Everton boss Frank Lampard has revealed that his ‘priority’ for signings in January is in the attacking area.
The Toffees are currently 17th in the Premier League and are only one point above the relegation zone.
Scoring goals is an area where Lampard’s side have really struggled this season. They’ve only found the net 12 times this term – only Wolves have scored fewer in the league so far.
Main striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin has suffered a number of injuries throughout his time with Everton, and while they signed Neal Maupay from Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer, he only has one Premier League goal to his name this season.
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, Lampard knows that getting goals is the issue.
He said: “The reality is we will try and do the business that we can with an understanding of what we want to do – we want to help the squad in attacking areas, that is clearly the area that we want to help as a priority.”
TIF Thoughts on Lampard’s comments…
We agree with Lampard’s assessment and believe that Everton need to look in the attacking area when the January window gets underway. Wingers Anthony Gordon and Demarai Gray are their top scorers this season, but only with three goals apiece.
Whether the owners will back the manager or not remains to be seen. However, we feel they should definitely give Lampard the funds to bring in some new attackers.
One attacking winger they’ve been linked with is Samuel Chukwueze of Villarreal. Recent reports from Spain (via Sport Witness) stated that the Toffees were potentially reigniting their interest in him.
The stats don’t look great for Chukwueze, as he only has one La Liga assist this season and zero goals to his name. However, if they can utilise his immense dribbling skills, he could be an asset – as the Nigerian ranks in the 98th percentile for dribbles completed (FBref) for attackers and wingers over the last year.
As far as linked strikers are concerned, Chelsea’s Armando Broja is one who has been mentioned, with journalist Ben Jacobs stating that Everton were looking at a potential loan.
Broja’s goal return hasn’t been great in the last couple of seasons. He’s got one goal for Chelsea this season and only scored six times on loan at Southampton, so could be more of a risk – but that is potentially what is needed at Everton as another relegation fight looms.