Everton had the money to spend in the last transfer window but couldn’t make the best use of it. They did sign Ashley Williams and Yannick Bolasie who were the prominent transfer INS, but neither has managed to perform to the expectations. While Bolasie will miss the rest of the season with an injury, Williams hasn’t been consistent enough which is why Everton are quite a few points behind their top six places.
Ronald Koeman is likely to spend money once again but signing players in January will be harder than the last transfer window. Player values are inflated in the summer and winter is even worse as clubs demand an astronomical fee to ward off the interest.
Everton still have a lot of areas they need to strengthen as they don’t have the required balance to trouble the bigger sides on a consistent basis. While signing a defender is a priority, they also need another goalscorer up front not only to relax the burden on Romelu Lukaku but also add more creativity to the attack as Barkley has often flattered to deceive.
In a bid to add more punch to their attack, they have been linked with Standard Liege striker Ishak Belfodil according to an Algerian publication. The Algerian had his breakthrough with French side Olympique Lyon but had to move elsewhere to see game time. Parma offered him that chance and after a season where he mustered eight goals in 33 League games. His performances were so good that Inter Milan lodged a bid for him back then. However, he didn’t feature regularly and was eventually brought back by Parma who reclaimed the 50% in his contract that they had earlier agreed with Inter.
Since then, he has had as many as two clubs. Signed at the time when he was a free agent by Liege, he has regained his touch in front of goal and has managed six goals in 14 games for the Belgian outfit.
Belfodil is a pretty technical player and has a bag full of tricks to beat his man. At just 24, he’s already experienced a roller coaster of a ride which make him well-suited to handle the challenge of the Premier League. There will be some scepticism if the club sign him but on his day, he can be a handful.
He has the necessary flair to thrive in the openness of the Premier League and won’t cost the club big money. He’s definitely a gamble worth taking considering his skillset.
