Wolves deal could see Everton miss out on La Liga champion, but is he needed?

Everton may be in line to sign Atletico Madrid defender Felipe, as their main competition in Wolves have opted to move for West Ham’s Craig Dawson instead, but should Everton be targeting the defender given their attacking issues?

Both Premier League clubs are in for the 33-year-old, who has found himself surplus to requirements after only playing 283 minutes under Diego Simeone this season.

Frank Lampard’s side have only conceded 26 goals in 19 games which stands them as the joint-10^th best defence in the league. That may be a surprise given their current league position, but it’s goals at the other end that have been the real downfall.

Whilst Everton may want to add to their backline despite the arrivals of James Tarkowski and Conor Coady in the summer, Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Everton could still miss out on Felipe. With Wolves confirmed to be close to agreeing terms and the deal has been described as being in a ‘crucial’ period over the next 24/48 hours.

Reports have also died down on Everton’s side despite having been profusely linked last week alongside Wolves, but most will look to the other end of the pitch for the solutions to Everton’s problems, rather than at the back.

It’s also worth noting that the Brazilian is likely to be on high wages at the Spanish club, which Everton may be wise to avoid given his advanced age. There are certainly cheaper and younger options on the market, plus the club is in a stage of financial turmoil and owner Farhad Moshiri has been widely criticised for his poor decisions that have dragged the club into back-to-back relegation battles.

Plus, no moves have been made in the window so far from Everton and, with 11 days left in the window, it’s certainly worrying for fans. There’s also been numerous transfer blows too, as teams in and around the relegation places have managed to secure players who Everton were linked with and the worry is that these players could make the difference, meaning they could condemn Everton to the drop.

We’ve seen Danny Ings making the move to relegation rivals West Ham, Dango Ouattara making the move to Bournemouth and even Anthony Elanga proposed loan move seems to be off, after Erik ten Hag raised concerns over the current atmosphere at Everton. It’s a worrying moment in time for Frank Lampard in terms of a transfer standpoint, in a market he called ‘competitive’ as struggling sides target similar players.

But there is some positivity in the hope of completing a loan move for Arnaut Danjuma, as reports today claim that Everton have a medical booked for the Villarreal forward - there’s certainly some hope of a deal being done that will surely give the struggling side a much-needed boost.