The outlawed Everton striker is in great form for the Toffees Under-23 side, after netting five goals in his last seven games.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman has hinted to the Liverpool Echo that there will be no way back for Toffees’ pariah Oumar Niasse, despite the Senegalese striker’s sparkling form for the club’s Under-23 side.
Niasse moved to Goodison Park from Lokomotiv Moscow for a reported £13.5million fee (as per BBC) in the closing stages of last season’s January transfer window.
However, the out-of-shape forward mustered just 152 minutes of first-team football during the second half of Everton’s Premier League campaign, as he contended with issues over his form and fitness.
After being installed into the Everton hot seat over the summer, widely-respected manager Ronald Koeman immediately made his feelings clear on Niasse’s first-team prospects by opting not to hand the 26-year-old a squad number for the 2016-17 campaign, ruthlessly telling the unfancied big-money striker that he needed to depart the Merseyside club if he liked to play football.
Despite Koeman’s wishes for Niasse to find a new club before the summer transfer window closed, the former Akhisar Belediyespo striker, who signed a lucrative long-term deal with the Toffees less than 12 months ago, opted to reject interest from abroad to stay and fight for his place at Goodison Park, holding on to the faint hope that he may be able to change the Barcelona legend’s mind as the season progressed.
To his credit, Niasse has not sulked since being relegated to Everton’s youth training facilities and forced to play for David Unsworth’s Toffees’ Under-23 side, who play in the Premier League 2, and the striker has fired The Blues’ youngsters to the top of the table with five goals in his last seven games, including a 21-minute hat-trick against Reading last week.
The former Lokomotiv Moscow man’s sparkling form for the club’s second string has sparked calls from some sections of the Toffees’ faithful for him to be recalled to the first team and given an opportunity to impress after failing to get off on the right foot following his exorbitant January move.
However, Niasse’s pipe-dream of salvaging his Everton career now appears to have been dashed entirely, after Koeman told the Liverpool Echo that he stands by his decision to outcast the 26-year-old in the summer, hinting that things will not change, no matter how well he performs for the club’s Under-23 side.
The former Southampton manager said: “I don’t say never in football but that decision I took, that’s not to change. That’s between us.
“I hope he scores a hat trick in the Under-23s every week.”
Football is a strange game, and a succession of injuries to Everton’s forwards could feasibly lead to Niasse being handed an opportunity to impress at some stage this season.
However Koeman’s comments suggest that this remains a highly-improbable scenario, and the Senegalese flop’s days at Goodison Park appear to be numbered, with a January transfer elsewhere looking more and more likely by the week.
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