Liverpool, Chelsea stars on 10-man shortlist for ‘marquee’ Everton signing
Everton are suddenly looking in pretty decent shape, what with the new stadium, the Friedkin takeover and David Moyes returning to pick up where he left off in 2013.
And reports suggest there will be āsignificant spendingā this summer, most likely post-June in the new PSR window, with Bramley-Moore Dock set to bring in an extra Ā£40m in revenue from next season.
They would love a āmarqueeā signing to usher in the new era, and weāve picked out ten players who either are on their shortlist or should be ahead of the Friedkin-Moyes rebuild.
Sean Longstaff (Newcastle)
The 27-year-old (how is he 27?!) has made just eight Premier League starts this season and has very little hope of an increase in game time at Newcastle without injury issues plaguing the outstanding midfield trio of Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton.
Heās also far too good a footballer to not be playing regularly in the top flight, with the players not quite at the required level for the big teams the exact transfer sweet spot Everton should be hitting this summer.
Chris Rigg (Sunderland)
Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham have also been linked with the 17-year-old, but even given their respective recent woes that feels like far too much too soon for the teenager amid reports claiming Everton are āleading the raceā anyway.
And thereās no doubt that young players should be high on the agenda for Everton, who have the third-highest average age of starting XIās in the Premier League this season at 27.6, below just West Ham (27.7) and Fulham (27.8).
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Raheem Sterling (Chelsea)
His Ā£325,000 per week wages are a pretty significant stumbling block to any deal, but it could happen on loan and maybe Sterlingās willing to take what would have to be a very big pay cut in the hope of bringing to an end what must have been a harrowing period for him mentally, at Chelsea and on loan at Arsenal.
We would love to see him a) playing football, and b) doing so with a smile on his face, because an on-song Sterling is an engrossing watch. And Moyes may well fancy his chances of getting the winger out of a similar funk Jesse Lingard found himself in at Manchester United before his superb run for West Ham in 2021.
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David Hancko (Feyenoord)
Itās claimed the Friedkins want to ābuild their defenceā around Hancko, whom Feyenoord value at around Ā£34m, which makes sense as heās a very good defender. But being a very good defender also means that Juventus, Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid are keeping tabs on the 27-year-old, and without wanting to be too harsh, Everton have no f***ing chance in that four-club battle.
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Harvey Elliott (Liverpool)
While Liverpool fans may not take too kindly to Elliottās move across Stanley Park, the England U21 international owes Liverpool nothing and may soon come to realise that no amount of commitment to the cause is going to persuade Arne Slot to hand him starts ahead of either Mohamed Salah or Dominik Szoboszlai.
We can say with a fair degree of certainty that he wonāt play any more next season than he did this term, and quite possibly less as Liverpool look to bolster their squad this summer. He is currently wasting a career that could be spent as a star player for a team that values his quality, like Everton.
Christian Eriksen (Manchester United)
The 33-year-old said last month that heās āprepared to find something newā when his Manchester United contract expires this summer; possible something that doesnāt involved him being flogged in a double pivot that heās entirely unsuited to.
Promoted pair Burnley and Leeds may well be considering him as an option to avoid a yo-yo back to the Championship but he may be setting his sights a little higher than that, and we have no problems imagining him spraying passes around the new Everton stadium.
Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest)
Heās played a major role in Forestās push to qualify for the Champions League, scoring a remarkable 19 Premier League goals, and yet weāre not sure even he could imagine himself playing in the Champions League should they get there. Reports claiming Evangelos Marinakis has his eye on Sporting goal-machine Viktor Gyokeres suggests heās of a similar mind.
Everton very simply need any striker who can score goals and Wood is that, as well as being the sort of striker Moyes likes. We can see that Ward-Prowse to Wood pipeline being hugely profitable.
Mika Biereth (Monaco)
Biereth was poached by Arsenal from the Fulham academy in 2021 but never made a senior start for the Gunners, moving to Sturm Graz in a permanent Ā£7.5m transfer last summer after a series of loan moves before Monaco paid the Austrian side Ā£11m in January for the 22-year-old.
After 12 goals in just 13 Ligue 1 games, including three hat-tricks, we wonder whether striker-less Arsenal are now regretting their decision to sell one of the most in-form goalscorers in Europe, whoās got 26 in 41 appearances in all competitions for both clubs this term.
Despite that fine form, Biereth doesnāt appear to be on the radar of the big boys as of yet, giving Everton a decent chance of landing a striker who could be worth a helluva lot more in a couple of seasonsā time than the supposed āsignificant feeā Monaco want for him in the summer.
James Ward-Prowse (West Ham)
Signed by Moyes at West Ham for Ā£30m from Southampton, Ward-Prowse becameĀ theĀ key cog in the Scotās midfield, making 52 appearances as a set-piece specialist, seemingly scoring with every free-kick he took and laying on 12 assists on top of his seven goals.
You may be questioning whether Ward-Prowse could really be heralded as a āmarqueeā addition, and we take the point, but we werenāt about to leave out the most David Moyes Player in the Premier League.
Richarlison (Tottenham)
This might be a heart-ruling-head transfer as Richarlison has looked half the player he was when he left Everton during the majority of his time at Tottenham. Itās unclear how much of his diminished return is down to injury and playing for Spurs though, and with Daniel Levy likely willing to listen to relatively meagre offers in order to get the Brazilian off the wage bill, at still only 27 years old a feelings-based transfer wouldnāt be the worst idea.
