Everton have left it late in terms of defensive recruitments but they could pull off a masterstroke by signing James Tarkowski.
Everton have had a hugely impressive transfer window so far with the addition of Moise Kean from Juventus and Jean-Phillipe Gbamin from Mainz. Marco Silva’s side look dangerous going forward but their defence remains to be an area of massive concern.
Kurt Zouma has returned to Chelsea where he is expected to have a role to play due to their transfer ban. Club icon Phil Jagielka has moved on to newly-promoted Sheffield United which leaves Everton with just Michael Keane and Yerry Mina as the club’s experienced centre-half options.
Mason Holgate and Matthew Pennington are clearly not ready to take over the reins while Mina’s injury woes make him a liability to depend on for the whole campaign. Everton have less than two days to bring in a new centre-half before the transfer window shuts and it will certainly be a race against time.
The Toffees need to find quality quickly and one player who has been in and around the transfer news all summer is Burnley’s James Tarkowski. The 26-year-old Englishman was heavily linked with a move to Leicester City to replace Harry Maguire but Sky Sports reported yesterday that the Foxes have decided to look elsewhere.
The Clarets will play hardball and will demand a fee upwards of £40million according to the report from Sky Sports but Everton have shown that they aren’t too afraid to splash the cash. The Toffees have done big-money business with Burnley before when they signed Michael Keane two years ago and that relationship in the final hours of the transfer window could prove to be of massive importance.
Signing Tarkowski would complete a remarkable transfer window for Everton. And reuniting Keane with his former Burnley teammate could lead to a formidable partnership in defence for both the Toffees as well as for England in the coming years.
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