Everton could take chance on £67million striker after surprise transfer rumours emerge

Everton could take chance on £67million striker after surprise transfer rumours emerge

Everton have been linked with a potential summer transfer move for Serbian international striker Dusan Vlahovic of Juventus

Dusan Vlahovic of Juventus

Everton have been linked with a transfer move for €70million striker Dusan Vlahovic but what might the Serbian international potentially bring to the Blues? GiveMeSport report that sources have told them that the Blues are one of the clubs considering swooping for the 25-year-old who could be made available by Juventus just two-and-a-half years after they paid around £67million for his services.

The article claims Everton are one of the sides to have considered a move to sign Vlahovic in the past, and his new asking price could see interested parties come back to the table once again as it's believed that Juventus may demand as low as £25m to allow him to depart, despite setting an initial asking price of £35m.

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The piece adds with Dominic Calvert-Lewin potentially heading through the exit door – his current contract expires this summer – Everton’s need for a striker this summer will likely be significant as Beto has struggled for consistency, Youssef Chermiti is still young and could potentially do with a loan, while Armando Broja suffered a long-term injury, meaning the Blues are unlikely to make his deal permanent.

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Breaking the 20-goal barrier in back-to-back seasons with Fiorentina – the latter total was achieved in just half a campaign – convinced the 36-times Italian champions to make their big money move and although his goal return for La Vecchia Signora (The Old Lady) has been a credible 55 in 136 outings, including 14 so far this term, having not reached his previous heights in Tuscany, his time with Juve could be coming to a close this summer.

Comparisonator’s Artificial Intelligence Team Finder calculates that Vlahovic would be a better fit at centre-forward than the current incumbent at seven Premier League clubs, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester United, Southampton, West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

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The 25-year-old is given an A.I. Suitability Weight of 210.24, which is fractionally above Calvert-Lewin on 210.17 while Beto is further behind on 187.38 with Reds frontman Darwin Nunez on 160.4 for context. Comparisonator’s Virtual Transfer tool also allows us to correlate Vlahovic’s statistics from Serie A this season against players in his position in the Premier League.

An expected goals (xG) score of 0.49 would place him fifth behind Erling Haaland of Manchester City (0.7); Nicolas Jackson of Chelsea (0.58); Alexander Isak of Newcastle United (0.56); and Ollie Watkins of Aston Villa (0.5). Vlahovic would also make the top 10 (ninth) for opportunities per 90 minutes at 1.95 behind leader Haaland on 3.07 but perhaps tellingly, he drops to 21st for opportunities converted (0.23) in a category also topped by the Norwegian on 0.7.

Dusan Vlahovic's expected goals statistics for this season in Serie A compared to Premier League strikers

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In terms of shaping up against current Everton strikers, Vlahovic averages 2.5 shots per 90 minutes compared to Calvert-Lewin’s 1.77 and Beto’s 1.4 and he averages 1 on target compared to Calvert-Lewin’s 0.77 and Beto’s 0.88. His successful dribbles figure of 0.55 matches that of Calvert-Lewin while Beto is on 0.4.

Vlahovic’s progressive runs (0.68) is lower than Calvert-Lewin (1.05) but slightly above Beto (0.65) and while he distributes the ball more often with 8.86 successful passes compared to Calvert Lewin’s 7.18 and Beto’s 3.8, when it comes to successful passes in the final third his 0.5 is only marginally better than Beto on 0.3 and behind Calvert-Lewin on 0.64.

Despite steering Everton to nine top eight finishes, including a best-ever Premier League position of fourth in 2004/05, solving the centre-forward issue was something of a conundrum for David Moyes first time around at Goodison Park, despite breaking the club transfer record three times to sign James Beattie (£6million in 2005); Andrew Johnson (£8.6million in 2006) and Ayegbeni Yakubu (£11.25million in 2007).

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The Blues are likely to want to make a statement signing as they move into their new 52,888 capacity stadium and while Vlahovic would fit the bill in terms of being high profile, with increased financial backing from The Friedkin Group, the Scot must decide whether the Serie A player is the kind of marquee acquisition to increase levels and worthy of a fresh start, or something of damaged goods following his spell in Piedmont.

*Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising over 100 different parameters. Click here for more details.

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