Should Everton join the race for Southampton’s Charlie Austin?

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Should Everton take a look at Southampton’s Charlie Austin as an alternative to Callum Wilson?

There are a queue of teams waiting to sign Charlie Austin this summer if Southampton are relegated from the Premier League.

According to the Mirror, Aston Villa, Bournemouth and Leicester City are all considering a move for Austin, who remains the Saints’ top-scorer this season despite missing three months with a hamstring injury.

Villa’s chances probably rely on them being promoted from the Championship, while Cherries boss Eddie Howe has been an admirer of the striker since his non-league days and he worked under Leicester manager Claude Puel at St Mary’s last term.

Who else should be looking?

The Sun reports that Everton are on the hunt for a new forward and are weighing up the prospect of trying to sign Callum Wilson – who has a £25m price-tag.

Yet should the Toffees take a look at Austin themselves, who although turns 29 in July has been a consistent goalscorer at whatever level he has played at throughout his career.

With Burnley, QPR and Swindon Town the Englishman had a scoring rate of around one every two games and it’s about one in three for Southampton; while in 74 Premier League outings he has 31 goals.