Following the permanent signature of Barcelona midfielder Andre Gomes, who was on loan at the club last season, Everton are now pursuing other players with the latest to be linked with a move to the Merseyside club being Marseille winger Lucas Ocampos. 10Sport are reporting that the former AS Monaco player is a target for Everton as well as Spanish side Sevilla.
The report further states that the French club are willing to sell Ocampos for a fee of €15 million, due to their current financial situation. The Argentine winger was bought from AS Monaco by Marseille in 2015 for a fee of approximately €8 million. Following his switch to Marseille, Ocampos went on loan to Genoa and Milan, before becoming an important player for the French club over the last three seasons.
The Argentinian made 36 appearances for Marseille in the 2018-19 campaign, scoring 4 times and providing 7 assists in the season. Ocampos has just one year remaining on his current contract at Marseille, and will certainly move away from the French club before the start of the 2019-20 season.
A good option for Silva?
Ocampos is a versatile player who is good with both feet and primarily plays on the left wing for his club. The 24-year-old winger is a player who likes to dribble and take on the opposition defence, while he also has good work-rate, running up and down the flanks to help his defence. Ocampos has played in multiple positions for Marseille apart from the left winger position, having also played as a left-back, wing-back, and in the left midfield position.
Everton are building a strong side under manager Marco Silva with the Toffees buying quite a few players over the last few seasons. The English side already have a few options on the left side of midfield/attack, with the likes of Richarlison, Bernard, and Ademola Lookman capable of playing on the left.
Ocampos should not be the player that Marco Silva targets in the summer as the priority for the Everton manager should be to sign a goal-scoring striker as they currently do not possess a potential 20-goal striker in their squad. Striker Cenk Tosun is injured, while Silva does not seem to want Oumar Niasse, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin hasn’t been prolific enough to be Everton’s No. 1 striker without any competition.