The £35m dazzling winger that could transform Everton – if they’re willing to pay the big bucks
Everton have been linked with a bid for a winger who could transform their attack - but will they splash out?
David Moyes isn’t usually one to kick up a fuss to the press, but even he couldn’t help but do a little light grumbling this week given the lack of transfer activity taking place at Everton.
“We all know we're needing a lot of new players,” the Scotsman reportedly said on Wednesday. “We've been in or around the relegation positions for the last five years, so when you look at it that way maybe there's been reasons for it… Let's hope we can pull it together for them and get them a team to be proud of by the start of the season.”
With a number of experienced players leaving already after their contracts expired, Moyes has a point. Everton have confirmed the permanent signing of Charly Alcaraz and added Thierno Barry, Mark Travers and Adam Aznou, but further reinforcements are required, especially at full-back and up front. Fortunately, they have a first-rate player in mind. The question is whether they’re willing to pay up.
Will Everton sign Takefusa Kubo this summer?
Everton have been linked with Real Sociedad winger Takefusa Kubo on a number of occasions this summer, with a few outlets claiming than an initial bid had been rejected – a suggestion that has been denied by their club president Jokin Aperribay, who told the media this week that his team had not received any offers for the Japan international.
That may change soon. Several sources, including Fabrizio Romano, put Kubo firmly on Everton’s shortlist, alongside forwards such as Malick Fofana of Lyon and Como’s Assane Diao. Of those, Kubo is perhaps the most obtainable. Fofana is wanted by several sides, with Everton’s cross-city rivals Liverpool widely believed to be in the box seat. Diao, meanwhile, only joined Como in January and the Italian outfit are alleged to have rejected bids north of £30m already this summer.
Kubo, reportedly, would be sold by Sociedad for a fee of around €40m (£34.5m), an amount that The Times have suggested is sufficiently high to have put Everton off making a bid thus far. The issue could be forced for €60m (£51.8m), his release clause.
That’s partly a reflection of Everton’s position relative to the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules, but also a reflection of their acknowledgement that they need to invest in several areas and are wary of overspending on one position only to find themselves short of funds elsewhere. But for the right player, Everton may need to consider cracking the piggy bank open – and Kubo, at his best, has the potential to elevate Everton’s attacking to a new level.
Why Kubo is precisely the kind of player that Everton need
Kubo’s availability partly reflects the fact that the 24-year-old is coming off of a slightly poor season, in which he scored five goals and returned no assists in La Liga – a relatively poor return given that he tallied up a combined 24 goal contributions across the previous two campaigns.
That form partly reflects a downturn in Sociedad’s performances as a whole, but also doesn’t fully reflect the quality of his play. For instance, by the expected goals method, he provided enough chances for his team-mates for an average of 4.5 assists – fewer than in previous years, but enough to suggest that winding up without any was his colleagues’ fault as much as his own.
Kubo may not have been quite as productive in 2024/25 as he had been previously, but he’s still been highly impressive, especially with the ball at his feet – he’s among the best ball-carriers in Spain and only five players in the whole of La Liga completed more successful dribbles than his 75 last season. He was only just behind Kylian Mbappé and Vinicíus Junior in terms of the number of times he took on his man and won.
Combined with a sharp turn of pace and impressive off-ball movement, Kubo is perfect for a team that wants to play a direct style of football and quickly transition into attack after winning the ball back – a description which fits Moyes’ Everton rather closely.
He’s also hard-working off the ball both in the high press and when tracking back, winning considerably more tackles and turnovers than most wingers – another trait that Moyes will appreciate. He may have only scored five goals, but both the eye test and the stats suggest that he remains an extremely dangerous player, and a cut above most players at a level at which a move to Everton is a realistic prospect.
In Kubo, Everton have a plausible path towards signing a player who has impressed at the very highest level of the game and was, on a number of occasions in the past few years, linked with the very biggest teams. This is an opportunity that may not come around again should Everton allow it to pass them by.
Only those in the boardroom at Everton know the precise details of their financial situation or whether the claims that he could be signed for under £35m are accurate – but if they’re in the right ballpark, then this may be a chance that Everton simply have to take to improve as quickly as possible.