Everton chase MLS All-Star striker Brandon Vazquez as move plans revealed, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth interested
Everton are “keeping a close eye” on FC Cincinnati’s 24-year-old striker Brandon Vazquez with the American looking to move to Europe, 90min reports.
Having suggested in January he wasn’t ready to move on from the MSL side, after making the All-Star squad as a replacement having scored 18 times in the 2022 regular season with eight assists, before then adding another goal in the playoffs, he now looks to be eyeing a move across the Atlantic.
Bournemouth and Crystal Palace are also interested from the Premier League, while Championship sides Sheffield United, Middlesbrough and Norwich, as well as Scottish giants Rangers have scouted the goalscorer.
He said in an interview, as quoted by 90min: “Of course, my whole life I’ve always wanted to go to Europe. And for sure, that’s the next step that I want to take.”
Firepower
The well-documented deficiencies in the Everton attack have almost become a cliche at this point, and if Sean Dyche is successful in keeping the club up he is going to need help up front.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s long-term availability, whether due to injury or a move away, can at best be considered a ‘maybe’ at the moment, and while Ellis Simms’ and perhaps even Tom Cannon’s development suggest there are some other options it isn’t enough to rely on for a full season.
Vazquez’s goalscoring exploits last year have certainly drawn a lot of attention, and they got him into the national side where he scored on debut, but Everton would perhaps need to bring him in plus another to feel stocked.
MLS is producing a lot of talent nowadays but a step direct into the Premier League is a big one so it would be a tough task to expect 10-plus league goals out of him straight away.
He hadn’t scored regularly prior to the stellar 2022 campaign, although his previous season was formed almost entirely of appearances off the bench until a run of starts and goals to finish 2021.
Clearly he has talent, and his playing style is considered to be well-suited to English football, so if Everton aren’t 100% sure it seems likely that a move could be on the cards sooner rather than later.