Everton could finally be set to end their striking woes this summer, by preying on one of the relegated clubs…
What’s the latest on Kelechi Iheanacho to Everton?
That’s according to Tribal Football, who suggest that the Toffees are one of a host of Premier League clubs seeking to rescue Kelechi Iheanacho from facing the Championship with Leicester City.
With Nottingham Forest and Burnley the other main suitors, it seems that whoever gains this coup will take a small early victory over what is set to be three relegation rivals.
Football Transfers value the £80k-per-week marksman at €16.3m (£14m), however, the Foxes’ status as a second-tier club could see a further bargain earned as they seek to offload their higher earners.
Is Kelechi Iheanacho better than Dominic Calvert-Lewin?
The Nigeria international has endured a tumultuous tenure across his years in England, however, has remained a top-flight mainstay ever since his emergence at Manchester City in 2015.
Despite seemingly having been around forever, he is still just 26 and poised to enter his prime years soon. That bodes well for the Merseyside club, should they sneak him through the door early.
After all, he has remained a relatively consistent goal threat in his last three years at the King Power Stadium, notching 12 goals during the 2020/21 league campaign, then recording a further 17 goal contributions across all competitions the year following, before his five goals and five assists proved not enough to halt the relegation of his team most recently.
Although when fit Dominic Calvert-Lewin arguably boasts the perfect profile to be a Sean Dyche number nine, his injury woes have made him dreadfully unreliable across their last two relegation-threatened terms.
The England international made just 17 league appearances last season, matching his figure from the year prior. No longer can he be trusted as a sole forward to lead the line throughout a whole campaign, despite all the hype surrounding his pace, power and ability to score. Fortunately, these are assets that Iheanacho can also bring to the table.
When comparing the former Sheffield United gem with his potential new teammate, his best league goalscoring year came under Carlo Ancelotti, and even then that tally of 16 was only four shy of his potential successor’s apex.
Purely being a present striker would most be regarded as an upgrade on Calvert-Lewin nowadays, and given that this transfer option has played nearly ten more league games than the 26-year-old across both of the past two years, the writing is on the wall. That is without mentioning the immense physical assets that arguably elevate Iheanacho beyond the struggling striker too.
Not to mention he would offer that finishing touch that has been lacking at Goodison Park, with Dyche’s team having recorded just 34 goals most recently as they avoided the drop by two points.
They were the second-lowest scorers in the whole division that year, so to add someone who was once lauded by former Everton striker Tony Cottee for making finishing “look so easy”, would be a match made in heaven.