Che Adams bid from Bournemouth rejected amid Everton transfer talks with Southampton
Southampton have rejected a bid from Bournemouth for Che Adams as Everton chase the striker, according to TEAMtalk.
The outlet reported on their website on Wednesday (2 August) that the Toffees are in a three-way race for the Scotland international, with Wolves also interested, but it is the Cherries who made the first, unsuccessful, move.
Paul Joyce had reported in The Times a day earlier that talks had been held between the Saints and Everton on the subject of Adams and Kamaldeen Sulemana after interest in the opposite direction for Mason Holgate.
The Toffees are set to finally sign a striker this week in the form of 19-year-old Youssef Chermiti from Sporting, but Sean Dyche wants a second, more experienced, option.
So after missing out on Rodrigo from Leeds United and El Bilal Touré from Almeria as a one-two punch of senior and junior forwards, it appears Everton are looking to pair Adams, 27, with Chermiti instead.
Wrong man?
Adams is a solid forward but he always seems to be linked to lower Premier League sides who are in need at the position, so it is possibly instructive that he hasn’t gone anywhere in the past couple of seasons.
He is a one-in-five Premier League goal scorer, with only 25 in 124 appearances over the past four seasons at St. Mary’s.
So unless Dyche has a clear vision for how he would want to use him it seems like an approach that it might be better to let one of the two rival suitors win.
Adams could be another Neal Maupay – fine in the right situation but ineffective when asked to be the main man – and the Toffees don’t want to repeat the miserable campaign the Frenchman had last season after arriving from Brighton a year ago.
Everton largely don’t seem to have a problem in identifying the right targets, with the issue usually arising once it comes to actually securing them.
They will already have been forced to look some way down their list of options in attack this summer, but Adams seems like he could be a hit-or-miss arrival, so with rivals already taking the initiative the time remaining in the window may be better spent focusing elsewhere.
In other Everton news, the club are now trying to keep a player they’ve already agreed the will sell this summer.