Everton can't afford to play around with Flamengo for Charly Alcaraz | OneFootball

In what was considered at the time to be a vital January transfer window, Everton made one move to add talent to a struggling club that appeared headed for another relegation battle.

The move was a loan for Carlos Alcaraz, an attacking midfielder from Flamengo in the Brazilian first tier. Alcaraz had previously played a season in the Premier League with Southampton in 2022/23 and then stayed with the Saints when they were relegated to the Championship the following season.

The Argentine joined Flamengo after a short loan stint at Juventus in the summer of 2024 for a reported €18 million fee.

And having just turned 22 when he arrived, Alcaraz appeared an ideal type of player to bring into the squad: young, talented, but not getting much in the way of opportunities (he played just 751 minutes in 14 matches with eight starts), and already shown himself capable of making an impact in the Premier League.

And yet David Moyes has been inconsistent with the usage of Alcaraz, despite the clear difference the young attacker makes when he's on the pitch.

Alcaraz has scored just once, although it was a massive 80th-minute goal away to Crystal Palace that proved to be the game winner, while his other goal contribution set up Beto to kickoff the scoring in that same crucial match.

There have been conflicting reports on how the option-to-buy works for this loan move, be it based on Alcaraz receiving a certain number of starts or appearances, or if Everton can merely trigger it as they wish, but some of the reporting stinks a bit of the Merseyside club trying to negociate a better fee.

This feels like it would be a mistake.

You have the player in your building and, by his own admission, he wants to stay at Everton, so quibbling over the price at this point (which appears to be right around what Flamengo paid for him) sets up a situation where you lose out on the player entirely.

Everton missing out on a young, talented player that could prove himself to be a good investment if nothing else would be an error this club cannot afford to make at this juncture.

The Toffees should just do what needs to be done to trigger the option and keep Charly Alcaraz in blue for years to come.