With history of promoting Championship players into their team, should Everton genuinely take a closer look at Nottingham Forest star Britt Assombalonga?
Everton are on the verge of losing their top-scorer for the past two seasons, with the BBC reporting Manchester United have agreed a £75m fee for Romelu Lukaku.
Replacing the striker is clearly not going to be easy and the Metro claims that manager Ronald Koeman has already been in contact with Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud about whether he can fill Lukaku’s shoes.
Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud
Yet could the Toffees instead follow a path that has been so productive for them in the past and take a risk on a Championship player as yet unproven in the top flight?
The Mirror report that Nottingham Forest forward Britt Assombalonga, a target for Burnley and Middlesbrough, could be allowed to leave the City Ground for around £15m.
Fans at Goodison Park may think it laughable that a Europa League club would target a player like Assombalonga, but then the same could have been said of Tim Cahill back in 2004.
Admittedly the Merseyside outfit had just finished 17th and not seventh, but Cahill would be a instrumental in them recording their best Premier League finish to date of fourth, the very next season.
During eight years at Everton, Cahill would become a club legend, but at the time of his signing he was a 25-year-old who only had experience in the second tier of English football.
Assombalonga is 24 and not only that – with his proneness to injuries perhaps the only concern – he has excelled at every level he has played at to date and so until proven otherwise, there is no reason to think he could not succeed in the top flight as well.
Nottingham Forests Britt Assombalonga celebrates scoring his sides third goal
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