Everton have still to make a signing this summer.

One position that new boss Marco Silva might want to improve upon is the centre forward role.

Last season, The Toffees only scored forty-four Premier League goals and that was less than AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United and Crystal Palace all teams that finished in the bottom half of the league table.

Wayne Rooney was the Merseyside club’s top league scorer last term with ten goals but the thirty-two year old moved to MLS side DC United this summer. After Rooney, outcast Oumar Niasse struck eight times and January signing Cenk Tosun grabbed five goals in twelve starts.

The truth of the matter is that Everton failed to replace Romelu Lukaku, who they had sold last summer to Manchester United in a £75m deal.

Maybe Silva can take inspiration from how the Toffees signed Lukaku in 2013.

They signed the Belgian forward on loan after Chelsea had spent big on him but he couldn’t break into their first team. He made an impact at Goodison and he signed on in a permanent move in the summer of 2014.

He’d leave after scoring 87 goals in 166 appearances.

Looking at the current Chelsea squad and they’ve currently got another frustrated young Belgian in their ranks that has struggled to break into the starting line-up.

Michy Batshuayi arrived at The Blues after being a prolific goalscorer in Ligue 1 in France for Olympique Marseille. With the Premier League side, he’s been used mostly as a substitute and he’s still managed to score but maybe not as regularly as he’d want.

He then left London in January, as he joined Borussia Dortmund on a six month loan spell. He impressed in the Bundesliga and ended the campaign with seven strikes in ten league games in Germany.

He followed that up by going to the World Cup with Belgium, playing second fiddle to Lukaku. He managed to grab a goal in the group game against Tunisia as he helped his nation to a third place finish.

His future at Stamford Bridge isn’t assured. It seems that the club don’t want to sell the twenty-four year old but they could be willing to send him out on a season long loan.

Chelsea still have strikers like Oliver Giroud and Alvaro Morata in their ranks and they’ve also been linked with a megabucks move for Juventus hitman Gonzalo Higuian.

Recent reports have linked The Toffees with  loan swoop for Michy.

It would certainly make sense to send another Belgian goalscorer up to Merseyside.

Everton gave Lukaku an opportunity and he more than proved himself up there. Chelsea could hope for similar things with Batshuayi. He could use a move (even a short term one) to Goodison as a springboard to prove himself ready to start week in and week out in the English top flight.

If he grabs the goals for Everton, then Chelsea could bring him back to the Bridge knowing he can do it regularly in the Premier League or they can sell him for a healthy profit next summer.

For Everton, they could finally find a Lukaku replacement.

Michy is a deadly finisher, his eye for goal is a real joy. He’s good with the ball at his feet and running at defenders. The attacker has electric pace to get in behind defences. Plus he possesses strong upper-body strength and that helps him win physical battles with opposition defenders.

After last season’s summer spree, it looks as though Everton won’t splash the cash this pre-season. A loan move that sees them getting a striker with a great scoring pedigree could be too good a move not to pursue.

Antonio Conte didn’t seem to trust Michy Batshuayi but maybe he can finally prove himself in the Premier League somewhere else before finally making it at Chelsea in 2019.

Posted on July 19th, 2018 by scott
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