There has been a plethora of opinion on all of our strikers in the past few weeks. After off-loading James McFadden to Birmingham (which made total sense due to his inconsistent performances and the king’s ransom paid for him), attention has moved to the quartet of Andy Johnson, Victor Anichebe, James Vaughan and Ayegbeni Yakubu.

This week, in the aftermath of our win over SK Brann, a well-written Setanta blog put forward the notion that Everton are outgrowing Johnson. While emphasising Johnson’s shire-horse work ethic and mercurial pace, the article also agreed that if we are to gatecrash the Big Four’s Champions League party, then we have to upgrade from Johnson – an excellent team player, but of late a patchy goalscorer.

So is AJ good enough for Everton’s ever-increasing aspirations? David Moyes just has to look towards the bench to the two promising teenagers waiting in the wings. That Anichebe and Vaughan both have a long way to go is obvious, but they also complement each other wonderfully.

'A nasty rumour constantly reiterated is that Yakubu isn’t Moyes’ signing, and that the Everton board had more to do with his acquisition'


Anichebe is just 19 and could grow into a future Joe Royle. He still resembles a kid who doesn’t know his own strength, but once he can consistently harness this physical aspect, he could grow into a pugnacious and barnstorming striker, like a skilful Emile Heskey without the Eeyore-style moping and constant falling over.

The other young striker that Everton have is Vaughan, a fast, explosive striker, the Premier League’s youngest goalscorer at 16, who may well have been a household name already if it wasn’t for the knee ligament damage he sustained. Now the same age as Anichebe, Vaughan is seen by many as an even better prospect.

And finally we have Yakubu, Everton’s record signing, a truly prolific goalscorer, but prone to post-Yuletide barren phases.

His post-African Nations mini break has been punished swiftly and appropriately by the firm hand of Moyes – but questions still remain. A nasty rumour constantly reiterated on the Times Game podcast by Guillem Balague is that he isn’t Moyes’ signing, and that the Everton board had more to do with his acquisition.

It would be easy to toss this rumour aside, but Balague again and again references it – dropping the rumour into nearly every Game podcast the Times does. When you see that Moyes has done two long and very chummy phone interviews with the podcast – you begin to wonder if this wicked whisper came straight from the Moyesiah’s mouth.

The Everton boss is fully aware that Balague is spreading this rumour, and I believe he is encouraging him to do it as an insurance policy against Yakubu falling into a striking malaise.

All this leaves us looking to the summer. Will Moyes fall back on his youngsters or bid for another striker in his hunt for the elusive 20-goal-a-season man?