Everton were close to signing a striker who would have helped their goal scoring woes.
At the epicentre of Everton’s struggles is the inability to put their chances away, recording an xG of 14.40 which places them within the top seven teams in the league, but their actual goals scored paints a completely different picture, ranking as the third worst with a total of six – three of which came in a victory against Brentford.
Since the departure of Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United for £75m in 2017, the only striker who has taken on that mantle to replace him is Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
The Englishman had two outstanding seasons in 2019/20 and 2020/21, chalking up a respectable 13 and 16 goals across those respective seasons, but has since become a victim of his own injury problems.
During the time in which he’s spent on the injury table, Everton have lacked a focal point in their attack and following the departure of Richarlison to Tottenham last summer, lacked the ruthlessness in front of goal, resulting in them surviving by the skin of their teeth.
In their attempts to rectify this problem, Sean Dyche splashed a whopping £30m on Beto from Udinese to somewhat relieve the pressure off Calvert-Lewin, however, in the summer of 2022, Everton came close to signing a number nine that surpasses the quality of both their current strike partnership.
The name on the Toffees’ radar was Rennes striker Serhou Guirassy, who is currently outscoring Harry Kane, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe.
Did Everton nearly sign Serhou Guirassy?
Everton were in desperate need of attacking muscle in 2022 after Richarlison left for pastures new and Calvert-Lewin became injury-prone, with their search for a striker leading them to Stade Rennes Serhou Guirassy. It was even reported by French outlet L’Equipe, via TEAMtalk, that they were ‘close’ to bringing him to Goodison.
Frank Lampard was after at least two forwards to bolster his attacking options and one of those was Guirassy, but the Merseyside outfit failed to strike a deal for their top target after the loan-to-buy approach was rebuffed.
Stade Rennes were adamant that they would only allow the 26-year-old to leave permanently to fund their own shopping spree, allowing Stuttgart to swoop in under the noses of Everton and pinch the striker, as per the Daily Express.
The Guinea international struck 11 goals in his debut season in the Bundesliga but has made an electric start to the new campaign, hitting ten goals and one assist in his first six appearances, making him the most in-form striker in Europe above the likes of Kane (8), Mbappe (7) and Haaland (8).
| Top scorers in Europe’s best five leagues | |
|---|---|
| Player | Goals scored |
| Serhou Guirassy | Ten |
| Lautaro Martinez | Nine |
| Erling Haaland | Eight |
| Harry Kane | Eight |
| Jonas Wind | Seven |
How good is Serhou Guirassy?
Given he’s outscoring the most prolific forwards on the planet, there is no wonder numerous clubs are keeping an eye on Guirassy before the race to secure his signature begins in January, with Everton already ruing their decision to not pounce when they had the chance.
Possessing unmatched efficiency and consistency with his goal-scoring exploits, the 27-year-old is making the Toffees pay for not acting swiftly in their negotiations by showcasing that he is the complete striker, adept at dropping deep to receive possession, making sharp movements in the final third and displaying a ruthlessness in and around the penalty area.
Although Calvert-Lewin and Beto can match the physical attributes, Guirassy is levels ahead when it comes to his finishing, ranking in the top 1% for non-penalty goals, top 5% for non-penalty xG and top 19% for shots on target per 90 when comparing his metrics to his positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues in the past year, via FBref.
By contrast, the Englishman has fallen off rapidly since the 2020/21 season and falls well below Guirassy’s output, placing in the top 81% for non-penalty goals, top 22% for non-penalty xG and top 71% for shots on target per 90.
Stuttgart’s current goal-scoring machine is levels ahead of Calvert-Lewin when it comes to being the fulcrum of an attack, as his freakish finishing attributes have exploded into life, demonstrating with ease that he would have been a huge upgrade on Everton’s current crop of forwards.
Guirassy – who was dubbed as “sensational” by the Bundesliga website – is the latest in a series of transfer mishaps that the Toffees have made and considering Dyche’s side are sixth for big chances created – but only have six goals to show for it – the £13m-rated sensation would have added to that total and fired them up the table.
