Premier League giants Everton once showed an interest in Russia international striker Fedor Smolov, former Toffees scout Pavel Kucherov has told Soccer.
Exactly when Everton came calling for the now 31-year-old forward… well, Kucherov opted to omit that particular detail.
But when you consider Kucherov worked at Goodison Park between October 2017 and July 2018, we can only assume an approach for Smolov was made at some point during the short-lived reign of Sam Allardyce.
Did Everton see Smolov, who was scoring goals for fun at Krasnodar at the time, as a potential alternative to Cenk Tosun?
The former Besiktas talisman would eventually move to Merseyside in a £27 million deal in January 2018.
But if things had been different, would it have been Smolov rather than Tosun who put pen to paper with one of Britain’s best supported clubs?
What became of Everton’s interest in Fedor Smolov?
“At Everton they asked me about Smolov, my opinion,” says Kucherov, who also worked as a talent-spotter at Arsenal before his spell in the north west.
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The silky Smolov was also heavily linked with a £15 million move to West Ham United, at the time via The Mirror, but eventually stayed in Russia, joining Lokomotiv Moscow instead.
“The Russian system does not encourage players to leave,” Kucherov adds.
“Because it means risk, more work, uncertainty and, most likely, less money. Therefore, the guys get stuck in Russia. And gradually they became uninteresting to European clubs.”
Kucherov’s explanation may give you an idea as to why Smolov’s name has been absent from the gossip columns in recent seasons.
Then again, the fact he’s scored just 16 goals in 57 Russian Premier League games for Lokomotiv Moscow may be another factor.
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