Everton loan bid for senior Aston Villa striker rejected, as Emery lines up potential replacements

Everton have reportedly had a loan bid for Aston Villa striker Danny Ings rejected, while a number of other clubs are also vying for his signature.

The Toffees are desperate for attacking reinforcements after failing to win a game in their last seven matches, so this will come as another blow to Evertonians.

Unai Emery is reportedly keen to offload Ings this January but would prefer him to leave on a permanent transfer to add funds for Villa’s winter business.

Everton currently find themselves just one point outside the relegation zone, after a run of abysmal results. Indeed, the fans’ patience is beginning to wear incredibly thin.

They were thrashed 4-1 by Brighton at Goodison Park on Tuesday evening, which was met with boos and chants of ‘sack the board.’

As a result, Frank Lampard is currently hanging on to his job at Everton ‘by a thread,‘ with it being likely that their FA Cup tie against Manchester United on Friday will be his last chance to get the club’s hierarchy back on side.

Everton have also scored the fourth-least number of goals in the Premier League this season, with their talismanic No.9 Dominic Calvert-Lewin once again plagued by injury problems and summer signing Neal Maupay scoring just once in 13 outings.

It’s no secret that the Blues have been looking to sign a new centre-forward and according to journalist Dominic King, Ings now joins the list of failed attempts.

With the Toffees grappling with financial challenges due to years of overspending, it is believed they will have a budget of just £15m this winter. This may not be enough to sign the former Liverpool player on a permanent deal, so they will now have to look elsewhere.

Ings sale logical move for Villa as Emery lines up replacements

For Aston Villa, selling Ings makes sense as Emery is currently looking at several attacking targets for January transfers. 

Ings has played 16 times in the league for Villa this season, scoring five goals so far. But at 30 years old it is believed that Emery wants a more long-term option.

With the Englishman’s contract set to expire in 18 months, this may be the last chance to get a sizeable transfer fee for him.

As per King’s report, there are currently a number of clubs looking to sign him this winter, other than Everton, but it has not yet been revealed who these potential suitors are.

In regards to Villa’s targets, as reported by TEAMtalk, Emery is ‘insistent’ that they should try and sign Mallorca striker Vedat Muriqi, who has scored an impressive eight goals in 13 LaLiga outings this season. Therefore the 28-year-old could be an ideal replacement for Ings.

The Spanish manager is also plotting a double raid on his former club Villarreal, with 21-year-old centre-forward Nicolas Jackson being one of his main targets, along with his teammate, Samuel Chukwueze.

If Emery succeeds in bringing in three attacking recruitments this winter, it looks very likely that Ings will be moving on from Villa Park in the near future.

However, with a loan departure out of the question, it probably won’t be his old Merseyside rivals that he heads to.

What is for sure is, if the Toffees don’t get some attacking quality through the door, they will be in serious danger of being relegated for the first time since 1951.

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