OPINION
Everton have had a Romelu Lukaku-shaped hole ever since he left for Manchester United in 2017, so you would assume that the club would be scrambling to find a replacement of the same quality.
Those replacements were Cenk Tosun and Oumar Niasse – two strikers who have been worrying underwhelming considering they are playing in the Premier League.
Young forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin has undoubtedly been doing his best recently to fill the void, but the responsibility of scoring regularly should not be solely rested on his shoulders.
The fans know that the Toffees need to recruit a new striker, but they will be rather bewildered when they hear Marco Silva’s stance on signing one in the January transfer window.
“This is always a difficult market. If we are not 100 per cent, we have to be at least 95 per cent sure they will come here to improve our squad,” he said, as quoted by the Telegraph.
“If you can do everything well during the summer, it would be better so then you don’t have to change many, many things. If you have a bad injury or something special happens, then you can attack the market.
“If you have to buy very good players in January, you have to spend more than in the summer, that is for sure. It is always tough. I understand this point of view and questions about a striker, but what I can tell you is Richarlison has scored nine goals.”
Silva is basically hinting that he is willing to wait until the summer to sign someone new in this department – a move that could potentially spell disaster for the club.
He is right in saying that Richarlison has been good in terms of scoring goals, but everyone knows that he best position is on the wing – which leaves the centre-forward role pretty much vacant.
The manager is wrong to wait so long to sign a player in a position they so desperately need reinforcements in – in fact, he is pretty much condemning the team to failure.
A striker needs to be signed as soon as possible, as the fans will no doubt be seething after hearing Silva’s stance on a potential swoop.