Stan Collymore believes Everton should have made a move for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Pundit Stan Collymore has told The Mirror that he thinks Everton could have offered a three-year deal to Zlatan Ibrahimovic over the summer.
The Toffees have toiled through a horrible September, as they have lost 3-0 to Tottenham, 3-0 to Atalanta and 4-0 to Manchester Untied, piling the pressure on manager Ronald Koeman.
Everton’s start to the season is all the more disappointing given that they spent so heavily over the summer, bringing in the likes of Jordan Pickford, Michael Keane, Davy Klaassen, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Nikola Vlasic, Sandro Ramirez and Wayne Rooney.
Those additions haven’t helped Everton though, and the big problem right now is that the Toffees simply lack a goalscorer having failed to replace Romelu Lukaku since his move to Manchester United.
Now, pundit Stan Collymore has questioned just why Everton didn’t go for an experienced head in attack, suggesting to The Mirror that Koeman should have offered a three-year deal to Zlatan Ibrahimovic following his exit from United.
“I was surprised they didn’t push hard for Fernando Llorente, who has a great pedigree, or David Villa, who is scoring goals for fun in New York and has just been brought back into the Spain squad,” said Collymore. “Could they have given Ibrahimovic’s agent a cheeky call and offered him a three-year deal?”
“Any of them would have made a difference and had even one of them signed then Koeman might have been a little bit more inclined to agree with Mourinho’s assertion, or Mourinho less inclined to make it in the first place,” he added.
Ibrahimovic, 35, has since re-signed for United as he rehabilitates from a torn anterior cruciate ligament injury, but ties to Koeman go way back to their days together at Ajax, where the now-Everton boss gave the Swede the platform to become a star.
Whilst he is a big name with a proven record of scoring goals, questions would need to be asked over whether he is really what Everton need right now, given the huge wages he would demand and the fact that he may not even be fit until January.
That would leave Everton in the same situation they find themselves in right now, without a top striker until the January transfer window, whilst Everton currently lack major pace in attack, and Ibrahimovic wouldn’t solve that problem either.
Whilst Ibrahimovic would have been a big-name, headline-grabbing addition, his injury and lack of pace mean that Everton may be better off saving their money and waiting until January, when Ibrahimovic may only make his return to action.
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