Everton’s link with Atletico forward makes a lot of sense

Despite the recent heroics of the new darling of the Gwladys Street, Oumar Niasse, Everton remain in the hunt for a striker to replace Romelu Lukaku.

A failure to truly replace the Belgian means the closing of the transfer window last month hasn’t stopped the rumour mill churning out fresh names for Evertonians to consider.

The latest name is Atletico Madrid striker Kevin Gameiro.

The Mirror reports that Everton are considering a January move for the 30-year-old France striker.

Atletico are already committed to spending in the region of £67m to bring Diego Costa back from Chelsea at the start of 2018.

That would clearly limit Gameiro’s first-team opportunities during the second half of the season while the club may seek to raise funds to negate the Costa outlay.

The Mirror suggests Everton could even loan Gameiro with view to a permanent £20m deal next summer.

Though this rumour could simply be a case of putting two and two together, it’s a deal that would make sense.

Gamerio, who scored 16 goals in his debut season for Atletico last year, would certainly bolster Everton’s attacking threat.

And, perhaps crucially, he is likely to be available during what is a notoriously difficult window to try and do business.

Everton won’t have much choice during January, unless they pay way over the odds.

Therefore an initial loan deal for an experienced international striker would be something of a no-brainer.