Background

According to the Times, Everton are interested in Danny Welbeck. I actually feel unwell having typed that. It is confusing to me that we continue to be linked with strikers given that Cenk Tosun is a fully competent starter, we have a strong backup, and most of the strikers are nowhere near as good as the one everyone thinks we still need to replace: Romelu Lukaku.

If Danny Welbeck was that guy, Arsenal wouldn’t have needed Lacazette and then Aubameyang. If he was even close to that good, Chelsea would have been the ones after him not Olivier Giroud. If he had that kind of potential, he never would have ended up at Arsenal in the first place and he would be playing for Manchester United instead of the aforementioned Lukaku.

I’m going to assume this rumor has no basis in reality, because it simply makes no sense whatsoever.

Player Profile

Who’s ready to pay a homegrown English player premium for a guy with 15 league goals in his last 4176 minutes of league play? Anyone? No?

Okay, what about a striker who has missed 82 games to injury in since fall of 2014?

Everton Angle

Someone of Welbeck’s quality would be an excellent backup striker for Cenk Tosun. Trouble is, Welbeck has been a backup striker for years but still can’t stay healthy enough to keep on the field. The fee probably wouldn’t be that bad considering Welbeck has less than a year left on his deal, but I don’t think he is better than the version of Oumar Niasse we got last season and considering the needs we have elsewhere, the outlay wouldn’t make sense to me.

In the same Times report we were linked to Marco Silva’s former player Richarlison of Watford. Given the news developing about Malcom from Bordeaux, I consider this move extremely unlikely. We aren’t likely to buy two wingers, Richarlison would be prohibitively expensive if the move for Malcolm goes through as expected, and again, we have larger needs elsewhere. In my opinion, this rumor is a non-story until Malcom is resolved one way or another.