Everton now in talks to sign Che Adams from Southampton with one striker deal all but done – Paul Joyce
Everton are in talks to sign Southampton striker Che Adams as a deal for Sporting Lisbon’s Youssef Chermiti is expected to be completed next week, according to Paul Joyce.
The Times journalist reported (1 August) that the Toffees have spoken with the Saints directly regarding Adams and Ghanaian international Kamaldeen Suleman as they bid to improve their attacking lineup.
A deal for Chermiti is reportedly set to arrive from the Portuguese outfit for £12.8million [Record], but Adams could be set to return to the Premier League following his relegation with the Saints last season.
Risky
While Everton needs to be looking for shrewd buys due to their tight transfer budget, a move for Adams could be a risk.
He came to St Mary’s Stadium with a lot of expectations after a 22-goal haul in the Championship with Birmingham City in 2018/19 but has not kicked on to reach these goalscoring heights in the Premier League for the south coast side since.
While his potential fee is unknown at this time, Southampton would look to reclaim as much of the £15million they spent on him as they can. He would be a very able body in the Championship and Southampton would be reluctant to lose him amid continuing links of James Ward-Prowse’s departure [Daily Record].
That being said, he has regularly scored more than five goals per season in the league, so for a good price he could prove to be valuable for an Everton side in dire need of more firepower up front.
With Dominic Calvert-Lewin already at the club as their top striker, and the addition of Arnaut Danjuma on loan from Villarreal and the soon-to-be-competed deal for Chermiti, perhaps Adams would struggle to gain minutes for Everton next season with such strong competition around him.
What may set the 27-year-old apart from the other options is his ability to play across the entire front line, as he did regularly for Southampton last season [Transfermarkt], meaning he could be a useful option for Sean Dyche.
But it is still a risk, depending on how much the Saints want for his signature. Time will tell but perhaps Everton would be wiser to invest in new areas of their squad.
In other Everton news, a manager has predicted the future of Dele Alli, claiming that he can recover from his injury woes.