Everton are eyeing up young Barcelona forward Munir El Haddadi for a summer move via Royal Blue Mersey
The attacking option has seen gobs of minutes for the Catalan club this season, but he has his sights set on a more regular starting role at this point in his career.
It appears as though Everton and manager
Roberto Martinez are interested in making a move for another promising, young Barcelona prospect,
according to the Liverpool Echo.
Munir El Haddadi is a 20-year-old forward who saw his youth career take him from Galapagar to Santa Ana to Atletico Madrid before ending up in Barcelona back in 2011. Since then, he has appeared in 28 games for Barcelona B, scoring eight times, and has made 41 total appearances for the senior team, putting the ball in the net nine times. On top of that, he made his senior international debut with Spain back in September.
According to Barcelona's website, Munir, as he is known, "is a natural goalscorer. He's fast and reads the game brilliantly…He also has plenty of skill for the ball and always works hard for the sake of the team. He has the potential to be a huge star." So, take that for what it's worth
As it pertains to Everton, the rumors say that the young goalscorer was interested in making a loan move to Merseyside during the winter window in order to secure more regular minutes, but was denied by manager Luis Enrique. However, it appears as the Toffees are interested in revisiting talks in the coming months.
Munir is a smaller player, standing at 5-foot-9 (175 cm) and weighing just 152 pounds (69 kg). With Barca, he gets most of his time on the right wing but is capable of playing out left and up top as a lone striker as well. He prefers to use his left foot, an area lacking in
Everton's attack. At the moment,
Romelu Lukaku is the lone attacking option who prefers his left to his right, although
Ross Barkley is essentially ambidextrous with his feet and
Leighton Baines, when healthy, is always good for a couple of crosses out of the fullback position. Nonetheless, a left-footed winger would fill a void.
The quick thought is to compare Munir to Gerard Deulofeu, another Barcelona product. However, Munir has featured many more times for the Catalan club and appears to be a part of the club's near future. Deulofeu is slightly older and had fallen out of favor there. So, in all likelihood, there will only be talk of a loan deal here. No real chance at a permanent signing.
While certainly the back up to Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, Munir has stepped in for member's of the trio at times and performed admirably, but would appear to still need some fine tuning. In 14 league matches this season he has just three goals. His other five goals have all come in the Copa del Rey. As we can all agree, since Everton would be a step down in terms of talent, he could likely receive regular minutes in both domestic play and in Europe if the Toffees take home the FA Cup.
Some Munir links:
–
The Echo story
–
His Barca profile
–
Wikipedia page
–
Video game ratings
–
B/R piece critical of Munir in November
–
Arsenal had interest in December, according to the Metro
Thanks for reading! To stay up to date on everything related to Everton, be sure to
follow the blog on Twitter @RBMersey and
"Like" Royal Blue Mersey on Facebook!
Read Full Article
Continue reading...
