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Reports this morning say that Everton could be going back to the Dutch Eredivisie, this time for a forward to replace Romelu Lukaku. Feyenoord’s Denmark international Nicolai Jorgensen is the player named after his scoring exploits led him to the Dutch Golden Boot title last season.
Nicolai Jorgensen for Feyenoord last season
— Football-Oranje (@FootballOranje_) June 18, 2017
42 matches
25 goals
17 assists
Everton bound? pic.twitter.com/PqVfC29Iuj
Everton are close to completing the signing of Spanish striker Sandro Ramirez, and are expected to stay in the summer transfer window as they will look to replace Lukaku’s 26 goals with a committee of forwards. The Blues have also been linked with Klaassen’s Ajax teammater Kasper Dolberg, Jorgensen’s countryman.
Jorgensen is a tall, lanky centerforward who is 26, and while not expected to be the team’s lead striker, can have an impact role for the Toffees coming on from the bench. The concern comes from the fact that he is not physically imposing enough and his aerial strength is quite average, both areas that he would need to be better at to thrive in the Premier League.
Among the positives though, he has been credited for better decision-making and had an impressive season with Feyenoord, his first in Holland after transferring last summer from FC Copenhagen, and promptly leading them to the Eredivisie title.
Nicolai Jorgensen, Feyenoord 16-17. 19 goals and 11 assists. An IMMENSE first season in the Eredivisie pic.twitter.com/BOHy6w0uAK
— Ted Knutson (@mixedknuts) April 19, 2017
With the additions of Davy Klaassen and Sandro, Ronald Koeman has already shown that he is looking to distribute the workload of creative play and goalscoring across several players. Jorgensen is not going to be the main striker for the Blues, and while €20m seems steep for a backup, the Everton Board has showed that they are willing to support Koeman and Steve Walsh with whatever their needs.
The Dutch league has always been renown for being easy to score in, and the last winner of the Eredivisie Golden Boot, Vincent Janssen, struggled with Tottenham Hotspur this last season.
As always, we’ll trust that Walsh and Koeman have done their homework on the player and will go forward with this pursuit if they feel it the right deal.