Sean Dyche to kickstart Everton relegation battle with signing of influential Southampton ace

Sean Dyche is already identifying potential targets for when he becomes the new Everton manager and is looking at signing a Southampton player, according to a report.

The Toffees are looking for a new boss after sacking Frank Lampard on Monday. Former Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa soon emerged as an early favourite.

Everton chiefs held talks with Bielsa. However, they had three concerns about appointing the 67-year-old. First of all, bringing in Bielsa and his extensive team of coaching staff would have cost the club £1million per month. Given Everton’s rather worrying financial situation, they did not want to do this.

There were also concerns about replacing the entire coaching staff all at once. While there is a chance this could change their Premier League fortunes around, there is also a chance it could make the situation worse.

Finally, Everton owner Farhad Moshiri wants a manager with experience succeeding in relegation fights to join. Bielsa does not possess this, so Everton moved on from him and began to prioritise Sean Dyche instead.

And according to Sky Sports, Everton are now set to appoint the former Burnley man.

The Merseyside club have been linked with several players since news of Dyche’s potential arrival broke. They include Iliman Ndiaye – who has opted to remain at Sheffield United – Viktor Gyokeres and Hakim Ziyech.

And now Southampton striker Che Adams can be added to that list. Football Insider claim Dyche wants the Scot as his first Everton signing to help them avoid relegation to the Championship.

Everton target Southampton attacker

At the manager’s request, Everton have registered their interest in Adams. This is not the first time Everton have been tipped to move for him, as they were keeping tabs on his situation last summer, too.

Those at Everton are said to be working ’round the clock’ to improve the squad, giving Dyche the best chance at keeping them up.

And there should be money to spend once Anthony Gordon’s Newcastle move goes through. Everton are expecting to receive an initial £40m for the winger, though the fee could rise to £45m.

Once Gordon’s transfer reaches completion, Everton could submit a bid for Adams. They will also get to work on signing a new winger to replace Gordon.

Everton are hopeful Southampton will sell Adams, who is their top scorer this season with eight goals, due to a pending transfer of their own. Football Insider claim the Saints are in ‘advanced’ negotiations with Rennes for 20-year-old attacker Kamaldeen Sulemana.

Che Adams would help Calvert-Lewin up front

It is no surprise that Dyche wants a new striker to arrive at Goodison Park. Everton have found goals hard to come by this season, with just 15 coming their way in 20 league matches so far.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin is struggling to get back to his best, while Neal Maupay has never been a prolific striker in the top flight. Adams, admittedly, is not a world-beater either, but he is in better form than Maupay this campaign.

Dyche capturing Adams for Everton would see him steal a transfer trick from Newcastle. In January last year, Eddie Howe’s team raided Burnley for Chris Wood. The transfer had the double impact of strengthening Newcastle and weakening relegation rivals Burnley.

Adams moving from Southampton to Everton would be a similar kind of transfer. Southampton would be one goalscorer down, which could help Everton remain above them in the league.

Meanwhile, Everton might sign a Newcastle wide man as Gordon’s replacement.