Premier League Everton would have to pay a club-record £50m fee to bring Jonathan Ikone to Goodison Park from Ligue 1 outfit Lille.
An explosive right-winger picks up the ball wide on the touchline. He shifts inside, onto his wand of a left foot, and fizzes a shot with power and pinpoint accuracy into the corner of his choosing.
Admit it, your mind conjured up images of Arjen Robben in full flow didn’t it? Well, we were actually talking about a young Frenchman rather than Holland’s ‘bald eagle’.
But not to worry. There are a lot of similarities between one of the finest widemen of the 21st century and Jonathan Ikone, the France international who has left-backs throughout Ligue 1 quaking in their crampons.
According to Le Foot, Everton are set to go head-to-head with Manchester United for Ikone’s signature this summer. The fleet-footed forward is valued at £60 million, a fee that would make the 21-year-old the most expensive signing in Toffees’ history.
But if Ikone goes on to enjoy half the career of Robben, an eleven-time league champion with Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, he will look a snip – even at that staggering price-tag.
With four goals and seven assists in all competitions across 2019/20, Ikone still has work to do on his end product. But a man who tore England apart in last summer’s U21 European Championships, netting a superb solo effort straight out of the Robben playbook, could be the missing piece in an already exhilerating Everton attack.
Ikone, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin; three forwards with limitless potential, all of whom are under 23 years of age. This could one day be an forward line to rival any in the Premier League.
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