Everton manager Roberto Martinez has suggested that he would like to open talks with mystery striker Lacina Traore regarding a new deal to keep the 6’8″ man.
Traore has rather become the forgotten man at Goodison, scoring on his debut in the FA Cup tie win over Swansea, before getting an injury in the pre-match warm up of the following game, that has kept him out of the Everton squad since.
The Blues are in the chase four Fourth position in the Premier League and have not yet given up despite the setback loss to Crystal Palace, which now means that the points tally is back in Arsenal’s hands.
Arouna Kone will be fit in the summer, however with Lukaku’s future uncertain, this leaves Martinez’s striking options depleated, with only Kone and Naismith at the club.
Martinez told the Echo: “It depends on our European demands,”
“If we are competing in Europe then we will need four strikers.
“Steven Naismith and Arouna Kone are two players who are important in our squad and we need to make sure we are at the start of the next season with a strong squad and in my eyes, we will be having four strikers in the group.
“Lacina is someone we really believe can bring something different to the team and he is someone we will try to see if we can get an opportunity to sit down and see what is the next chapter.”
It is expected that the deal will be another season-long loan and that the player and current parent club will be open to it.
Something about this move is just not right. OK it’s not his fault that he was used as an aid to moving money from one Billionaire to another and was unwanted by his receiving manager.Undoubtedly, Roberto thinks a lot of him and perhaps he would have not got the necessary treatment if he had gone back after the injury he picked up. But, why is it considered so all important to get him on board? Nothing can have been seen of him,or his abilities,that suggests he is worth £10mil,which his contract holder will want to recoup,surely. So if we loan him,aren’t we acting as a shop window for his later purchase? I hope we don’t go down the road of iffy financial dealings,which will come back and bite us on the butt.