The phrase ‘panic-buy’ comes to mind when you read that Everton will pay a huge fee for Benfica forward Raul Jimenez.
Though Everton’s defenders certainly deserve credit for withstanding huge pressure from Manchester City in Monday night’s 1-1 draw at The Etihad, it was The Toffees’ forwards who stole the show.
Wayne Rooney, despite swapping United red for Everton blue, once again stepped up to silence City’s home support, sliding the opening goal neatly through the legs of Ederson Moraes.
Meanwhile, Dominic Calvert-Lewin came of age in a textbook centre-forward display, running the channels, bringing his team-mates into play and setting up Rooney’s first-half strike via a clever shimmy which sent Vincent Kompany sprawling onto his backside.
Yet, there’s a nagging feeling that Everton still need that guaranteed 20-goal-a-season striker to replace Romelu Lukaku, The Toffees’ top scorer in each of the last four seasons. It’s a viewpoint manager Ronald Koeman shares.
“If we need to make the next step we need a striker,” the Dutchman told Sky Sports after the game.
Panic buy?
At this stage of the transfer window, however, there are few viable options on the market and even potential signings will see their value ramped up with their current clubs lacking the time to identify a replacement.
Therefore, it’s easy to portray Everton’s continued interest in Benfica striker Raul Jimenez, as reported by Portuguese newspaper Record, as a dreaded ‘panic buy’.
Benfica are known for demanding extortionate fees for their in-demand players and Jimenez is no different, the report claiming that he is valued at around £27 million.
However, the stats hardly suggest that the Mexican international is worth such an amount. Jimenez has lifted the league title with Benfica in each of the last two seasons but a tally of 12 goals in 47 games leaves a lot to be desired.
Furthermore, in a desperate spell at Atletico Madrid in 2014/15, the 26-year-old managed only one goal in 27 games in all competitions.
Hardly the kind of record that will make fans forget all about Lukaku.
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