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Report: Everton passed up chance to sign Bordeaux forward Jonathan Cafu

Ronald Koeman, Manager of Everton looks dejected during the Premier League match between Hull City and Everton at KCOM Stadium on December 30, 2016...
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Jonathan Cafu moved to Ligue 1 side Bordeaux from Ludogorets Razgrad as Everton sat back and watched.

Everton's Dutch manager Ronald Koeman gestures on the touchline during the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Everton at Old Trafford in Manchester, north...

Everton’s failure to bring in a real goalscorer this summer has many fans wondering whether spending over a £150 million has even taken the team forward.

The results certainly don’t suggest so, with Everton losing four games in a row in all competitions with an aggregate scoreline of 12-0 to boot. Though L’Equipe (20th September, page 9) reports that The Toffees were only too happy to sit back and let a player they were interested in go elsewhere.

Bordeaux's new Brazilian midfielder Jonathan Cafu poses with his jersey  during his presentation to the press on August 9, 2017, in Le Haillan, southwestern France.

Everton held talks with Ludogorets striker Jonathan Cafu as far back in January and were still interested in the summer, the report claims, but eventually sat back and watched the Brazilian move to Bordeaux for a fee of around £6.6 million.

Whether Cafu would have been the missing link Everton so desperately require is another matter, however.

Title winner

The 26-year-old fired in 14 goals in 46 games in all competitions for Ludogorets, helping them lift the Bulgarian Premier League title last season. But that is far from a prolific tally and it’s fair to say the standard of football in the English league is far higher than its Bulgarian counterpart.

Paris Saint-Germain's French midfielder Blaise Matuidi (L) vies with Ludogorets' Brazilian forward Jonathan Cafu during the UEFA Champions League Group A football match between Paris Saint-...

Furthermore, Cafu hasn’t exactly hit the ground running at Bordeaux either, starting just once and failing to find the back of the net so far.

Quick, direct and a threat coming in from the left, Cafu is in many ways cut from the same cloth as Sandro Ramirez, the Malaga striker who has struggled to adapt since moving to Everton in the summer.

So far, however, there is no reason to suggest Everton have made a mistake.