With Olivier Giroud staying with Arsenal, could Wayne Rooney be the striker Everton need in any case?
Olivier Giroud will not be joining Everton this summer, reports the Guardian, with manager Ronald Koeman no longer believing there is a possibility with the striker now happy with his role at Arsenal.
It means Koeman will have to look elsewhere to fill the number nine role at Goodison Park, with the Dutchman admitting the club remains in the transfer market despite completing a £45m deal (BBC) to sign Gylfi Sigurdsson from Swansea City.
Olivier Giroud of Arsenal.
“We still need to sign a striker,” the 54-year-old said.
“Everybody knows that we lost Romelu Lukaku. We brought in Wayne Rooney, Sandro Ramírez and now Gylfi, and maybe they can share the goals around more than happened last season, but we still need another one to play the number nine.”
That leaves Crystal Palace’s Christian Benteke, who the Liverpool Echo reports is the only other major target on Koeman’s wishlist remaining.
Yet despite the Toffees boss specifying otherwise, could Rooney actually be the number nine that the Merseyside club is looking for – especially after an opening day winner against Stoke City?
The 31-year-old has been dropping deeper and deeper as his career has advanced, but 199 Premier League goals in 461 games shows he is no slouch in the box.
Perhaps Rooney, like his former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo has done at Real Madrid, could use the fact he is no longer physically able to move about the pitch as he used to, to become a poacher rather than an attacking midfielder. After all, Sigurdsson is there to do that job now.
Wayne Rooney of Everton during the Premier League match against Stoke City.
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