Stan Collymore believes that Everton should have moved for Crystal Palace forward Christian Benteke in the summer and that he would have helped solve their problems in attack.
The Toffees are currently struggling for goals in their side and are yet to replace Romelu Lukaku following his sale to Manchester United.
Ronald Koeman has resorted to youngster Dominic Calvert-Lewin to spearhead the attack, while Oumar Niasse has even returned to the first team.
The Merseyside club didn’t buy a centre-forward in the summer transfer window and it has left them with a blatant gap in their squad.
Collymore has stated that Everton should have moved for Benteke and believes he would have been available for around the £27million Crystal Palace originally paid for him.
“A Fernando Llorente, an Olivier Giroud or a Christian Benteke should have been their No.1 target after letting the big Belgian (Lukaku) go,” Collymore wrote in the Mirror. “I’m certain Benteke would have been gettable for not much more than Crystal Palace paid for him.
“And having seen him at Aston Villa I’m convinced he’d have been tailor-made for Ronald Koeman’s side.
He has pace, holds the ball up well, brings others into the game, and he’s good in the air. They haven’t anyone who does that and it’s the obvious weak link in their side.”
Benteke is currently sidelined with a knee injury, but is a part of a Palace side that have lost all seven Premier League games so far without even registering a goal.
However, he has a decent record in the English top flight and has 66 league goals in 160 games during spells with Aston Villa, Palace and Liverpool.
OPINION
Everton are in clear need of a recognised central striker and will have to make do until at least January without one. Niasse is arguably the best option at Goodison Park to play the central role and allow the creative players to work behind him. Koeman’s side have made a shock start to the season and a big reason behind them sitting 16th in the Premier League table is their struggle in attack. Lukaku was always going to be a hard figure to replace, but the Toffees didn’t buy a like for like replacement in the transfer market.