Everton still shopping for goals in Italy

For whatever reason, Steve Walsh and Ronald Koeman have set their summer sights on raiding Serie A for all its most undervalued and underrated talent. While no deals out of Italy look imminent, Everton have scouted and discussed the likes of Marcelo Brozovic and Jeison Murillo at Inter Milan, Carlos Bacca and M’Baye Niang at AC Milan, and perhaps even Mario Lemina at Juventus.

Today, both Tutto Mercato and Marca are reporting that Everton have registered serious interest in Sampdoria forward Luis Muriel.

Sevilla are also interested, but Marca states that the Blues are now a major obstacle in their pursuit.

via WhoScored

Muriel, 26, will be no stranger to fans of EA Sports’ FIFA series. Valued at around €17 million, the Colombian scored 13 times this past season, and added 9 assists. That kind of all-around game would be more than welcome at Goodison Park.

A strike force of Luis Muriel and Sandro Ramirez could be lethal, albeit somewhat undersized compared to what Everton have grown accustomed to. Muriel is 5’10”, while Sandro checks in at 5’9”.

Muriel has bounced around clubs during his career, but the talent is clearly there - 61 goals and 40 assists in 199 top flight appearances says as much.

We’ll see where this goes, but it remains obvious that Sandro alone will not cut it in the mind of Ronald Koeman.