Everton are crying out for a striker and it looks as if Benfica frontman Raul Jimenez is one of the top names on their radar.
The future of Benfica striker Raul Jimenez was one of the most long-running sagas of the summer transfer window with speculation flying around even after the August deadline.
The Sun reported in early September that Everton failed with a deadline day loan bid for the Mexican international – despite the fact The Toffees were willing to pay £2 million to take Jimenez to Goodison Park on a temporary basis.
On initial inspection, Everton’s desperate attempts to land Jimenez appeared to make little sense. After all, he was only third choice at Benfica last season and is hardly renowned for an excellent scoring record, famously finding the back of the net just once in 27 games for Atletico Madrid in 2014/15.
Therefore, Benfica demanding an obscene fee of £46 million should have been enough to ward off potential suitors and explains why Everton only attempted to sign him on loan after having a bid of £27.5 million rejected earlier in the window, per The Sun.
Yet, Everton may not be ready to accept defeat just yet. Record claims that The Toffees sent scouts to watch Benfica crash to a shock 2-1 defeat against Boavista on Sunday, with Jimenez coming off the bench to little effect in the final ten minutes.
If there’s one lesson Everton have learned in the first few weeks of the new season, it is that a centre forward cannot arrive soon enough at Goodison Park. They have failed to score a single goal in a four match losing run.
And while Jimenez is hardly the most prolific striker and most definitely overpriced, he would at least add the presence and physicality Everton are missing in the absence of Romelu Lukaku.
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