Everton could banish relegation fears by signing Danny Ings from West Ham
Everton are without a point and indeed a goal across their opening three Premier League games of the season.
Even once a £30million deal for Udinese forward Beto goes through, it could be argued the Toffees are still a striker short – hence links with West Ham’s Danny Ings.
Youssef Chermiti has also arrived from Sporting Lisbon this summer, but he has just nine senior league starts to his name.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin simply cannot catch a break, meanwhile, and the less said about Neal Maupay’s time at Goodison Park the better.
Everton are stronger in the final third than they were at the end of last season when also factoring in the arrivals of Jack Harrison and Arnaut Danjuma.
But neither of those will reach double figures for Premier League goals this season, nor will the untested Chermiti or injury-prone Calvert-Lewin.
While links with West Ham’s Ings may seem surprising on the face of it, it is a transfer that makes sense from Everton’s perspective – and indeed the player’s.
According to David Maddock, via The Mirror’s transfer blog [28 August, 10:05pm], Everton have enquired about Ings’ availability.
The aforementioned Beto looks a promising addition, having scored 21 Serie A goals since the start of last season, but it is a risk for the Toffees.
Ings, on the other hand, is an experienced Premier League player following spells with Burnley, Liverpool, Southampton, Aston Villa and West Ham.
The three-cap England international may only have scored two goals in 18 league outings for West Ham, but just seven of those have been starts.
Indeed, Ings scored six goals in 18 appearances for Villa in the first half of last season at a rate of 0.66 per 90 minutes [FBref].
The season before, Ings scored 0.33 goals per 90 in the Premier League, and 0.50 in his final campaign at Southampton in 2020-21.
To put that in some perspective, Dwight McNeil was the best-performing attacker last season of those still at Everton, scoring 0.25 goals per 90.
Having only just turned 31, Ings still has time on his side and a move away from the London Stadium may help to revive his career.
Given West Ham paid £15m to sign him from Villa in February, it is likely that Everton would have to pay a similar amount if they wish to land Ings.
But it could be money well spent if they can bring in Beto and Ings for a combined £45m.
After all, without goals they will miss out on a sum of money far larger than that when they are inevitably relegated at the end of the campaign.
In other Everton news, the Toffees could land another of their targets for a cut-price fee in the final few days of the transfer window.