Everton were targeting Nicolas Jackson in the summer.
That’s according to The Athletic, who have reported that the Chelsea striker is just one of four quality Premier League players that the Toffees have failed to land this year.
After consecutive transfer windows that involved bringing in players that were too old, too expensive or just simply bad footballers, Everton are looking to evolve their recruitment and make smarter signings.
They already started to show glimpses of that in the summer – signing the likes of Youssef Chermiti, Beto and Jack Harrison.
However, the club’s financial problems have so far got in the way of them securing deals for their top targets.
The Athletic have reported that Everton have previously viewed Mohamed Kudus, Brennan Johnson, Morgan Gibbs-White and Nicolas Jackson as some of their ‘key targets’ under the new regime, yet failed to sign any of them.
The latter is probably one of the most high-profile players that the Toffees had looked at, with the 22-year-old joining Chelsea in a £32 million deal after netting 12 goals in La Liga last season.
Everton can’t afford the inflated market
Jackson’s switch to Stamford Bridge is a perfect example of how inflated the market is at the moment and how difficult it is for Everton to battle with these clubs. The ‘big talent’ had a decent breakthrough season with Villarreal and is suddenly worth a hefty fee – a fee that the Toffees can never compete for.
Elsewhere, Kudus caught the eye of a number of clubs across Europe before he eventually arrived at West Ham for an initial £38m. Brennan Johnson netted eight goals for Nottingham Forest to earn himself a £47.5m move to Tottenham Hotspur.
Gibbs-White was the only player that Everton didn’t miss out to another team, with the midfielder remaining at the City Ground in the summer. However, Forest coughed up a total of £42m for him in 2022 and I can only imagine what he would have cost after a successful campaign.
It is great to see Everton targeting these kind of players rather than some of the underwhelming signings they have made in the past, but it really isn’t going to get them anywhere if they can’t afford it.
