Everton transfer news: Tom Cannon swap deal for Blackburn Rovers teenager Adam Wharton discussed this summer
Discussions have been held this summer over a potential swap deal involving Everton striker Tom Cannon and Blackburn midfielder Adam Wharton, Mail Plus reports.
There is interest in the Ewood Park teenager during the current window, nominally in case star man Amadou Onana is sold [Alan Nixon via Patreon, 25 June].
The Toffees have already let one of their young strikers leave after Ellis Simms was sold to Coventry, with talks previously held with Swansea over a possible swap between the 22-year-old and Dutch forward Joel Piroe, which ultimately didn’t lead to an agreement.
Now it has emerged that Everton have also considered packaging Cannon, 20, into a deal to sign 19-year-old Wharton in the past “few weeks”.
According to Mail Plus the club currently “need to be creative” in the transfer market due to being “cash-conscious”, but it appears that for now the possible Cannon trade has gone the way of the mooted Simms one and won’t go ahead.
Bargaining chips
Everton certainly seem to be acting pretty liberally with the striking options they currently have at the club this summer, despite it being a position of need already.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s injury issues make it impossible to bank on him staying fit for a sustained period next season, while Neal Maupay’s struggles suggest the fit is simply not right.
Simms was the next man in line under Sean Dyche and he is already gone, and now it looks like Cannon, who scored eight times in half a season on loan at Preston North End last term, is expendable too.
That either suggests their is confidence that new arrivals in the forward positions are on the way or Dyche and Kevin Thelwell are being forced to take risks to be able to fund possible signings.
Cannon may yet end up in the rotation for the new season if a deal isn’t agreed for him in the coming weeks, but whether he stays or goes the current options look very thin.
Supporters are surely banking on Rodrigo arriving from Leeds United sooner rather than later, with some confidence emerging that he can be brought in.
Wharton is a talented youngster, but inexperienced, and it would be big shoes for him to step into if he were signed as an Onana replacement, and sacrificing attacking options to add in midfield perhaps risks leaving the squad even more uneven than it currently is.
In other Everton news, the club have caused “surprise” by tabling a bid that would see them sign a striker permanent deal.