Everton summer target Jean-Philippe Mateta hasn’t ruled out looking for a new club in January.
The 22-year striker was linked with the Blues in the summer, with L’Equipe (via Sport Witness) claiming that the club made a ‘firm offer’ to sign the forward.
Ultimately Everton ended up signing Moise Kean from Juventus, and while that transfer was heavily praised by fans and pundits, the Italian hasn’t yet found his footing at Goodison Park.
The 19-year old striker hasn’t yet scored a goal for the Toffees despite playing in all of the club’s eight Premier League games so far this season, putting the goalscoring burden on Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s shoulders, a burden of which he has had mixed success in carrying.
Marco Silva could look to strengthen his striking options in January and Mateta could be an option after the Mainz man refused to rule out a move away from the Bundesliga club.
According to Bild (via Sport Witness), Mateta has been keen to stress that he wouldn’t rule out an exit, amid speculation linking both Southampton and Tottenham with the France youth international.
The report claims that while Mateta doesn’t have a buyout clause, Mainz would likely accept a deal in the region of €30million.
While no recent report has linked Everton’s name to Mateta, it is worth keeping an eye on, because Everton could do much worse than reignite interest in the forward.
Read Everton Verdict
It does seem unlikely that Everton will spend a large outlay on striking talent in January, what with all of the other issues in the squad that to be addressed. Certainly a forward won’t take precedent over finding defensive recruits.
However, the club also cannot continue to flounder up front. If Kean needs time to adapt and Cenk Tosun isn’t wanted, Calvert-Lewin is being saddled with too much responsibility and he could use the additional support to ease the load.
Whether Mateta is the man to do so remains to be seen. He is talented for sure, his goalscoring record for Mainz proves that alone, however I’m sure Everton would really benefit from signing a third striker who is under the age of 23.
