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Premier League giants Everton once showed interest in Russian international striker Fedor Smolov, former Toffees scout Pavel Kucherov told Soccer.
Exactly when Everton called for the now 31-year-old forward… well, Kucherov chose to omit that particular detail.
But when you consider that Kucherov worked at Goodison Park between October 2017 and July 2018, we can only assume that a rapprochement was made for Smolov at some point during Sam Allardyce’s brief reign.
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Did Everton see Smolov, who was scoring goals for fun in Krasnodar at the time, as a possible alternative to Cenk Tosun?
The former Besiktas talisman would eventually move to Merseyside in a £ 27 million deal in January 2018.
But if things had been different, would it have been Smolov instead of Tosun who put pen to paper with one of Britain’s best-supported clubs?
What became of Everton’s interest in Fedor Smolov?
“At Everton they asked me about Smolov, my opinion,” says Kucherov, who also worked as a talent scout at Arsenal before his move to the Northwest.
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The silky Smolov was also heavily linked with a £ 15 million move to West Ham United, at the time via The Mirror, but eventually stayed in Russia and joined Lokomotiv Moscow.
“The Russian system does not encourage players to leave,” adds Kucherov.
“Because it means risk, more work, uncertainty and, most likely, less money. Therefore, the boys get stuck in Russia. And little by little they became uninteresting for European clubs ”.
Kucherov’s explanation may give you an idea as to why Smolov’s name has been absent from gossip columns in recent seasons.
On the other hand, the fact that he has scored just 16 goals in 57 Russian Premier League games with Lokomotiv Moscow may be another factor.
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