Goodison View: Noel Whelan’s Everton transfer verdict misguided
We all know that scoring goals on a regular basis has been a problem at Everton ever since star striker Romelu Lukaku made his switch to Manchester United in 2017.
Since then the likes of Sandro Ramirez, Oumar Niasse and Genk Tosun have all tried and failed to fill the huge void left by the Belgian at Goodison Park.
It’s come as no surprise, then, that former Premier League striker and current BBC pundit Noel Whelan has been touting the Toffees for a fresh push for attacking talent in January.
Indeed, there’s one man in particular he wants to see wearing Everton blue: Fulham star Aleksandar Mitrovic.
“One thing that they have to do at Everton is get a goalscorer, get someone that’s going to get you 20 goals a season,” he told Football Insider. “Mitrovic would be great, he would have been perfect but it looks like he wants to stay at Fulham.”
The problem with Whelan’s verdict, of course, is that new Toffees boss Carlo Ancelotti already appears to have a goalscorer capable of hitting the 20 goals a season target.
Yes, Dominic Calvert-Lewin. In this, the 2019/20 season, the 22-year-old finally looks to be coming good on his huge potential.
He’s bagged 10 goals already this campaign, including a fantastic run of three goals in his last three games.
With that said, is now really the right time to rock the boat by throwing a combustible character like Mitrovic into the mix? Surely that would only stymie Calvert-Lewin’s exciting potential.
So, while Whelan’s take may have made perfect sense a few months ago, the rise of Everton’s number nine has morphed it into a very misguided verdict.
In other Everton news, Ancelotti’s team are reported to be monitoring the progress of an exciting teenage starlet.