The striker Everton have missed for the last 30 years

The loan signing of Romelu Lukaku has provided Everton fans with one of the first capable strikers that the club has had, probably since the 80’s.  Lukaku is a beast of a man standing 6ft 4 in stature and bullying centre-backs, but he also has the touch of a proper player.  He is able to link play with one-touch or hold the ball up and bring his team mates into play.  In front of goal he possesses a powerful shot and he looks to have the whole package.

I would argue that he is the type of 20 goal a season striker that Everton have badly lacked over the years.  We have tried and tested a number of strikers and probably the 2 that came closest were Kevin Campbell and Aiyegbeni Yakubu.

Campbell was a fans favourite and fairly much single handedly saved Everton from relegation and proved to be a very good purchase at the time.  But was he a 20 goal a season striker. Well no.

Yakubu could have been a brilliant player for the blues, if it wasn’t for injury.  He certainly knew where the goal was and looked the part when he came in.  Fitness probably curtailed his Everton career and he was shipped out to Blackburn.

Others that have come in have been in the shape of Andy Johnson, who was a decent striker but not  the level we needed.  James Beattie never met expectations. Tomasz Radzinski got above his station and never set the world on fire, despite being what we needed at the time.  Our home grown lads, Victor Anichebe and James Vaughan showed promise, but again injury curtailed their time at Goodison Park and they were shipped out.  I will not even mention Stuart Barlow and Michael Branch.

The one player that would have made a difference and would have been the perfect player for Everton would have been Wayne Rooney, but he left Merseyside far too young (For Evertonians) and has certainly proved himself in the colours of Manchester United.  It could be argued that his sale paved the way for Everton to transform their team from perennial relegation battlers of the 90’s and early 2000’s to one of the top teams in the premier league.

Back to Lukaku, we have the lad for a year.  We probably won’t get him for longer as he is proving himself again with 5 goals already this season having notched 17 for West Bromwich Albion last year, so we should probably just enjoy what we have, but make next years striker a priority in the January transfer window.

Who do you think we should set our sights on if we can’t get Lukaku? Have your say at www.theevertonforum.com