Everton have faced plenty of competition to snag some of their star acquisitions in recent seasons, but arguably winning such a war makes a new signing even more satisfying.
Bringing in Iliman Ndiaye and Jake O’Brien despite other well-documented suitors marked a coup for this particular summer, but going back through the years there are countless times when the Toffees’ clout, or financial pull for a brief period, saw them become supremely tempting to join.
However, now they only have a select few assets to hope for the best, and thus far they are earning success.
They will now have to pull out all the stops if they are to win one particular transfer tug-of-war though, with the window nearing its conclusion.
Everton set to face Premier League transfer battle
The latest on the Toffees’ transfer conquests comes courtesy of the Daily Mail, with yesterday’s print edition [pg 109, 10 August] suggesting that their interest in one striker is far from over.
Despite rumours that Beto will leave Everton persisting whilst Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s Everton future still hangs in the balance, it remains to be seen whether Sean Dyche will need another striker.
He is left in the unfortunate position of having to wait for others to make their decisions, and thus far that leaves him in limbo.
Now, with El Bilal Toure in particular, it seems other Premier League clubs are circling, with this report detailing these fresh suitors.
It simply reads: ‘The Foxes are also looking at a deal for Atalanta striker El Bilal Toure, who has been a target for Everton and Bournemouth this summer.’
The £25m striker’s manager, Gian Piero Gasperini, even recently admitted that El Bilal Toure will likely leave Atalanta this summer.
Do Everton really need to sign El Bilal Toure?
As aforementioned, it feels like the Toure deal really hinges on the future of Calvert-Lewin and Beto rather than the necessity to finally bring this long-term target in.
After all, the former Almeria man could have joined the Toffees for a whopping £34m last summer before the latter was brought in.
And whilst the two are somewhat similar in profiles, both with a hefty frame to match their lightning speed, Kevin Thelwell’s preference was abundantly clear given the priority he gave to Toure.
In the end, it was not to be, and the marksman has gone on to endure a tough, injury-laden spell in Italy which allowed him to make just 17 appearances across all competitions, scoring just three goals.
Realistically, Dyche does not need Toure at the moment, and this outside interest should not worry him or his long-term strategy.
However, should one or both of his current strikers start to depart, then he will have a problem finding a solution with less than three weeks of the transfer market left to go.
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