With the January transfer window approaching, Everton will surely be weighing up their striker options.
The Toffees have already invested handsomely at No.9 in recent times, signing Thierno Barry from Villarreal in the summer for £27million.
However, the France youth international has hardly made the best start to life on Merseyside. Barry is still awaiting his first direct goal involvement after 13 games across all competitions, including six starts and 11 Premier League appearances.
Existing striker Beto — signed from Udinese for £25.75m in the summer of 2023 — hasn’t fared much better, netting just two goals in 13 appearances across all competitions. One in the Premier League and one in the Carabao Cup, but none in his last nine.
David Moyes’ side are 13th in the Premier League table, which isn’t overly bad. But only Leeds United (11) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (7) have scored fewer goals than their 12. With the best defensive record among the bottom half (13 conceded), you have to feel that Everton could fly up the table if they had a clinical finisher. Especially with creative assets like Jack Grealish, Iliman Ndiaye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall around.
So, who are the most prominent targets, and how do their numbers stack up?
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Santiago Castro
- Club: Bologna
- Age: 21
- Current club stats: 67 apps/15 goals/10 assists
A young and versatile forward, Santiago Castro has made a solid start to life in Europe. Castro endured a relatively slow initial half-season at Bologna after joining from Velez Sarsfield in January 2024. He scored just one goal and provided one assist in eight Serie A matches. But the Argentine managed 10 goals and eight assists in 39 domestic appearances for the club last season. He did fail to score in seven Champions League appearances, though.
Castro has once again failed to score on the continent this season, with no goals in three Europa League matches. But he has hit four goals and an assist in 10 Serie A appearances, helping Bologna to fifth after 12 games, just three points behind league leaders Roma.
Castro does represent a very different option to what Moyes already has. Beto and Barry both stand at 6’4″, while Castro is just 5’9″.
The 22-time Argentina youth international is all about speed, movement and late runs into the box, while he has high work rate and plenty of tenacity. His low centre of gravity and agility are traits Everton’s existing strikers simply don’t have access to. And they could unlock a new, dynamic style of play alongside Grealish and Ndiaye.
The 21-year-old has also created the third-most chances among Bologna players in Serie A this season (10), showing he can help connect play and carve out openings for others.
Of course, such a young forward is not without his flaws. Castro has been dispossessed 15 times so far this season, more than any other Bologna player, and has also missed two of his three big chances. He’s second among Bologna players in Serie A this season for fouls committed (16), with his tenacious nature sometimes going against him.
However, he offers something totally different to Beto and Barry. After reported summer interest, it’s understood Everton are ready to come back to the table this winter, but Bologna are rumoured to be demanding £31m. While that fee may be steep, Castro’s reported salary in Italy is a very manageable £16k per week.
Ivan Toney
- Club: Al-Ahli
- Age: 29
- Current club stats: 60 apps/41 goals/8 assists
If Castro represents something of a gamble, Ivan Toney is the safe, Premier League-proven option that should guarantee an uptick in goals for Everton.
The seven-time England international has been in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ahli for 18 months now. He boasts an impressive return of 41 goals in 60 appearances there.
Of course, the Saudi Pro League is a very different proposition to the Premier League. But his 20-goal haul in 2022-23 for Brentford — 21 goals across all competitions — is still strong in the memory. Toney only managed four goals in 17 appearances in 2023-24 when returning from his gambling ban. But his performances for the Bees certainly warranted more than that and improved their prospects.
And Toney’s Saudi Pro League exploits in the Saudi Pro League shouldn’t be understated. His goal return proves that he still retains all his ruthlessness and composure inside the box.
Toney needs no second introduction. He’s an archetypal Premier League centre-forward, excellent at holding up the ball, bringing others into play, and making the perfect run inside the box to poach an easy finish. He ranked sixth for aerial duels won (311) and fouls won (183) in the Premier League during his time playing in the division.
His penalty record remains exemplary, too, with Toney missing two of 50 career spot-kicks at club level since 2015.
Toney has the movement to get onto the end of Grealish crosses and the hold-up play to bring Everton’s other attacking pieces into play.
The big questions are how much it’s going to cost to get him out of his Al-Ahli contract, what sort of salary Toney will demand, and how the Everton fans will react to signing a player from the Saudi Pro League?
But Toney wants to give himself a chance of making Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad next summer. And this might be his best path forward.
Troy Parrott
- Club: AZ Alkmaar
- Age: 23
- Current club stats: 62 apps/34 goals/7 assists
If Castro is the gamble and Toney the safe pair of hands, Troy Parrott is very much the wildcard.
Now 23, the Republic of Ireland international — who has 10 goals in 33 caps — has spent the last two-and-a-half years showing exactly what he can do after struggling in England.
A product of the Tottenham Hotspur youth system, Parrott never quite made the grade in North London. Nor in his loans to Millwall, Ipswich Town, MK Dons or Preston North End.
Another loan to Excelsior in the Eredivisie was far more profitable, with Parrott notching 17 goals and five assists in 29 league appearances, despite the Rotterdam side suffering relegation.
A move to AZ followed, and Parrott has never looked back. He has registered 34 goals and seven assists in 62 appearances for the club so far, including seven goals in eight league matches so far this season. Not to mention 11 goals in 21 European appearances.
Like Castro, Parrott’s strengths lie in speed, agility and movement, rather than brute force or physicality. But once again, that would give Everton a brilliant contrast to the striker options they currently have.
Everton reportedly had scouts watching Parrott during the international break as he dropped five goals in two games combined against Portugal and Hungary. He followed that up with another strike as AZ lost away at Heerenveen on Sunday.
While by no means cheap, AZ are unlikely to demand the sort of fees Bologna and Al-Ahli will want for Castro and Toney, respectively.
And former Everton winger and countryman Kevin Kilbane has backed a ‘team like Everton’ to get the best out of Parrott, who is even thought to be a boyhood fan of the Merseyside club.
“This is not a flash in the pan. It’s not just two games where he scored five goals and the first-ever Irish hat-trick away from home,” said Kilbane — who played for David Moyes at Goodison Park between 2003 and 2006, helping the Toffees qualify for the Champions League.
“If you look at him consistently over the last couple of years at Alkmaar, he’s scored big goals in European competition, and he’s scored consistently in the Dutch league. He’s had to go away, grow up, and find himself in many respects.
“Any team like Everton will monitor him over a long period, not just this window. But this window has emphasised his quality. It’s shown what he is.
“If Everton or any Premier League club were to sign Troy Parrott, you’re getting quality. You’re getting a player who’s matured. He looks stronger physically.
“Irish fans know he’s not a flash in the pan, the talent is real. If you’re asking me his ceiling: it could be anything he wants. His overall game is improving – technically and tactically. He’s far more rounded now.
“And look, I believe he’s an Evertonian. I’ve heard he’s a Toffee. So, if he is a Toffee, we’ll take him all day long. Another Irishman in the blue jersey – we’d be first in the queue for that.”
Honourable mentions: Joshua Zirkzee, Gabriel Jesus, Richarlison, Franculino Dju