You have to feel a bit of sympathy for Ronald Koeman. Replacing 6’3″ powerhouse Romelu Lukaku was no mean feat, although the return of veteran striker Wayne Rooney was supposed to soften the blow. Arguably, Rooney’s best days are behind him, and this showed as early-season performances yielded a meagre goal-scoring return and the weight of taking up Lukaku’s goal-scoring mantle fell on the shoulders of young Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Whilst the 20-year-old has performed admirably following his heroics for England’s World Cup-winning U20 side, scoring the winning goal against Venezuela in the final, Calvert-Lewin needs time to develop his goal-scoring prowess; time that Everton do not currently have.
Following Koeman’s departure and the drawn-out search for a replacement, two things became glaringly obvious: Everton needed defensive stability and goals. Indeed, appointing a manager of Sam Allardyce’s calibre resolved the first problem. Since his arrival at the Merseyside club, they have seen a substantial upturn in fortunes, rising up the table and are now just 4/11 to finish in the top half in the Premier League betting. And now, with regards to the second problem, Allardyce will be hoping that the arrival of Cenk Tosun will add the much-needed firepower his squad so evidently lacks.
The German-born Turkish striker began his career with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2009, making a solitary first-team appearance before being sold to Gaziantepspor in January 2011 for €400,000, where he scored an impressive ten goals in 14 games. After letting his contract run down at Gaziantepspor, Besiktas snapped him up on a free transfer on a five-year contract worth around €500,000.
The first two seasons of his Besiktas career started slowly as he was third choice behind both Demba Ba and German international Mario Gomez. Following their departure, Tosun became a regular in the 2016-17 season, scoring 24 times and helping his team on the way to winning the league title. Tosun has notched a further four goals in six games in this season’s UEFA Champions League as Besiktas won a tough group consisting of RB Leipzig, Porto and Monaco, including a brace in a 2-1 win at the French champions on 17 October.
In 2010, Tosun represented Germany at U21 level before switching allegiances to Turkey in 2012, making his senior debut in 2013. He really made his breakthrough at Euro 2016, where he started the opening game, a 1-0 defeat to Croatia, and currently has eight goals in 25 games.
His performances to date have convinced Everton manager Sam Allardyce to splash out £27 million for his services on a four-and-a-half-year deal, which, in the current financial climate, can be seen as a modest fee for a Premier League striker. So much is made over the time taken to adapt to the physical nature of the nature of English football, however, so all things considered, a return of ten league goals this season and Tosun would be seen as a promising acquisition for the Toffees.
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