Everton : This transfer will materialize with Coventry City on one condition
Coventry City may be willing to sell Viktor Gyokeres, their talisman and Everton target, if they do not get promoted to the Premier League this season. Coventry has not played in the top-flight since 2002, but they are currently eighth in the Championship table and are hoping to end their 21-year exile under long-serving manager Mark Robins.
Gyokeres has been instrumental in the fortunes of Robins’ side, scoring 18 goals in the Championship this season and being linked with a move to Goodison Park during the January transfer window.
Football Insider reports that Coventry has accepted that they will have to sell the 24-year-old forward if they do not secure promotion this season, despite his contract running until 2024. Everton could get a cut-price deal on a player they were heavily linked with just a few months ago.
After selling Anthony Gordon to Newcastle United for £45m in the final days of the window, incoming Everton manager Sean Dyche was left scrambling for attacking reinforcements as the Blues looked to combat the loss of the England U21s forward and the injuries that have stifled Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s progress this term.
Dyche was unable to find a suitable replacement for Gordon and was instead left with the returning Ellis Simms, who had spent the first half of the campaign on loan at Championship outfit Sunderland, Neal Maupay, Demarai Gray, and the injury-stricken Calvert-Lewin.
Simms was handed a difficult starting berth under the former Burnley boss as he was thrown into the firing line for the 2-0 defeat at Anfield in February. Recently, he bagged his first goal for the Blues as they came from 2-1 down to secure a vital point at Stamford Bridge before the international break.
Speaking on Simms’ performance in the capital, Dyche said: “He’s still got a lot to improve. He came up in the week actually and asked me ‘what do you think?’ I said: ‘Well. What do you think?’ He gave me four things and I said ‘you are right’”.
The draw in West London earlier this month was only the second time in eight games under Dyche that the Blues have scored two goals or more, highlighting the need for attacking reinforcements this summer if the Blues are successful in retaining their Premier League status.