Cyle Larin: Besiktas slap £8m price tag on Everton target | OneFootball

Marcel Brands could hand Carlo Ancelotti a second Richarlison-type player by signing rumoured Everton target Cyle Larin from Besiktas this summer.

What’s the word?

According to FotoMac, the Black Eagles have slapped a €9m (£8m) price tag on Larin ahead of the summer market, having doubled his value in less than a year.

The Turkish giants considered the Canadian international to be worth €4m (£3.5m) at the start of the season after an impressive campaign on loan with SV Zulte Waregem saw Larin score nine goals and offer 11 assists across all competitions for the Belgian side.

He has since carried that form with him back to Istanbul, with Larin offering Sergen Yalcin 19 goals and four assists – including a role in 19 Super Lig goals (15 scored) in 33 games to help the Vodafone Park side sit atop the table.

But Besiktas are vulnerable to losing Yalcin as the 26-year-old will enter the final 12-months of his contract in June, so intend to entertain approaches if reasonable offers are made.

That will come as a huge boost for Everton after FotoMac credited the Goodison Park outfit with an interest in Larin earlier this month, but claimed the Premier League’s side proposed player-plus-cash swap deal involving Cenk Tosun failed to appeal to the Black Eagles.

Tosun had re-joined the Istanbul powerhouse on loan in January, three years after being sold to the Toffees for £27m, but only featured four times before rupturing his patella tendon and requiring surgery.

The more recent claims coming out of Turkey offer Brands an additional boost, as well, as it was thought Besiktas valued Larin at €15m (£13m) just a season after Zulte Waregem passed on a €2.5m (£2m) option to buy the forward.

Should Everton sign Besiktas’ Larin?

Given the contrasting valuations by the same publication, the precise fee Everton may have to pay Besiktas for Larin remains to be seen but that should not prevent their Director of Football Brands from launching a pursuit.

Everton are likely to be in the market for a new centre-forward this summer if Moise Kean is sold, and are also on the hunt for additional wide options with the Blues keen to acquire a player aged between 20-25/6.

Larin could solve both those problems in one, potentially £8m, swoop, by seeing Brands acquire Ancelotti a second Richarlison type capable of playing across the front line and provide a goal threat in each position.

Of Larin’s 19 goals across all competitions this term, eight have come from the left-wing, six on the right-flank and five through the centre while offering each of his four assists from wide positions.

Richarlison has similarly spread his goal contributions across left-wing and striker roles this season, with eight strikes and two assists from the side and four goals through the centre, along with one assist as an inside forward.

Larin has also been lauded by Canada head coach John Herdman as “an absolute predator,” after the Ontario-born forward added his 11th of 12 international goals with a hat-trick against Bermuda in a World Cup qualifier last month.

So, if Everton are to target a new centre-forward this summer, Larin should certainly be one on Brands’ radar to improve Ancelotti’s options.

AND in other news, Carlo Ancelotti could have Everton’s next Idrissa Gueye on his hands in a “terrific” academy talent…