It's been an interminable period of tumult for Everton, scraping for Premier League survival over the past several campaigns and often misfiring on the transfer front, going through a score of managers.
With Sean Dyche now at the helm, having escaped relegation danger last season with victory over Bournemouth on the final day of the 2022/23 campaign, there will be optimism that a brighter future is on the horizon despite a weary start to the current season, losing to Fulham and Aston Villa.
The side finished last year as the league's second-lowest scorers, but Dyche has attempted to rectify this by signing Arnaut Danjuma, Jack Harrison and Youssef Chermiti, though an established striker still feels a necessity.
What's the latest on Hugo Ekitike to Everton?
According to the Evening Standard, Paris Saint-Germain striker Hugo Ekitike, 21, has been on the Toffees' radar all summer, having already tabled a bid totalling £34m.
Read the latest Everton transfer news HERE…
The competition is fierce, however, with West Ham United, AC Milan, Eintracht Frankfurt and Lyon all vying for his signature.
How good is Hugo Ekitike?
Only earlier this week, multiple sources – including The Telegraph – claimed that Everton were close to agreeing a £15m fee with Southampton for the sale of striker Che Adams – but the recent withdrawal of potentially lucrative investors MSP Sports Capital, who were poised to take a minority stake, is the likely reason the deal has stagnated.
The fact that links persist, with the likes of the reputed Fabrizio Romano recently confirming that Everton are eyeing a move for Udinese striker Beto and have seen a €25-26m (£21-22m) offer rebuffed, tantalises an incoming forward across the next several days.
While Adams would be the most cost-efficient acquisition, if the Merseyside outfit have the financial capacity, a deal for Ekitike must be prioritised, considering the burgeoning talent scored ten goals and served four assists from just 15 Ligue 1 starts in 2021/22 for Reims before completing a move to PSG.
For the Parisien outfit last season, Ekitike only posted four goals and assists apiece across all competitions, albeit starting on just 14 occasions, and a move away appears to be forthcoming, with the French champions happy to grant his departure.
Everton would land a prodigious talent and a "special" player – as hailed by former Reims manager Óscar García – with the £79k-per-week phenom ranking among the top 3% of forwards across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for pass completion, the top 5% for assists, the top 20% for tackles and the top 2% for interceptions per 90, as per FBref.
Illustrating an all-encompassing and dynamic set of skills, Ekitike would thrive in Dyche's system, threading the play together and offering a tenacious approach in defensive phases, evidenced through his impressive metrics despite playing in a PSG side that dominates the lion's share of its matches.
Adams, comparatively, simply isn't as talented a player.
This is no detriment to the Scotland international, who has scored 34 goals and supplied 15 assists from 149 matches for Saints and described as a "clever player" by pundit Ally McCoist, but rather, a testament to the potential of Ekitike.
He also ranks among the bottom 8% of forwards for goals per 90 and only the top 37% for assists per 90, and while the argument could be made that he has been playing in a dismal Saints outfit over the past year, Everton haven't exactly been thriving.
The 27-year-old simply doesn't boast the dynamism and natural flair of his French counterpart, who looks destined for an impressive career.
It would be a risk for Ekitike to join a Premier League outfit in Everton that is struggling to break free of the division's cold shackles at the pit, but he would find a role as a centrepiece, and a chance to exhibit the calibre of his ability by spearheading the resurgence.
