Mauro Icardi Emerges as Everton's Emergency Striker Solution
Everton’s search for a striker has taken a familiar turn: when the window shuts and the options thin out, the proven goalscorers with baggage and mileage suddenly look very attractive.
This time, the name on the table is Mauro Icardi.
The 33-year-old Argentine, once the ruthless focal point of Inter Milan and more recently at Galatasaray, has been offered to Everton as a free agent, according to TyC Sports journalist German Garcia Grova on 7 September. With the club still short of a reliable number nine, the idea is being taken seriously at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
A missed deal and a shrinking market
Everton’s need is obvious. David Moyes has just one natural centre-forward in his senior squad: Thierno Barry. Talented, raw, but very much learning on the job.
The club pushed hard to bring in Folarin Balogun on deadline day. That move collapsed. The window closed. The problem didn’t.
So the recruitment focus has shifted to the free-agent market, where Icardi’s name stands out. He left Galatasaray at the end of the 2025-26 season when his contract expired, and his representatives are understood to be open to a move to Merseyside. For a club that needs goals without a transfer fee attached, the fit is obvious.
What Icardi still offers
Icardi is no longer the explosive, penalty-box predator who terrorised Serie A defences at his peak, but he remains a specialist in the one area Everton are lacking: finishing.
Last season at Galatasaray, he scored 16 goals in all competitions, most of them coming from the bench with Victor Osimhen preferred as the starting striker. In the Super Lig, he hit 14 league goals, converting chances at a rate of 24 per cent and outperforming his xG of 10.53, according to Sofascore. Those are the numbers of a forward who still punishes mistakes.
He also brings experience at the highest level. Icardi faced sides like Liverpool and Juventus in the Champions League last season and coped without looking out of place. The intensity, the atmosphere, the pressure – none of that would shock him if he walked out in Everton blue in L3.
He won’t stretch defences with blistering pace. He won’t dribble past three men or press like a 22-year-old. But he will find space in the box, attack crosses, and finish half-chances that Everton’s current attack has been wasting.
Why Moyes might be tempted
Moyes’ Everton are crying out for a reference point in the penalty area. Barry has shown promise but also inexperience, snatching at chances and lacking the ruthless edge that defines top-level strikers.
Drop Icardi into that structure and the picture changes. Wingers and full-backs suddenly have a target who lives between the posts. Midfielders know that a half-decent ball into the area might be enough. Defenders, under pressure late in games, can go long with a purpose.
For a manager who values organisation, discipline, and efficiency in both boxes, a veteran finisher on a short-term deal makes a certain kind of sense. The risk lies in his age and mobility; the reward lies in the scoreboard.
Decision time at Everton
Everton now stand at a crossroads with Icardi. Do they move quickly to secure a free agent who can walk straight into the matchday squad, or hold their nerve and wait until January for a younger, more long-term option?
The club’s stance, for now, is one of consideration rather than commitment. The offer is there. The need is clear. The numbers back the player.
What remains to be seen is whether Moyes and Everton decide that this is the moment to bet on an old-school poacher to drag their season through the toughest months ahead.
