Greg O’Keeffe has admitted on the All Together Now podcast that he can’t be confident Everton will sign a new striker before the weekend.
Despite losing Richarlison for £60m earlier in the transfer window and Dominic Calvert-Lewin out injured for an extended period of time, Everton and Frank Lampard have failed to bring in a new striker this summer.
This has been reflected in the Toffees’ start to the season, with one point from three games and managing to score just two goals – one of those being an own goal. However, this should perhaps be expected with Anthony Gordon being deployed as a central striker before Salomon Rondon was preferred to lead the line.
O’Keeffe wasn’t able to provide any form of positive transfer news when it came to a new striker arriving.
“You mentioned Brentford, of course, that’s the next game to look towards and I’ve seen us even linked with Ivan Toney last couple days, literally every striker out there we will continue to be linked with.
Will Everton sign a new striker this summer?
Yes!
No!
“I don’t know if one will be imminent before Saturday, I really can’t say with any confidence that that’s something that’s definitely going to happen.
“It has to happen before the end of the window, absolutely has to happen.”
TIF Thoughts on Everton’s need for a striker…
Some Evertonians may claim that it will be difficult to recruit a striker if they know that they’ll be relegated to the bench as soon as Calvert-Lewin is back fit, but there’s no guarantee he will be back to his best at any point this term, just on the basis of how difficult he found getting out of the treatment room last campaign.
Everton have recently been linked with a move for Ben Brereton Diaz, however, that would be a big gamble to take on a player who’s never played higher than Championship level and has only had one standout season in England’s second tier.
If Everton get to 2nd September without a new out-and-out striker having arrived, there will undoubtedly be major concerns about the backing of Farhad Moshiri and also how the club are expected to avoid another relegation battle.