According to reports, Turkish giants Fenerbahce are willing to initiate negotiations with Everton for their Belgian star Kevin Mirallas. The 29-year-old has seen his first team chances dwindling since Ronald Koeman took charge at Goodison Park and with the aggressive incoming transfers, he just might consider leaving Merseyside.
Everton have kicked off their transfer window in the most thrilling way possible. Following a decent finish in the league, which enables them to play for the Europa League qualifying round, the Toffees wasted no time in bringing in former AFC Ajax skipper Davy Klaassen and Sunderland sensation Jordan Pickford.
However, the active stance comes amidst growing reports of their star forwards Romeu Lukaku and Ross Barkley leaving the side, and Koeman would be in desperate need of attacking reinforcements if that happens. Apparently, Everton just might part ways with Mirallas for the reason that Koeman is willing to push youngsters up to the first team.
We think it would be a ridiculous idea to dispose of one of their consistent and most involved performers just for the sake of bringing up young talents. With the absence of Aaron Lennon and Yannick Bolasie on the right flank owing to mental illness and cruciate ligament injury respectively, Koeman would need the right winger more than ever.
Everton are yet to buy a player for the wide areas. The cushion that Enner Valencia provided Koeman for the closing few weeks of the season to help keep Barkley in a more attacking position through the middle, will be absent now and Mirallas would be more necessary than ever for the manager.
Since moving from Greek side Olympiakos to England back in 2012, Mirallas has been a regular player for them. He has played 173 games for the Toffees so far, scoring 38 games and assisting 32 times in the process. His versatility in the attacking third has been immensely helpful for managers previous to Koeman, like Roberto Martinez and Moyes.
While Martinez could get the best out of him and Moyes to some extent, Koeman has been a real failure in working him out. Mirallas managed just four goals and six assists under Koeman, and although the figures aren’t that bad, he definitely could have been better given Everton’s in-form attack last season.
At the national level too, the Liège-born player been pretty regular scoring 10 goals in 58 caps. And the one factor, which precedes them all is his immunity to injuries. In his five years with Everton, Mirallas has missed only 24 games in all, which is a quite a decent record if compared to impact players of other Premier League sides.
