Despite Everton’s superior finances, do Besitkas club have advantages in Cedric Bakambu chase?

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Everton may need a new centre-forward in the summer and the Villarreal striker fits the bill.

Whether they want to be or not, Everton could be forced into the market for a striker this summer.

As it stands, they are facing up to the very real prospect of talismanic top scorer Romelu Lukaku plying his trade away from Goodison Park next season after rejecting a new contract, as reported by The Guardian.

Furthermore, with Enner Valencia netting just three goals all season and being used sparsely by Ronald Koeman, it appears unlikely that they will shell out the £14.5 million to make his loan from West Ham permanent, the BBC reports.

Consequently, The Sun claimed that Koeman is already planning ahead by expressing an interest in Villarreal’s £25 million-rated striker Cedric Bakambu.

Though he has endured an injury-hit second season on the Castellon coast, the powerful centre-forward netted 21 goals in a stunning debut campaign to guide Villarreal to fourth in La Liga and the Europa League semi-finals.

However, when a striker of Bakambu’s quality enters the market, it’s not often that a club has the luxury of attempting to conclude a deal unopposed.

And with on-loan Porto powerhouse Vincent Aboubakar unlikely to stay next season, Turkish Football reported that Besiktas were interested in bringing the former Bursaspor hitman back to the Super Lig.

And the Istanbul side appeared to hold two major advantages over Everton. Firstly, Bakambu has an excellent relationship with Besiktas coach Senol Gunes (below), who got the best out of him at Bursaspor and helped him earn a move to La Liga.

Secondly, Besiktas are top of the Turkish league table and therefore have a great chance of qualifying for the Champions League next season. Everton, as it stands, will be forced to settle for the Europa League.

However, a potential sticking point is that the league leaders are unwilling to pay Villarreal’s £25 million asking price, Turkish Football reports.

Everton, backed by billionaire Farhad Moshiri and with the possibility of earning a huge influx of cash with the potential sale of Lukaku, would surely not think twice.