He may be one of the most exciting young strikers around but the 2016/17 season has been something of a write-off for seldom-seen Selke.
With the pop-fuelled RB Leipzig soaring to the top of the Bundesliga table and shaking up a league respected for its fan ownership structures and traditional giants, it’s to be expected that the sharks of the Premier League will be circling.
Why any player would want to leave the North German newcomers is anyone’s guess, however. Arguably, no project in European football is as ambitious, as exciting as the one being undertaken by the two Ralfs, Rangnik and Hasenhutl, in Leipzig.
Yet, according to The Sun, Everton are hoping to convince German youth star Davie Selke that Goodison Park, and a club who slipped ever further behind the European chasing pack after a Merseyside derby defeat on Monday, is a more attractive destination than the club threatening to bring Bayern Munich’s reign crashing down.
You’d be forgiven for classing any potential approach as remarkably ambitious. Yet, after so many of the club’s primary transfer targets slipped through their fingers, with Inter’s Ever Banega the latest to express little interest in a move to Merseyside, just how far down the shopping list was Selke? Do Everton view him as a last resort?
After all, Selke is not an undisputed starter of the chugging Leipzig machine. In fact, he’s only featured in all of 146 Bundesliga minutes all season. Since seizing the Golden Boot and the Golden Player gongs at the under-19 European Championship, the 6ft 3ins striker is yet to make any discernible steps towards fulfilling his early promise.
Yes, time is very much on his side, but the fact that head coach Hasenhutl has often preferred to adopt a strikerless system suggests Selke is not doing enough to force his hand.
The young targetman joined Leipzig in the summer of 2015, dropping down a division after his breakthrough Bundesliga season with Werder Bremen. Yes, you could argue he was searching for a long-term project, a club on the up as opposed to perennial strugglers Bremen.
But the cynics will, and have, accused Selke of chasing the money. If true, the bright lights and the glamour of the Premier League would undoubtedly appeal. Jumping ship after just one season at his first professional club, it seems the 21-year-old is not one for loyalty.
Consequently, it’s difficult to dispel the notion that Selke is not of the right quality, or character, to fit the bill at Goodison. Certainly not when genuine top level stars like Axel Witsel and Banega were so recently at the top of their wishlist.
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