Everton set to launch double attacker signing if Iliman Ndiaye leaves this summer

David Moyes spoke to the media on Friday ahead of Everton‘s trip to Bournemouth, and the Toffees manager made no qualms about sharing his assessment of Iliman Ndiaye’s future.

Looking ahead of the clash with Marco Rose’s Cherries, Moyes said he was pleased with James Garner’s quick recovery, though Hayden Hackney is “touch and go” after rolling his ankle last week, with Christian Norgaard still out of the squad.

Asked about Jack Grealish potentially making a permanent move from Manchester City, the Scot was careful not to get ahead of himself: “There’s no guarantee and to name one person would be wrong. We are in the recruitment business at the moment and looking to see if we can bring some players in if possible.”

He was less vague when Ndiaye’s future came up, but didn’t exactly shut the door on the Senegal star leaving in the final days of the transfer window.

Moyes’s insistence that there’s been no contact for Ndiaye may not tell the full story for much longer however. Both Manchester City and Tottenham are continuing to circle the former Sheffield United starlet, and with Spurs believed to be ready to sweeten any offer with Richarlison included as part of the package, Everton may not be able to hold out much longer.

Football FanCast sources understand Everton are ready to move for two players rather than one if Ndiaye does depart: Richarlison and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Jean-Mattéo Bahoya. Both players are keen on the move, and Frankfurt themselves are open to letting Bahoya leave as they look to trim their squad this window.

It’s easy to see the appeal of doubling up rather than chasing a single like-for-like replacement, with Richarlison’s ability through the middle capable of providing competition for the misfiring Beto and Thierno Barry.

Bahoya, still just starting out by comparison at 21 years of age, has shown similar versatility in a smaller sample size, chipping in from the left, through the middle and off the bench in various forward roles.

“In his first step, he kills you,” Bahoya’s Frankfurt team-mate, Junior Dina Ebimbe, said about his playing style. “Today some players pass the ball to make a two v one. But he really plays one v one. He’s not scared to take his man on. In a one v one, he always passes his man.”

Sound familiar Toffees fans? Between Bahoya and the return of Richarlison, the pair would give Moyes a genuinely versatile pair of attacking options capable of covering multiple positions across the front line – which goes some way to explaining why Everton would rather bring in two players of that profile than gamble everything on a single out-and-out winger to replace Ndiaye.