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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Keifer MacDonald

Everton could see price slashed on 18-goal Championship forward after club stance changes

Coventry City are reportedly ready to cash in on talisman and Everton target Viktor Gyokeres if they do not get promoted to the Premier League this season.

The Sky Blues have not played in England's top-flight since 2002 but currently sit eighth in the Championship table and under long-serving manager Mark Robins are dreaming of ending their 21-year exile.

Gyokeres has played a huge role in the fortunes of Robins' side, with the forward firing 18 goals in the Championship this term and subsequently linked with a move to Goodison Park during the January transfer window.

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However, according to Football Insider, Coventry have accepted that they will be forced to sell the 24-year-old forward if they do not secure promotion this season, despite the Swede's contract running until 2024. It means Everton could get a cut price on a player they were heavily linked with just a few months ago.

After selling Anthony Gordon to Newcastle United for £45m in the final days of the window, incoming manager Sean Dyche was left scrambling the market for attacking reinforcements as the Blues looked to combat the loss of the England U21s forward and the injuries which have stifled Dominic Calvert-Lewin's progress this term.

Dyche was unable to find a suitable replacement for Gordon and was instead left with the returning Ellis Simms, who had spent the first half of the campaign on loan at Championship outfit Sunderland, Neal Maupay and Demarai Gray and the injury-stricken Calvert-Lewin.

Simms who was handed a difficult starting berth under the former Burnley boss as he was thrown into the firing line for the 2-0 defeat at Anfield in February, recently bagged his first goal for the Blues as they came from 2-1 down to secure a vital point at Stamford Bridge before the international break.

Speaking on the 22-year-old's performance in the capital, Dyche said: “He’s still got a lot to improve. He came up in the week actually and asked me ‘what do you think?’ I said: ‘Well. What do you think?’ He gave me four things and I said ‘you are right’".

The draw in West London earlier this month was only the second time in eight games under Dyche that the Blues have scored two goals or more, highlighting the need for attacking reinforcements this summer if the Blues are successful in retaining their Premier League status.

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