Everton are a striker light after sanctioning the sale of prized asset Richarlison to Premier League rivals Tottenham.
Despite banking a bumper fee of £60million for the Brazilian, it leaves the Toffees starved of his quality up front. Last season the 25-year-old scored 11 league goals and registered five assists as they narrowly avoided an embarrassing relegation.
Those tangible figures are just as important as his work ethic and desire to dig in when needed, highlighted by him winning more tackles (40) than any other striker in the top flight. The task for Frank Lampard and his recruitment team is to now identify Richarlison's replacement - and they could be returning to a familiar hunting ground.
It was 2018 when Everton poached the Brazilian from Watford. They returned to Vicarage Road to bring in midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure two years later and now they could be about to repeat that trick with a move for current Hornets' forward Emmanuel Dennis.
The Nigerian international features on a shortlist of options that the Merseysiders are poring over. Reports suggest Watford, who were relegated into the Championship for the second time in three seasons, would be willing to sell the 24-year-old for around the £20m mark.
That would represent a sizeable profit for a player who only joined the Hertfordshire club a year ago for a fee of just £3m. Despite Dennis technically being a Championship player, he was one of the few Watford players to emerge from last season with any credit.
In what was his first taste of English football he finished top of both the club's scoring and assists chart with 10 and six respectively. Those figures mean he contributed to almost half of the team's league goals (16 out of 34). With new manager Rob Edwards looking to mould the squad into his own, the chance to bring in a healthy transfer fee by cashing in on Dennis may appeal.
The arrival of Ivory Coast striker Vakoun Bayo on a five-year deal from Belgian side Charleroi is seen by many as being the precursor to Dennis' departure.
Already this summer a host of big names have left the club including veteran goalkeeper Ben Foster, midfielders Moussa Sissoko and Philip Zinckernagel and striker Joshua King.
Prior to Bayo's signing, Edwards said of the club's transfer policy: "We are not frantically running around, scrambling around, thinking we’ve got to bring in loads of players.
“There’s a lot of quality here but we are working on one or two targets. I would expect movement, but we've got some wonderful players at this club. There will be changes. I think that's inevitable when a club gets relegated, you want to try and build a really strong group and bounce back and that's what we intend to do, and will do."
Watford open up their Championship campaign at home to Sheffield United on August 1.
