three points that was still there for the taking if his side had offered more.
The introduction of Grealish as a starter should improve this, but parachuting in a striker who offers more around the park and in front of goal than Beto would also, and a familiar name from earlier in the window could be the man to turn Everton’s season around: Artem Dovbyk.
Artem Dovbyk gamble worth taking
While Dovbyk certainly isn’t the perfect 2025 striker - there’s a reason none of the clubs expected to fight for European places this season have been seriously sniffing around him, 36 goals in his last two seasons in La Liga and Serie A is certainly worth writing home about.
While the 28-year-old doesn’t often pick apart a defence from the edge of the final third, but he’s not the mooted replacement to Carlos Alcaraz on the wing so that doesn’t really matter. Rather, he’s a master at finding space in the penalty area, making the right decision as a teammate is scything in and beating the goalkeeper from close range when the ball does reach him.
With a supporting cast of Grealish, the magical Iliman Ndiaye and whoever Everton do bring in on the right flank, Dovbyk would be in the perfect position to profit from the Toffees’ best creative corps in years and his underrated mobility and obvious size make him an asset from deeper attacks too.
The other major attraction to Dovbyk is his potential availability to Everton and the possibility that they can directly hamstring their rivals by bringing him to Merseyside from Roma thanks to the recent change in ownership.
Unique Dovbyk situation aids Everton
If Everton do sign Dovbyk (look away now, Crystal Palace fans) it would mark the first transfer between AS Roma and Everton since both clubs became bedfellows in The Friedkin Group, with Dan Friedkin having taken over the Toffees in December 2024.
Another Premier League team in royal blue have been masters of exploiting such a connection in the last 14 months with Chelsea having exchanged 10 players with Strasbourg in the last two summer transfer windows - seriously tough negotiations they must’ve been - and while they don’t have the same relationship with Roma, it’s time for Everton to do the same.
With Sunderland also interested in the Ukranian, the Toffees attempted to blow the Wearsiders out of the water with a £37m bid earlier in the transfer window but it’s all gone quiet since then as all parties appear to weigh up their next moves.
But the simple fact for Moyes is that if he wants Dovbyk and if he can make a compelling enough case to the higher-ups then the Ukranian is there for the taking, while missing out on him could result in relegation and not unimportantly a serious depreciation in Friedkin’s asset.
Everton cannot afford to wrest on their laurels and Dovbyk can help them escape the slump, ensuring the first chapter written at the Hill Dickinson Stadium isn’t the club’s darkest in 75 years.
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