After a summer of frustration, The Toffees are ready to mix it in the market after Christmas.
With Ever Banega becoming the latest big name to turn down The Toffees, majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri and manager Ronald Koeman have been blown all the way back to square one.
The elusive marquee signing is no closer to arriving at Goodison Park but, with January on the horizon, the time is right for Everton to finally muscle in on the market and prove that they are, indeed, serious about challenging for European football in the seasons to come.
But, after missing out on Moussa Sissoko, Lucas Perez, Manolo Gabbiadini, Rachid Ghezzal and co, who could Everton turn their attentions to next?
Aymen Abdennour
The Tunisian centre-back exploded onto the scene with Monaco three seasons ago but, on the back of a poor spell with Valencia, his stock could hardly be lower at the present time. A succession of errors, including a tendency to implode under pressure and an apparent inability to play out from the back without gifting opponents a goal, have made a mockery of his £22 million price tag (BBC).
Nonetheless, Koeman must have spotted something even the most avid La Liga watchers haven’t picked up on, with rumours travelling fast of a potential January bid. According to Deporte Valenciano, crisis club Valencia swatted aside a 45 million euro bid from China for Abdennour’s services, meaning majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri will have to dig deep to bring the 27-year-old to Goodison.
Yes, he may be behind Eliaquim Mangala in the pecking order at the Mestalla, but if Everton were to stump up such a huge fee it would prove once and for all that they are willing and ready to compete at the top table.
Jorginho
Born in Brazil and raised in Italy; it’s fair to say Jorginho was benefitted quite nicely from his rich, continental heritage. Blessed with a Brazilian’s flair and an Italian’s innate technical mind-set, the 24-year-old was every bit as influential for Napoli as 36-goal Gonzalo Higuain was last season. In fact, it’s testament to the strength and title-winning nous available at Max Allegri’s Juventus that metronomic midfielder Jorginho doesn’t have a Serie A medal to his name.
Yet, the signings of young midfield pairing Amadou Diawara and the dazzling Piotr Zielinski means Jorginho is no longer the first name on Napoli’s team-sheet these days, making just 11 Serie A starts this season.
Everton have been relentlessly linked with a bid for his team-mate, striker Manolo Gabbiadini, but with Gareth Barry not getting any younger, Koeman needs that ball-playing regista to complement the tireless tenacity of Idrissa Gana Gueye.
Few fit the bill better than Jorginho.
Joe Hart
“No interest.” That was the phrase Koeman used when asked when Everton were considering a bid to tempt Joe Hart to Goodison Park once Pep Guardiola had packed the two-time title winners bags at the Etihad, per Sky Sports.
And, with Maarten Stekelenberg’s error-strewn displays undoing a respectable return to regular first-team football and replacement Joel Robles hardly doing himself any favours in the lead up to Sadio Mane’s Merseyside derby winner on Monday, you wonder whether Koeman wishes he could turn back the clock.
After all, though England’s Euro 2016 took Hart’s reputation down a peg or two, the 29-year-old is still a top class goalkeeper and more than proven in the Premier League. However, Koeman is not exactly short on pride, meaning a quite dramatic acceptance of his own failures is required if Everton are to turn speculation into reality in January or beyond.
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