Everton linked with two South American forwards

Everton struggled mightily with scoring after the resumption of the previous Premier League season, and it will come as no surprise that the forwards are coming under some scrutiny for improvement.

While beefing up the midfield will undoubtedly make a big difference in getting the ball upfront beyond hoofing it up front and praying, there are certain players who have underwhelmed and could use some upgrading.

First up in the rumour mill is former Colombia youth international striker Jhon Cordoba who is currently plying his trade in the Bundesliga with FC Koln where he transferred to in the summer of 2017. He scored 14 times in all competitions with three assists in 31 appearances last season as a sole striker, but it was the year before that he shined with 20 goals as he led the side to promotion. Previous to that he had bounced around between Mainz in Germany (where he played alongside Everton’s Jean-Philippe Gbamin) and Granada in Spain.

Per Bulinews (via Kicker), three English sides are all looking at Cordoba with newly promoted sides Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion the other two sides chasing the player. Kicker are a pretty reliable source when Bundesliga news is concerned, so there could be some legs to this one.

The 27-year-old is statistically very similar to the Blues’ incumbent striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin with some key differences, primarily with dribbling and finishing where he’s better than DCL, with the English forward stronger in the air and in retaining possession. While not exactly a typical Brands signing, he might be a relatively cheaper striker option with reported wages of £30,000 per week and a transfer fee of about £10 million with just one year left on his current deal.

Football Slices

The second player linked again is one we’ve heard of before, and whose name pretty much makes him a surefire fan favourite were the Blues to really go after him - Everton Soares aka Everton Cebolinha.

The 24-year-old left winger has been a popular player to link to the Blues and apparently the Toffees have reciprocated that interest if Portuguese media sources are to be believed. Gremio club president Romildo Bolzan had previously claimed that Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti was interested in the player, and now indirectly new Benfica manager Jorge Jesus (who was once linked with the Everton manager’s job) has claimed the Toffees are in the running for Everton as is his side along with an unnamed German side, per an interview done with A Bola.

The Gremio forward had an excellent 2018-19 campaign scoring 14 times with 7 assists in a left-sided role in a 4-2-3-1 formation with the 2019-20 season curtailed due to the coronavirus pandemic. He’s since made his Brazil debut as well alongside Richarlison, with three goals in 14 appearances. The Blues’ left side has been a bit of a weakness in the 4-4-2 formation with Ancelotti shielding youngster Anthony Gordon and starter Bernard struggling to match up to the physical nature of the English game.

Theo Walcott has often been criticized by Evertonians for his lack of contributions on the right, but looking at the numbers from the last two seasons, Bernard has barely contributed much himself, with the two players hardly any better than the average player denoted by the shaded white area in the graphic below.

understat

We are yet to hear anything concrete regarding any of Everton’s summer transfer targets, but if I was a betting man, I’d wager both of these areas mentioned above will see a new face or two.