The sight of Jonjoe Kenny being run ragged by Dejan Kulusevski, as Everton were thumped 5-0 away from home at Tottenham Hotspur, appeared to sum up the club’s recent record in the transfer market. A record that, if we are being kind, leaves a lot to be desired.
Kenny, after all, isn’t even a left-back. Furthermore, he’d spent the last couple of transfer windows with a ‘for sale’ sign hanging around his neck, like the dilapidated, water-damaged old house at the end of the street no one wants to buy.
And, until mid-December, Kenny had played just ten minutes of Premier League football all season. Yet, here he was, starting a fourth league game in a row, in an unnatural position, as Everton hurtled into rock bottom in the capital.
But while the lack of quality left-backs at Goodison Park has been held up as an example of the club’s frankly alarming record in the transfer market, the lack of competition for Dominic Calvert-Lewin at the other end of the pitch tells a similar story.
If we don’t count Richarlison – who remains at his most effective coming in from the left – then there are four first-team centre-forwards on Everton’s books. One of those, Salomon Rondon, has disappointed and could be set for an immediate exit now that his old Newcastle manager, Rafa Benitez, is no longer in the Goodison Park dugout.
Cenk Tosun’s contract expires in July.
What’s more, Calvert-Lewin could be on his way too. According to The Sun (27 March, page 67), there is now a very real chance that Everton’s most influential number nine could join a Premier League rival this summer.
Is Joshua Zirkzee finally heading to the Premier League?
But regardless of whether or not Calvert-Lewin heads for the exit, a finding a new striker is starting to feel like a task that Everton cannot afford to keep shoving into the background.
The potential availability of Joshua Zirkzee, then, could come in very handy indeed.
“I could have gone to Everton. They pushed hard but breaking through (into the first team) in England is difficult,” explains the Netherlands U21 international when asked why he chose Bayern Munich over the Toffees in the summer of 2018.
“Bayern was different. They really wanted me. Bayern made a great effort. Who would say no?”
Certainly not Zirkzee. Though, with Robert Lewandowski ageing like the finest bottle of Romanée-Conti, opportunities at Allianz Arena have been in short supply of late.
Zirkzee is currently on loan at Anderlecht – scoring 15 goals and setting up nine more under Vincent Kompany – but is already weighing up his future ahead of the summer.
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‘Doesn’t make sense to return’
“I don’t think it makes sense to return to Bayern,” Zirkzee tells NOS. “I just want to play. We’ll see where to continue after the season and then I’ll talk to Bayern.”
2018 was not the only time Everton tried to sign Zirkzee. The Toffees made a £9 million bid in January 2021, too, before he joined Parma on another short-term deal.
This time around, Zirkzee is thinking longer term. And Everton, even if Calvert-Lewin stays, could offer him the regular first-team football he so obviously craves.
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