The Athletic have revealed SIX enquiries Dan Ashworth has made over the past few weeks in a bid to boost our attacking options.
Chris Waugh claims that our new sporting director – who was in Austria until Sunday – has been sounding out potential moves for Alexander Isak (Real Sociedad), Ivan Toney (Brentford), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Moussa Diaby (Bayer Leverkusen), Jack Harrison (Leeds) and Anthony Gordon (Everton).
The report states that Ashworth has been exploring our options ‘at home and abroad’, but inflated asking prices for all of the above has left us reluctant to launch bids, as things stand.
Eddie Howe is believed to be eager to add a couple of new attackers – one striker and a right winger – knowing our tally of 44-goals last season must be improved upon if we wish to break into the top 10 and beyond.
The Athletic also explain why our failure to land Hugo Ekitike – who joined PSG over the weekend – has been deemed a big setback behind the scenes.
Not only was the 20-year-old someone who didn’t have to be registered in our 25-man squad, Howe valued the player’s ability to play up top or out wide and felt he was the perfect short-term deputy for an injury prone Callum Wilson.
With that in mind, it seems the club are finding it hard to discover a quality young player who fits the bill like Ekitike did, knowing moves for senior options – such as Calvert-Lewin or Toney – would blow the remainder of our budget.
We need paqueta, Zapata and virginius. Top 5 guaranteed.
Mike(Quote)
We’re supposed to be the richest club in the world
Fletcher(Quote)
If Ivan Toney ends up back here it will highlight a poor Benitez decision regarding the young players
Joseph(Quote)