This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…
According to the print version of Leggo (via Sport Witness), Everton have made an enquiry for Roma forward Diego Perotti along with Ligue 1 side Marseille.
The 30-year-old struggled for game time last term having made just 13 appearances in Serie A, and given his age and contract situation – his deal is set to run out in 2021 – Roma appear to have deemed the 5 foot 10 attacker as surplus to requirements.
The Italian side have reportedly offered the Argentina international in a player-plus-cash deal for Nicolas N’Koulou, reinforcing the fact that they don’t want him anymore – going by this, the player shouldn’t cost Everton too much given Roma’s stance on him and his £10.8m valuation on Transfermarkt.
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You may be wondering why the Toffees are considering signing Perotti given the aforementioned reasons.
However, the man who has netted 26 goals in 112 games for Roma since arriving in 2016 could be of use to Marco Silva and offer the Toffees a potent option from the bench – something that the Merseysiders don’t really have.
Their top-scoring substitute last season was Cenk Tosun with two goals in 15 appearances from the bench, whilst Dominic Calvert-Lewin entered the field from the bench 16 times and netted the same amount – nothing here suggests Everton have a serious game-changer.
To contextualise things, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came on six times and scored four goals, whilst Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek often changed the game for the Blues by also netting four goals upon entering the field in his 18 showings.
Perotti managed to make just 13 appearances last term, as aforesaid, but impressively managed to notch five league goals – only six of his appearances were starts.
To be able to get involved with such little game time and with barely any rhythm to his form given his stuttering amount of appearances is eye-catching from Perotti, and suggests that he doesn’t really need much time or a suitable system for him to do his thing – he can simply turn up and make an impact.
This could be a valuable asset to Silva and finally offer the former Hull boss a deadly weapon from the bench.