Everton have long been admirers of Italy forward Manolo Gabbiadini – but Southampton beat them to his signature in January.
Barely a day went by around the winter transfer window that Everton were not linked with a move for Napoli misfit Manolo Gabbiadini. The Mirror reported in December that The Toffees’ boss Ronald Koeman was a huge fan of the technically gifted frontman and wanted to revive his interest in January – despite seeing a £14.5 million bid rejected.
In the end, Gabbiadini did swap Naples for England – but arrived on the South Coast rather than Merseyside. Sky Sports reports that Southampton paid a club-record £17 million to sign the Italy international and, for the first few weeks at least, Gabbiadini looked a bargain.
The 25-year-old netted six times in his first four games for The Saints, including a clinical brace in their eventual 3-2 EFL Cup final defeat to a Zlatan Ibrahimovic-inspired Manchester United.
Until injury curtailed his progress in its tracks, however. Since mid-March, Gabbiadini has hit the back of the net just once in 14 games – though he has not been helped in a toothless Saints side who struggle to create clear goalscoring opportunities and was left on the bench for the 1-0 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Barren run but the perfect signing
Therefore, you wonder whether Gabbiadini would have been better off at Everton after all. The Toffees could certainly do with a striker in his mould, strong, technical and an natural-born goal-poacher.
They have failed to score in a run of four straight defeats in all competitions while Wayne Rooney and Sandro Ramirez have failed dismally in their attempts to replace Romelu Lukaku.
However, Gabbiadini could be the central pivot that allows summer signings Davy Klaassen and Gylfi Sigurdsson to thrive so what is the harm of Everton making an ambitious bid in January?
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