Everton will include Ellis Simms in deal for £18million Viktor Gyokeres to beat Leeds United and Brentford
Everton are willing to include Ellis Simms and Nathan Broadhead in a deal to sign Coventry striker Viktor Gyokeres, according to TEAMtalk.
The Swedish international is valued at £18million and is also a target for Brentford and Leeds, but the Toffees are ready to go all out to land him in the January transfer window, by offering one or both of the recently recalled loan forwards.
Broadhead is wanted by Ipswich and is expected to leave this month after being brought back from Wigan, while Simms returned to Goodison Park from Sunderland just before the New Year.
According to TEAMtalk, Everton like both Gyokeres and Blackburn’s Ben Brereton Diaz but see the Coventry man as the more attainable option in this window.
While the club would reportedly prefer to only let Simms go in another loan capacity they are willing to consider a permanent exit if it helps them get their man, who is in line for a £14million bid from Elland Road.
Desperate
When Simms suddenly arrived back from his loan at the Stadium of Light the assumption was that Frank Lampard was hoping he could find some goalscoring support from the youngster himself.
But it shows quite how badly the club need help in attack that they are prepared to let one for the future leave in exchange for one for now.
Gyokeres has 29 goals in the second-tier over the past season and a half and at 24 looks about ready to make the step up, but even he won’t represent a true replacement for Brazil star Richarlison who left in the summer.
Simms, 22, had scored seven second-tier goals this term compared to the Coventry man’s 12, despite missing seven games earlier in the season with an injury, after netting seven in half a campaign at Hearts earlier this year.
So while the fans want to see another goalscorer added to the ranks soon, Lampard and Kevin Thelwell need to be absolutely sure they are not choosing the wrong one.
Both Gyokeres and Brereton Diaz, who has nine this year, represent a similar risk as Simms does in that they are all unproven in the Premier League, even if the two targets have international experience.
But it looks like the club are will to throw whatever they have in their power at a deal for the Swede, before the end of the month.