Big Sam looks at Cat Khazri for Everton
SUNDERLAND could be set for a much-needed windfall with Everton reportedly scouting Wahbi Khazri on a regular basis.
The Tunisian was one of the players the Black Cats tried and failed to sell in the summer but it could now work to their advantage.
Interest from a Premier League club should raise much more money than from the Continent.
Khazri is on a season-long loan at Breton-based Rennes, and Foot 365 say Everton scouts have been regulars at recent games.
He has been producing performances at centre-forward which have led to comparisons with Uruguay star Edinson Cavani.
But any deal would have to be in the summer, with Khazri having already played for two clubs this season – Sunderland and Rennes – and regulations forbid him for playing for another.
Sam Allardyce took over as Everton manager at the end of November and brought Khazri to England in the first place.
January signings Khazri, Jan Kirchhoff and Lamine Kone were crucial in saving Sunderland from relegation in 2016, but for various reasons none have been the same since Allardyce left to manage England that summer.
Khazri made just seven starts for David Moyes and while fans were suspicious the Scot had a hang-up about the mercurial playmaker, it was seven more than Simon Grayson handed him.
It was clear Khazri needed to move in August, and agreed a loan to Rennes with no obligation to buy on deadline day. He is under contract on Wearside until 2020.
Despite Sunderland moving on 14 players in the summer, only goalkeepers Jordan Pickford and Vito Mannone were sold. The likes of Fabio Borini, Jeremain Lens, Papy Djilobodji and Khazri all left on loan, not permanently.
With Sunderland so heavily debt, manager Chris Coleman will need to raise funds if he is to bring in the new players he needs in January, with Kone another linked with a potential reunion with Allardyce.
Khazri has scored five goals for Rennes, and ahead of last weekend’s game against Paris Saint-Germain, his coach Sabri Lamouchi compared him to one of the opposition’s star men.
“He is the Breton Cavani,” he said before the game, which Cavani scored in, while Khazri failed to from the bench.
“He has this intelligence and good malice. Every time he touches the ball, something happens.”