Everton focused primarily on strengthening their midfield in the summer.
While there were other acquisitions, the Toffees brought in Allan, Abdoulaye Doucoure, and James Rodriguez in the transfer window.
Carlo Ancelotti has clearly identified the centre of the pitch as an area for significant investment and it appears that he isn’t quite done yet.
Indeed, a new report claims that he is aiming to strengthen even further in January.
Sport Witness carries a report from Il Tempo in Italy claiming that the former Chelsea boss wants to sign Lazio star Luis Alberto.
He is said to be keen to sign a midfielder capable of building up play, so a playmaker, basically.
Alberto formerly played for Liverpool, making a total of 12 appearances for the club, and is valued at £45m by Transfermarkt. He left the Reds for £6m when he moved to Lazio.
Last season, he played 36 times in Serie A and scored six goals while laying on a staggering 16 assists.
Sevilla are also said to be interested, though Alberto signed a new five-year deal just a couple of months ago.
Nevertheless, Lazio are said to be willing to move him on after he clashed with the club following their decision to buy a new plane for the squad instead of paying them their full wages during the ongoing pandemic.
GIVEMESPORT’S Harry Sherlock says…
This would be a huge upgrade on Gylfi Sigurdsson, who somehow remains an integral member of the Everton squad.
This season, he has made eight appearances in total and laid on one assist.
Last term, by comparison, registered two goals and three assists but Alberto has the numbers to prove that he is better than the Iceland international.
In 142 appearances for Lazio, he has 27 goals to his name and 44 assists. That’s 71 goal involvements, or one every other game.
Sigurdsson, by comparison, has 24 goals and 18 assists in 123 outings at a rate of an involvement every 0.2 games.
Andre Gomes, too, is more of a shuttler in midfield than a genuine playmaking presence, meaning that more creativity can only be a good thing.
Bringing Alberto in would be a huge boost for the Toffees.