Cheick Diabate is free-agent right now and has been reportedly considered by Everton.
Oumar Niasse might have come to Everton’s rescue on Saturday by scoring twice in five minutes to inspire a 2-1 turnaround victory against Bournemouth but there’s still a long way to go until the January transfer window.
And there’s no telling whether Niasse’s match-winning display, his first Premier League outing for Everton since Ronald Koeman took over, was a flash in the pan or a start of something special.
Either way, it is clear that The Toffees need another centre-forward after failing to adequately replace Romelu Lukaku but the question is whether they will wait until the winter or instead dip into the free-agent market to solve a problem position.
The Sun reports that Crystal Palace are considering a deal for Malian striker Cheick Diabate to solve their goalscoring woes after the news that Christian Benteke will be out of action for six weeks with a knee injury.
The report adds that Everton have been interested in the 29-year-old and you wonder whether they will also consider offering him a deal to tide The Toffees over until the January transfer window.
Diabate, who has not found a club since leaving Turkish side Osmanlispor in the summer, scored goals at an impressive rate in France’s Ligue 1, averaging almost a goal-every-other-game in his final three seasons at Bordeaux before dragging struggling Metz to survival last season with a remarkable eight strikes in 14 fixtures after arriving in January.
Yet, he would not be a signing that necessarily gets fans pulses racing and would perhaps only exacerbate the feeling that Everton’s failure to adequately reinforce their striking department in the summer had left them in a rather desperate situation.
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