In a fascinating column in the Mirror, Leicester City and Welsh legend Robbie Savage predicts where Everton will finish on the Premier League log in 2017-18, and also gives his thoughts on what they need to do to clinch a Champions League spot.
The BBC Sport and BT Sport pundit wrote, “Ronald Koeman’s revolution is in full swing – Romelu Lukaku may have gone, but they have spent £100m on new players with the promise of more, notably Gylfi Sigurdsson, to follow.
“After a few false dawns, this could be the year Everton push hard for a top-four finish if they replace £75m departure Lukaku’s firepower with another proven goalscorer. Verdict: Close, but no cigar 7th”
Manager Ronald Koeman has indeed been busy in the market, and while he says he still desires to land one more striker, a centre-back and full-back, there have been some fine additions made to every position.
Jordan Pickford, Cuco Martin, and Michael Keane have arrived from Sunderland, Southampton and Burnley respectively to beef up the defence, former Ajax skipper Davy Klaassen is expected to hit the ground running in midfield, while ex-Malaga man Sandro Ramirez and former Red Devils Wayne Rooney are expected to supply the goals.
Everton are however still in search of a striker that can replace Romelu Lukaku perfectly. The Belgian bagged 24 Premier League goals last term, but could only lead the Toffees to a 7th-place finish.
Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck are being targeted, and one of them is reportedly expected to arrive in the coming days.
While replacing Lukaku will be near impossible, having as much as 3 to 4 quality strikers able to share the goalscoring burden between them could as well be a perfect plan.
