Neville Southall wants Everton to sign a new striker and has urged the Toffees boss Ronald Koeman to sign Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud or Chelsea out-of-favour star Diego Costa.
The Toffees are likely to be back in the market for a new striker after the heel injury banjaxed by new signing Sandro Ramirez has highlighted the need for a new centre-forward at the Goodison Park.
Speaking to the Daily Post, Everton icon Southall believes a striker is needed if the Merseyside are to go on and challenge for the Champions League places during the 2017-18 season.
He believes that Everton are lacking a striker that can hold the ball up and bring other attackers into play, and identified Giroud and Costa as players that he would like to see at Goodison Park.
“I don’t think he’s totally happy with the squad yet. With Everton now in Europe and targeting the Champions League next season, he’ll be looking to bring more quality in,” Southall said.
“Going forward at the moment I see players running here, there and everywhere, but I feel there’s a need for a focal point in attack. We need a player who can hold the ball up. (Oliver) Giroud would be ideal for us, or (Diego) Costa.”
Giroud, 30, was said to be interested in joining Everton in the summer, but the Daily Mail claimed on Monday that they had been rejected in their approach to sign the Frenchman.
Costa’s future remains in doubt at Stamford Bridge with a move to former side Atletico Madrid said to be possible, but the BBC quoted Koeman as saying that the Spain international would be welcome at Everton.
“I said always a warm welcome for every good player and he’s a good player,” said Koeman. “We are still looking to bring a striker in.”
Everton are next in action against Chelsea on Sunday afternoon at Stamford Bridge, just three days after qualifying for the group stages of the Europa League against Hajduk Split.
CONCLUSION
Neville Southall is right in saying his former side need a striker and the Merseyside outfit have the lure of both European football and the resources to bring in a striker with the calibre of the likes of Giroud or Costa. But with both moves seemingly unlikely, the Toffees should look elsewhere for a new striker with Wayne Rooney preferred in a deeper role. The Toffees signed Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea on loan as an unproven striker, before moulding him into one of the best centre-forwards in the world and selling him for a huge £90million to Manchester United and they should seriously look at doing the same with Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi, who offers all the same qualities that Lukaku.