Everton have completed their first signing of the summer with ex-Aston Villa full-back Ashley Young securing a move to Goodison Park this week, and now Sean Dyche will be fully focused on strengthening his attacking threat.
The Toffees escaped the drop into the Championship with just two points to spare last season and only a goal from Abdoulaye Doucoure on the final day saved their Premier League status.
It is no secret that Everton have struggled to kill games in the final third with the forward line significantly weakened by both Richarlison and Anthony Gordon's departures, alongside ongoing injury issues that have left Dominic Calvert-Lewin unable to provide consistent performances in the centre-forward role.
Not only that, newcomer Neal Maupay failed to make the desired impact upon his £15m move from Brighton and Hove Albion last summer, delivering just one goal in all competitions over the campaign.
As a result, the signing of a prolific and confident goal-scorer will be imperative if the Mersey outfit don't want to find themselves struggling in their third-consecutive relegation scrap at the bottom of the table next season.
One player who has been linked with a move to Merseyside this week is Werder Bremen striker Niclas Fullkrug, with the Germany international a significant improvement upon the current options and could even make an impact similar to that of Romelu Lukaku.
Who is Niclas Fullkrug?
The 30-year-old titan has enjoyed a great career in German football rising through the ranks of the Werder Bremen youth set-up to become a goal-machine for the Bundesliga club and eventually earning a much deserved spot in his national team.
Over 371 club appearances so far, Fullkrug has tallied up a whopping 143 goals and 43 assists, with a goal contribution every 127 minutes played which is a fantastic output that would be highly valuable if he could emulate that goal-scoring rate at Goodison Park.
Not only that, the German native – who was once hailed as "very complete" by Bremen coach Ole Werner – has scored seven goals in nine senior appearances for his national team, which again only demonstrates further Fullkrug's keen eye for goal.
In fact, when comparing his league output to that of Demarai Gray, Neal Maupay and Dominic Calvert-Lewin last season, the Werder Bremen powerhouse outperformed his Everton position competitors comfortably in a number of attracking attributes including goal contributions (21), shots on goal per 90 (2.69), goal-creating actions per 90 (0.36) and aerial duels won (54.1%), as per FBref.
The Merseysiders have had huge success with strikers who use their towering stature to dominate the ball in the air and cause chaos for defenders with their strength, both Calvert-Lewin and Lukaku have been the most popular and prolific strikers in front of goal with the latter tallying up 116 goal contributions during his tenure at Everton.
Now, standing at 6 foot 2, Fullkrug – who has a reported €20m (£17m) price tag – could be the second coming of Lukaku if he can follow in the footsteps of the Belgian by finally providing the supporters, the club and the squad a striker they can rely on in the final third next season.
