Everton can upgrade average Demarai Gray through Samuel Chukwueze purchase
Time is rapidly running out for Everton to make the necessary signings which will help them drag themselves out of the relegation zone.
One player that Frank Lampard and Kevin Thelwell have identified with less than 48 hours of the transfer window remaining is Villareal winger Samuel Chukwueze, as per AS, 31 August.
The Nigerian international has been left frustrated in La Liga with Yeremy Pino and now Giovanni Lo Celso ahead of him in the pecking order for former Arsenal manager Unai Emery.
But Marca have now reported that Villareal may need to sell the 23-year-old before the transfer deadline on 1 September because the financial books need balancing after a busy summer of incomings at Estadio de la Cerámica.
That might just open the door for Everton to swoop in at the last moment and finally upgrade the painfully average Demarai Gray on the wing.
Dwight McNeil has come in over the summer but he is a much more traditional winger that needs a proper target in the middle to cross onto the head of and with Dominic Calvert-Lewin injured, that isn’t going to happen.
Gray’s fast start to life as a Toffee fooled many into thinking he was much better than he has proven to be and Everton have to rectify their problems in that department and Chukwueze can be the answer to their prayers.
With Anthony Gordon now likely to stay after persistent pressure from Chelsea and Neal Maupay’s arrival from Brighton, Lampard has the chance to complete his front three for the season with the Nigerian and ensure Gray stays as a bench player as he should have always been.
That is not the only problem that needs resolving, of course, but the boss needs to take things one step at a time and ensure his priority positions are solved and this is one of them.