Everton are reportedly keen on signing Manchester United winger Anthony Elanga in the January window after the 20-year-old has been left frustrated by a lack of game time.
The youngster has long been considered one of the Red Devil’s brightest young talents, but with Elanga behind the likes of Antony, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial in the pecking order, he hasn’t been given many opportunities under Erik ten Hag.
Frank Lampard is desperate for attacking reinforcements in January, so a loan or permanent move for the United attacker could make sense for Everton.
According to the Daily Mail, Elanga is currently contemplating his future and the Toffees, along with several other clubs, are interested in securing his services in January.
The Sweden international has made 10 league appearances for United this season, but all of these have seen him come off the bench, so it’s clear Ten Hag doesn’t see him as a starter, yet.
Elanga has shown flashes of brilliance, though, most notably scoring a fine goal against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 last season.
However, while he is popular with the fans at Old Trafford, you can’t blame him for considering regular game time elsewhere.
For Everton, though, is Elanga really the answer to their shocking form in front of goal?
While the youngster has bags of potential, he has still only scored four times in 43 appearances for the Red Devils… what the Toffees need is a proven goal scorer, not someone who could turn into one in a couple of years.
In the past, the Blues have made some terrible big-money signings.
Wasteful purchases on the likes of Fabian Delph (£10m), Davy Klaassen (£24m), Cenk Tosun (£27m) and Yannick Bolasie (£25m) have plunged Everton into financial turmoil as they look to secure the funds to build their new stadium.
Now, just like last season, Everton are staring relegation right in the face.
Most recently, they played abysmally in a 2-1 home defeat to Wolves, who were bottom of the league, leaving the Toffees just one point clear of the drop zone.
Rafael Benitez was sacked last season after being in a better position than Lampard currently is, so you’d think the English manager is on extremely thin ice with the Blues board right now.
In fact, according to oddschecker.com, Lampard is currently 1/2 favourite to be the next Premier League manager to be sacked.
Everton’s main attackers in Anthony Gordon, Demarai Gray, Dwight McNeil, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Neal Maupay have scored a combination of six goals this season so far, which is nowhere near enough.
With this in mind, while Elanga could be a potentially smart move on a loan-to-buy basis, splashing funds on a so-far unproven youngster could be too risky a move for Lampard at the moment.
The winger’s contract at Manchester United lasts until June 2026, so it’s believed a hefty transfer fee would be required for any permanent move to happen this winter.
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