Agreeing to sell Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United for a fee of around £75m, Everton never thought finding a replacement for the Belgian would be this difficult.
The inability to find someone suitable pretty much cost Ronald Koeman his job as neither Sandro Ramirez nor Wayne Rooney have performed as expected, with the surprise saviour proving to be Oumar Niasse with five goals in eight games so far this season.
Still, having spent over £60m on attacking midfielders, one has to question why other targets weren’t pursued by Everton longer than they were.
As Marca explain on Tuesday, one of the players highlighted as a potential regular goalscorer was Villarreal’s Cédric Bakambu, but despite there being interest (dating back to March), no offer was made and the Toffees dropped the whole thing.
Yes, the DR Congo striker wants a team that matches his aspirations, but he also really wants to play in the Premier League, and with Everton throwing money around willy nilly during the last transfer window, why wasn’t his release clause (around €30m) met and a big contract presented to him?
Having scored nine goals in 14 games so far, the 26-year-old is exactly the kind of player the Toffees could have done with this season.
Marca state Bakambu didn’t want to leave Villarreal for a club with ‘lower sporting ambitions’, yet is a fully functioning Everton that much worse than the ‘Yellow Submarine’?
We’re not so sure, and it seems the Toffees missed a trick there, as a January move for the player may be nearly impossible considering their current situation.
