Allardyce confirms Tosun interest, says Everton looking at many

All the transfer buzz over the last few days has been over Turkish striker Cenk Tosun, so it was inevitable when Sam Allardyce faced the media earlier today that the Besiktas man’s name would come up during his pre-match press conference before Everton headed out to AFC Bournemouth.

Big Sam did not try to deny the reports, but did try to appear nonchalant when Tosun’s name came up.

“Him and many others because we need a front man if we can find one, so we'll be actively looking for a front man in this window. We need more goals in this side than we have at the moment, if we're to just maintain our position.

“We've started to struggle to create chances and score goals in recent matches, it's still one of the major problems we have at the club and we can't cloud the fact we’ve got more penalties than anybody else in the Premier League which has contributed to a massive few points that we’ve picked up over the season.

“That won't always happen so we need to strengthen in our goalscoring areas and for me that means new players.”

He went on to add that his current striking options left a lot to be desired and he was desperately seeking to improve the forward ranks.

“Sandro Ramirez hasn't picked up the pace of the Premier League, and hasn't been able to show what he showed in Spain.

“Oumar Niasse has scored goals but hasn't made a regular place at Everton, he was loan out last year to Hull City.

“Young Dominic Calvert-Lewin is battling away but still his goal record is probably around four and a few assists – he has a bright future but we can't rely on him week in week out at the moment.”

Everton don’t have a necessarily easy fixture schedule to start the new year, so the sooner they get some new faces in and embedded, the quicker they can continue to improve on the pitch and make an impression, especially on the attacking side of the ball where they have been dire at times.