---
title: "Everton set aside funds for January defender pursuit – where could they go?"
canonical: "https://readeverton.com/everton-set-aside-funds-for-january-defender-pursuit-where-could-they-go/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Elliott Cuff"
section: "Feature Writers"
published: "2019-10-03T11:00:06Z"
modified: "2019-10-03T11:00:06Z"
---

# Everton set aside funds for January defender pursuit – where could they go?

Everton have reportedly set aside a budget of £10million plus in order to sign a centre-back in January.

Both Marco Silva and Marcel Brands have identified that signing another centre-back option is imperative, and the duo will spend the following months finding their ideal targets to explore once the transfer window re-opens.

Everton currently have just Michael Keane, Yerry Mina and Mason Holgate as senior centre-backs, and the club are acutely aware that should injury strike any of them, the club could be in a nervy position.

The Toffees attempted to re-sign former loan star Kurt Zouma in the summer, but Chelsea weren’t willing to sell. They also wanted Blues defender Fikayo Tomori on loan, which was likely to go through until David Luiz scuppered the move by joining Arsenal, meaning Chelsea couldn’t let Tomori go due to lack of cover.

![Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readeverton.com/readeverton/2019/10/1176624526.jpg)

Marcos Rojo appeared likely to sign on Deadline Day too but Manchester United’s board pulled the plug late on, not wanting to help a club they considered to be a European qualification rival.

But [Football Insider now claim](https://www.footballinsider247.com/sources-everton-set-sights-on-big-money-january-signing/) that Everton consider the centre-back position a high priority for the upcoming window, and the club will pull out all the stops to ensure they find the right player to increase their squad depth appropriately.

Despite setting aside £10million plus, Everton would also be willing to pursue another loan signing if necessary.

### Read Everton Verdict

Well this was predictable, wasn’t it? Everton were so desperate to find that defender in the summer that failure to do so would always lead to them focusing on that area in January.

It is likely that Everton would need to sell before they buy because in the current market, £10million would only really buy you one leg of a quality defender. Players like Cenk Tosun, Oumar Niasse and Cuco Martina could leave to free up wages and provide Silva with more funds to spend on fresh recruits.

But overall this was obvious. More depth a centre-half is necessary, and Everton were always going to focus on increasing that position’s quality field.