Express Sport journalist Ryan Taylor has been speaking on his YouTube channel about the work Everton are doing behind the scenes during the January transfer window.
The Toffees are not messing about this month, having already brought Vitalii Mykolenko and Nathan Patterson for a combined total of £33 million – and their transfer activity is seemingly showing no signs of slowing down, with Anwar El Ghazi close to completing a move, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Would El Ghazi be an upgrade at Everton?
Yes!
No!
It was necessary for Everton to go out and back Rafael Benitez in the transfer market, as over the summer he completed some shrewd pieces of business on an extremely limited budget, with recent arrivals Andros Townsend and Demarai Gray having netted eight goals and registered four assists between them in the league this season.
Taylor has claimed that the Toffees aren’t done in the transfer market just yet.
“Given the amount of cash they’ve wasted in previous times and the ongoing developments at Bramley-Moore Dock with the new stadium, I get the sense cash is kind of restricted, particularly after last summer’s business, when they were literally signing players for peanuts – Asmir Begovic, Gray, Townsend – who have all, to their credit, been decent acquisitions.
“So that’s what I know on Everton, but like I said, similarly with Newcastle, [there is] stuff going on behind the scenes. I do believe Everton want two or three more as well, and I believe they’ll get them.”
TIF Thoughts on Everton’s transfer business…
Everton are just eight points above the bottom three and have won just one game in their previous 12 league matches, so there was obviously a need to improve their squad, especially with Aston Villa signing Lucas Digne – the player who created the second-most goal-creating actions last season at the club (FBRef).
El Ghazi could prove to be a very left-field yet shrewd piece of business if Everton and Benitez can pull it off, as he scored 10 league goals in just 17 starts last season – something that many may not have been aware of, so he could potentially provide goals and take the pressure off the returning Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
In other news: ‘From what I understand’ – Journalist reveals another new Everton target who ‘Benitez loves’