Everton are considering a summer swoop for SSC Napoli’s out-of-favour forward Hirving Lozano, according to Calciomercato.
The Italian publication understand three Premier League sides are mulling over potential moves to sign the Mexican attacker, who only moved to the San Paolo Stadium from PSV Eindhoven last summer for a fee in the region of €42million (£36.3m).
Lozano secured his switch to the Serie A having impressed in the Dutch top-flight with 34 goals and 22 assists in 60 league games, while also striking the back of the net against Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan during the Eredivisie side’s 2018/19 Champions League Group Stage campaign.
But his time in Naples has not been anywhere near as productive, with Lozano only scoring three times and being credited with two assists across 23 outings in all competitions thus far. The 39-cap attacking ace has also only been awarded 61 minutes in the Serie A by head coach Gennaro Gattuso since the Italian was named as Carlo Ancelotti successor on December 11.
Not once has Gattuso called on Lozano to open an Italian top-flight game, either, while the AC Milan icon also revealing ahead of his side’s Champions League Round of 16 First-Leg tie with FC Barcelona that he has “no space” for the 24-year-old in his plans.
“Lozano has to work harder and improve to be ready,” Gattuso said, via quotes by AS. “Right now, I am looking for different qualities that he doesn’t have, so at the moment I have no space for him in my team.”
Would you back a move to reunite Ancelotti with Lozano?
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Gattuso could look to sell Lozano in the summer if he continues to question what the Mexican can offer, and would not be short of potential suitors.
Calciomercato understand that West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers are also considering summer moves for Lozano, though it would be likely that the San Paolo outfit will look to recoup as much of the €42m spent in 2019.
While Lozano has featured extremely infrequently since Ancelotti departed Naples, our manager was able to get more out of the Mexican than Gattuso has so far – the 5 ft 8 winger scored each of his three Napoli goals during the boss’ tenure in Italy.
Lozano also penned his only Serie A assist of the term to date whilst Ancelotti was still in charge of Napoli, though came against AS Roma whilst the Italian was suspended and Davide Ancelotti took over his position in the dugout.
Lozano has averaged 1.0 shots per game in the Italian top-flight thus far this term, plus 33.0 touches, 1.0 key balls, 7.0 accurate passes (64%), delivered 2.0 accurate crosses (33%), won 2.0 tackles, 4.0 ground duels (50%) and has been successful with 1.0 (50%) of his dribbles, per Sofa Score data.
In other Everton news, fans have been hailing the “best news” since Ancelotti joined following a confirmed deal.