The £34m genius Everton striker signing who could set Premier League alight next season

Everton supporters will hope they can look back on the 2024/25 season as the one in which the club stopped a decade of rot, and the 2025/26 campaign as the first step of real progress by the Toffees towards competing for trophies and European qualification once again, starting with what could be a very busy summer transfer window under David Moyes.

With a new stadium, new owners and the prodigal son back as manager, Everton finally look like they have all the ingredients to start looking upwards in the Premier League and have been linked to some big-name targets so far this summer including Jack Grealish, Angel Gomes and Liam Delap before the Ipswich striker signed for Chelsea.

Following a 1-0 defeat in his first game back in the Goodison Park dugout, Moyes masterminded a 3-2 win over Tottenham and never looked back as Everton placed fifth in the Premier League table from then until the end of the season winning as many games as West Ham and Manchester United combined - the two top-flight teams to reject Moyes.

So Moyes is heading into the summer transfer window with a strong proof of concept and isn’t giving up on bringing in an imposing striker, with 6’5” Villarreal frontman Thierno Barry on the shopping list.

Everton pursuit of Barry isn’t without challenges

According to Marca, Everton have uncovered a £34 million release clause in Barry’s contract and are keen to activate it to restock the cupboard at striker with Armando Broja returning to Chelsea after an uninspiring loan spell, Dominic Calvert-Lewin likely also heading out of the exit door and the Toffees taking offers on Beto.

Everton have an estimated maximum allowable loss of £39m this summer for Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) - not a huge amount when the only Toffees possibly for sale this transfer window with any significant value are Jarrad Branthwaite, who Moyes is determined to keep on Merseyside, and Beto.

But the great Scot has repeatedly shown he’s capable of doing a lot with a little and at least now there isn’t the problem of funding from ownership, with the Friedkin Group completing their takeover of the Toffees in December.

The new owners were approved by the Premier League just 12 days before the January transfer window opened which, combined with the upheaval of Sean Dyche’s sacking and Moyes’ appointment, means this is the summer is the first time the Friedkins can make a serious splash in a transfer window.

Texas resident Dan Friedkin has an eye-watering estimated net worth of $8.1 billion (£6b) and also owns AS Roma, while the Premier League has kept open the Chelsea loophole that allows clubs to sell assets to themselves, meaning it’s a great time to own not one but two lucrative stadiums if worst does come to worst.

The Hill Dickinson Stadium should be a money spinner once operational so Everton will hope it can improve their PSR situation year-on-year starting from next season.

That’s not the only obstacle to Barry signing with the Toffees - Villarreal have qualified for the 2025/26 Champions League and the Frenchman is reportedly keen to test himself on club football’s biggest stage rather than move to the Premier League according to Spanish sports daily AS.

As a result, Everton are monitoring 23-year-old Bundesliga beanpole Nico Woltemade who hit 17 for Stuttgart this season and is even taller than Barry at around the same price, but they could have to fight off Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich and Brighton to capture his signature.

Meanwhile Villarreal have become Eintracht Frankfurt lite in recent years, making a combined profit of €91.1m (£77.1m) on attackers Nicolas Jackson, Alexander Sorloth and Samuel Chukwueze while also making very healthy money (around £49m) on academy products Pau Torres and Filip Jorgensen since 2023.

So they may fancy their chances of cashing in on another lucrative flip of around €26m in less than 10 months, and back themselves to replace him the same way they filled the voids left at striker by Jackson and Sorloth.

Barry is Beto upgrade for Everton

The words ‘Beto replacement’ aren’t exactly flattering after the Bissau-Guinean returned a meagre eight Premier League goals last season, but Barry offers several upgrades on the incumbent bruiser.

Barry is an aerial phenomenon like Beto - he’s in the top percentage of forwards across Europe’s top five leagues in the air winning over two-thirds of his duels - but he uses that stature in other ways too.

He gets dispossessed over half as many times per 90 minutes as the Bissau-Guinean despite making a relatively high number of carries into the final third and is prolific at drawing fouls, though isn’t so good at beating a defender with the ball at his feet.

In the top quartile of La Liga forwards for goals and assists, Barry also netted a brace against Ineos-owned Lausanne-Sport at the start of last season before his move to Villarreal so you can pencil him into the starting XI against Manchester United if he does sign, and he made 23 goal contributions in all competitions across the campaign.