It’s been a while since Everton have boasted a top-class, always-reliable striker. Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a fantastic talent and excellent at leading the line, but fitness issues have pulled him away from a place among the finest that the Premier League has to offer.
Armando Broja has been signed on loan from Chelsea this summer with the option to make the move permanent next year, but he’s yet to feature as he recovers from injury and, aged 23 with eight Premier League goals, has plenty still to prove.
The recent past is littered with failed centre-forwards on the blue half of Merseyside, with the bid to sign Neal Maupay in 2022 among the blunders – especially as there was another talent who’s now thriving on English shores who would have been the better pick.
Neal Maupay's time at Everton
Everton signed Maupay from Brighton & Hove Albion for a £15m fee in 2022, with then manager Frank Lampard coloured impressed by the Frenchman’s aggression and consistency on the south coast, where he had played after impressing with Brentford while Thomas Frank’s side were still in the Championship.
2023/24*
Brentford
29
6
3
2023/24*
Everton
2
0
0
2022/23
Everton
27
1
0
2021/22
Brighton
32
8
2
2020/21
Brighton
33
8
2
2019/20
Brighton
37
10
3
It didn’t go well. While Maupay maintained a degree of fluency in his attacking performances for the Seagulls, he flattered to deceive in Liverpool, even branded a “disaster” by journalist Paul Brown.
Calvert-Lewin languished in the deepest pits of his injury issues and Richarlison had been sold to Tottenham Hotspur in a deal worth £60m. It’s no surprise that Everton struggled that year, with their frontal recruit contributing toward only one goal. Disaster indeed.
And when considering that Everton missed out on Nicolas Jackson, thus turning to the AMEX, it becomes all the more clear that Moshiri and co made a big howler that could have staved off the problems that have engulfed the club over the past few campaigns.
Everton must regret not signing Nicolas Jackson
Jackson has been on fire for Chelsea this season, forming one of the finest partnerships that the Premier League has seen in a long while with the imperious Cole Palmer.
Across six appearances in 2024/25, the 23-year-old has scored four goals and added three assists across six appearances, leading pundits such as Peter Crouch to hail his “unbelievable” growth after the middling efforts of last season.
Chelsea signed Jackson from Villarreal last summer after paying the La Liga side above his £30m release clause. He scored 14 top-flight goals and showed plenty of promise, but was tugged back by profligacy, wasting 24 big chances in front of goal.
Jackson’s new-found clinical level makes a telling comment on his future on the European scene, with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, as you will see below, believing that he could become one of the highest-valued superstars in the business.
Oh how Everton must rue the missed chance in 2022. Richarlison had alighted in the capital and the Toffees’ frontline was decidedly lacking. Scouts had provided Lampard and co with regular reports on Jackson and urged swift action from the powers that be.
Alas, Chelsea would get their man one year later, with Jackson’s brilliant purple patch toward the end of the 2022/23 season, scoring ten goals and placing two assists from his final 11 matches in the Spanish top flight, raising his stock and swivelling the English superpower’s head.
As for the Toffees, Maupay arrived instead. One can’t help but think that the recouped money from the Richarlison deal might have warranted an extra £15m expenditure to sign a top talent, instead of one who fell from the wagon as soon as he had stepped on. Alas.
Everton gem who left in 2023 is now "insane" and outscoring Dwight McNeil
He’s starting to show his worth…
ByAngus Sinclair
