Everton failed to make any new signings in the January transfer window, instead seeing their attacking threat weakened even further following Anthony Gordon’s departure.
The Toffees are currently 16th in the Premier League table after 23 outings, only climbing out of the bottom three due to Saturday’s win over Leeds United, and currently have the joint-worst goal tally in the entire division with just 17 scored. This shows that the Everton hierarchy have dropped the ball in terms of looking for ways to improve the squad’s threat in front of goal when the opportunity presented itself.
If it wasn’t hard enough for Everton to find the net following the exit of Richarlison last summer, followed by Gordon’s move to Newcastle United, newly-appointed Sean Dyche is now without his most experienced striker in Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who continues to battle for fitness after suffering a hamstring injury this month.
The former Burnley boss will now need to lean on summer signing Neal Maupay and the recalled Ellis Simms, with the club failing to add depth to the forward line last month.
Indeed, the Merseysiders were linked with a number of forwards in January, including Danny Ings (who eventually moved to West Ham United) and Marko Arnautovic (who reportedly had his move to Goodison Park blocked by chairman Bill Kenwright). However, nothing ultimately materialised, which could haunt Everton in their relegation scrap.
One player for whom Farhad Moshiri made a desperate £25m bid on transfer deadline day is Sheffield United’s Iliman Ndiaye, a talented and versatile attacker who has struggled to regain his form since the World Cup break.
Did Everton miss out on Iliman Ndiaye?
There is no doubt that the signing of a new attacker would have been ideal for Everton in January, although ensuring that the money earned from Gordon’s sale wasn’t wasted on another inconsistent player will have also been at the forefront of the recruitment team’s minds when identifying targets.
As a result, missing out on Ndiaye may have been a blessing in disguise for Moshiri, preventing another transfer blunder from an owner with a reputation for such missteps, as the Blades attacker has been out of form for quite a while.
The 22-year-old talent – who was dubbed a “cheat code” by former team-mate Tom Graham – scored nine goals in the first half of the season in a second striker role, which earned him a place in Senegal’s World Cup squad last November.
However, since returning from Qatar, Ndiaye has been unable to maintain his high standards, with only one goal in his last 13 Championship appearances, which led to his manager Paul Heckingbottom speaking out on the player’s ailing form this week.
The Sheffield United boss insisted: “His games have been good, it’s just the goals have dried up for him.”
This uneviable phase of form for the 22-year-old would’ve been a disaster for Everton if they had spent £25m in acquiring the services of Ndiaye for him to not deliver what is desperately needed in the team, with the Toffees’ leading top-flight scorers managing only three goals each.
If Dyche can secure Premier League survival at the end of this season, the powerbrokers at Goodison Park must be meticulous in their search for the next centre-forward to improve the team’s performances, as the club cannot afford to get it wrong any more than they already have, with a history of transfer mistakes under Moshiri contributing to their downfall.