Goodison News View: Everton summer swoop for playmaker looks nailed on
Predicting teams’ transfer business is always a dangerous proposition, because things change so quickly in football, and Everton are no exception.
Who could have guessed at the spending splurge the Toffees have embarked upon in the past few summer transfer windows? Or that they would be extremely quiet last month?
Still, there are some things that are beginning to look like pretty safe bets in terms of what Carlo Ancelotti and Marcel Brands will try to do come the end of the season.
The first of those is to sign a new centre back. Little explanation is needed here. The Blues have had only three senior centre halves all campaign long, and reinforcements are desperately needed.
The second thing that appears to be almost nailed on is that the club will sign – or will attempt to sign – Napoli playmaker Hirving Lozano.
Italian outlet Calcio Mercato reported on Tuesday that Everton are interested in the Mexico international, and that Ancelotti was the main factor in him arriving in Naples.
However, the fact that he has received little regular football under Ancelotti’s successor, Gennaro Gattuso, means that his transfer value has fallen. Unfortunately, the club’s president doesn’t want to sell for much less than what he paid for the player last summer.
Still, if Ancelotti is such a big fan of the player, and given that stories seem to come out linking the Toffees with the 24-year-old on a consistent basis, you’d have to think that he will look to poach him come the end of the season.
Lozano’s not been great in Italy, it’s true. He’s got just three goals and two assists this campaign.
However, in the previous season he managed 21 strikes and 12 assists. Yes, he was playing in a weaker division for PSV Eindhoven, but that sort of quality doesn’t simply go away.
Plus, he scored against both Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan in the Champions League last term, proving he can do it at a high level. And he remains just 24 years of age.
The sheer volume of the reports linking Everton with Lozano has to mean something. There’s no smoke without fire after all.
In other Everton news, a BBC Sport pundit has told an in-form Toffees star that there are still improvements to make.