Sammie Szmodics will quit Blackburn with Everton transfer on cards already
Sammie Szmodics is a player in demand this summer, and Simon Grayson thinks he could even turn down advances from Everton and other Premier League clubs.
Everton are one of several sides interested in signing the free-scoring Blackburn star this summer after he almost single-handedly kept Rovers in the Championship with 27 league goals.
However, Grayson believes that Szmodics may be better served going to a top-end Championship side, rather than a club at the bottom end of the Premier League – like the Toffees.
Speaking to Football League World, who say Everton are lurking, Grayson said; “he’s had an unbelievable season, the amount of goals and assists. It’s a no-brainer that Blackburn will have to sell him.
“Sammie will want to go, if not to a Premier League club, it might be one at the top end of the Championship with parachute payments.
“(That’s if) he thinks that he’s got more of a chance of going back into the Premier League, rather than maybe going into the Premier League and being a squad player.
Everton should push for Sammie Szmodics transfer
Everton’s financial situation means that signing big-money players from other Premier League clubs looks impossible, so targeting the second tier could be key.
While the Toffees stayed in the Premier League despite two points deductions, they have already lost plenty of attacking talent, with loanees Jack Harrison and Arnaut Danjuma returning to their parent clubs.
A cut-price transfer for striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who is out of contract in 12 months, has also been mooted, meaning that Sean Dyche may be forced to look in obscure places to find a suitable replacement.
Szmodics’ playing style in the Championship doesn’t resemble Calvert-Lewin’s in the slightest, but his brilliant campaign cannot be ignored by a Toffees side who scored the second-lowest number of goals in the Premier League this season.
Abdoulaye Doucoure has often played behind a leading striker like Calvert-Lewin or Beto, but adding Szmodics in that role could have a transformative effect for a side that needs more goals if they’re to avoid another relegation battle next season.
He won’t come cheap, but he’ll come much cheaper than most 33-goal scorers in any other league, and making Szmodics an Everton player would be a solid way for Dyche to begin a crucial summer of business at Goodison Park.
In other Everton news, one star could leave Goodison Park in an “enormous” transfer, if a club’s manager gets sacked.
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