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Highlights
- Everton are lining up a move for a £25m ‘pocket rocket’ as they bid to improve their attacking options.
- The player has electric pace and could form a tremendous partnership alongside Jack Harrison.
- The player registered eight goal involvements last season.
Everton manager Sean Dyche is preparing another bid for a touted transfer target as he looks to get the Goodison Park side up and running for the 2023/24 Premier League campaign.
What’s the latest Everton transfer news?
According to inews, the Toffees are putting the blocks in place for a third bid for Leeds United’s Wilfried Gnonto, with the teenage talent making his stance clear throughout: he wishes to leave Elland Road this summer.
The report states that Everton have already seen two bids knocked back, the latter of which, with the Whites believed to be holding out for a fee of £25m for the Italy international, one of their season’s shining lights as they bowed out of the English top-flight hot under the collar.
As per Fabrizio Romano, personal terms have already been agreed, but with fresh reports that Tottenham Hotspur have the 19-year-old on their radar, Dyche will now need to act incisively.
How good is Wilfried Gnonto?
The Italy international would be an astute addition to an Everton side looking to rise from the rubble and create some solid framework from which Dyche can craft a solid team with tightly-laced shooting boots.
This just hasn’t been synonymous with a Toffees team over the past few years. Last term, Everton finished as the Premier League’s second-lowest scorers as they narrowly avoided relegation; last weekend, Everton fell to a 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park against Fulham, taking 19 shots to no avail.
Neal Maupay missed two big chances and looks increasingly unlikely to lead the line after scoring just once last season, and while Gnonto would not revolutionise the prolificness of the Merseyside outfit, his dynamism and energy could be just what is needed to revitalise his attack-minded peers.
Having signed for Leeds from Swiss side FC Zurich for £4m last summer, Gnonto scored four goals and supplied four assists across all competitions for Leeds, hailed as an “absolute nightmare for defenders” by talent scout Jacek Kulig.
Indeed, he ranks among the top 18% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for successful take-ons and the top 8% for blocks per 90 (FBref), illustrating his marauding presence and ability to beat his man with ease, also tenacious in recovery and a valuable asset for any side looking to climb the league ladder.
His prospective arrival could work a treat, he is a real “rocket” – as praised by pundit Tam McManus – down the wing and has even been entrusted with a regular role with the Italian national team, earning 12 caps and scoring his first strike, and given that his former Leeds teammate Jack Harrison has just penned a deal with the Goodison Park side, he might now be convinced to make the move.
Harrison scored six goals and supplied ten assists for his Yorkshire-based side last season, and has been remarked as a player who can “bring goals” to Dyche’s outfit by journalist Ryan Taylor, having created 1.5 key passes per game in the 2022/23 Premier League, hailed for his ‘flair and intelligence’ by one analytical report.
Harrison brings a variegated approach to his work, and given his own eye for goal to complement his creativity, it might prove a successful move to combine two of Leeds’ most effective and cohesive attacking talents together in a new setting.
In successive matches last season, Gnonto teed up Harrison to unleash a net-bulging strike, assisting his teammate against Brighton & Hove Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Also heralded for his “electric pace” by Kulig, there is clearly a burgeoning partnership in the making here, and securing Gnonto’s signature must be a priority for Everton as they look to finally cast aside the cobwebs of the past few years and limber up for an exciting year on Merseyside.