Everton have a lot of work to do this summer to improve the squad after a second consecutive Premier League relegation battle this season and Sean Dyche will get his first proper opportunity to make new additions.
The Toffees boss was confirmed as the successor to Frank Lampard at the tail end of the January window, leaving the experienced manager with little to no time to snap up the services of players and ultimately signed nobody to replace Anthony Gordon in the dying hours of the window.
Now Dyche will have the opportunity to significantly improve and bolster his forward line ahead of next season and will be working hard to not make the mistakes of those before him by identifying prolific and quality forwards who can make a genuine impact at Goodison Park.
The Blues have been linked with a number of forwards already this summer as The Athletic's Patrick Boyland named Che Adams, Beto and Moussa Dembele as targets for the club earlier this week, alongside Manchester United academy graduate Anthony Elanga who could be an interesting prospect for Dyche.
Would Anthony Elanga be a good signing for Everton?
There is no doubt that the Everton forward line has been significantly weakened over the last 12 months following the departures of both Richarlison and Gordon, but now there is a real opportunity for a fresh start on the blue side of Merseyside.
Elanga was one of the hottest young prospects in Premier League football when he burst onto the scene under Ralf Rangnick at Old Trafford last season, which led to high praise from his compatriot and former Man United star Zlatan Ibrahimovic who hailed the Swiss winger a "great talent".
Although the talented youngster has seen much less game time since the arrival of Erik ten Hag – having made just five top-flight starts this season after making 14 the year prior – he has still managed to show glimpses of quality over his limited appearances this season that could make him the next Demarai Gray at Goodison.
In fact, the Everton winger – who has 12 goals and six assists to his name for the club to date – is named as the most comparable player to the Man United ace over the last 12 months, as per FBref, and it's not hard to see why when considering the similarities in their output this season.
The Premier League positional peers came close in their shots-on-target rate (40% v 38.6%), shot-creating actions per 90 (3.59 v 3.37), goal-creating actions per 90 (0.21 v 0.18) and take-on success rate (33.3% v 35.9%), proving that Elanga could be as much of a valuable asset as Gray has become in the Everton team.
It has been reported that the Red Devils will command a fee of around £10m this summer to part ways with their 21-year-old forward, dubbed "sensational" by journalist Alex Turk, which would be an absolute steal considering he already boasts Premier League experience unlike some of the other targets that have been named as potential targets.
With that being said, it would be a no-brainer to snap up Elanga's services this summer as he could become a real threat in the forward line with consistent game time and reach his full potential under the guidance of Dyche.
