Just when you thought you had seen everything during ‘silly season’ here’s a new one. Mind you, when Everton were splashing the cash last summer we were being linked with just about every footballer between the ages of 15 and 50, but this one is truly bizarro.

As reported by German outlet Aller Zeitung (via SportWitness), football agent Gunther Neuhaus is hopping mad because apparently Everton have bid approximately £19.3 million (€22m) for his client Niclas Füllkrug and he knows nothing about it.

Apparently, ‘an unknown agent’ has made the offer, and ‘Everton are not aware of the offer’ either. Hannover 96 weren’t trying to sell the player either, so this curious state of affairs is indeed strange, so let’s take a look at the player in question to see if there might be something here.

Füllkrug is a tall 25-year-old forward, and the right-footed player is on contract with Hannover until 2020. The Werder Bremen youth system product has been with Hannover since 2016, and plundered 16 goals in 36 games this last season. He also had eight goals in 16 Germany youth team appearances, but has not been called up for the senior side Die Mannschaft.

Everton Angle

Unless the Blues are planning to sell Oumar Niasse, it’s hard to see where Füllkrug fits in behind Cenk Tosun with Dominic Calvert-Lewin waiting in the wings. And this is assuming that Sandro Ramirez is not going to get a chance at the Blues.

Marco Silva wants to play in a 4-3-3 formation which only has limited opportunities for out-and-out strikers, so the Blues being in the running for a center forward is strange unless Niasse and Sandro are indeed gone, in which case a proven goalscorer is a good addition.

Verdict

Don’t get in a tizzy quite yet, the odd manner in which this business is being conducted leads us to believe this could be yet another case of an agent using Everton’s name to either get his client a transfer, or a raise.

Stay tuned.