Everton’s search for a striker has taken a familiar late-window twist: the transfer deadline has passed, the options are thin, and a big name with a complicated recent history is suddenly on the table.
This time, it’s Mauro Icardi.
The Argentine, once the ruthless focal point of Inter Milan and a Champions League regular with Paris Saint-Germain, has been offered to Everton as a free agent, according to TyC Sports journalist German Garcia Grova on 7 September. With the Toffees short of centre-forward options and still licking their wounds after a failed move for Folarin Balogun on deadline day, the proposal has landed at a moment of real need.
Everton’s striker problem
David Moyes is operating with just one natural number nine in his senior squad: Thierno Barry. The youngster has promise, energy, and a willingness to run, but he is still learning the craft of Premier League finishing and has been wasteful in recent outings.
For a club already walking a tightrope in the league, that is a dangerous position. Everton need goals now, not in six months’ time when Barry has sharpened his decision-making.
The transfer window has closed, so the club’s gaze has shifted to the free-agent market. That is where Icardi enters the frame.
Icardi on the market
Icardi, 33, is unattached after leaving Galatasaray at the end of the 2025-26 season, his contract expiring following a campaign in which he remained a potent weapon, if no longer the undisputed star.
He scored 16 goals in all competitions last season for the Turkish champions, most of them coming from the bench with Victor Osimhen preferred as the starting striker. In the Super Lig alone, Icardi hit 14 goals and posted a 24 per cent conversion rate, outperforming an expected goals tally of 10.53, according to Sofascore.
That is not the profile of a forward whose instincts have deserted him. The legs might not be what they were, but the penalty-box craft clearly remains.
His CV still carries weight: Inter Milan, PSG, Galatasaray, and regular Champions League nights. Last season he faced Liverpool and Juventus in Europe, proving he can still operate against elite defences. For a club like Everton, looking for an edge in tight games, that experience matters.
Why he fits Moyes’ needs
Moyes does not need a project up front. He needs a finisher.
Icardi no longer sprints in behind or dazzles with step-overs. That part of his game has faded. What he would bring to Everton is something more basic and arguably more valuable in their current situation: ruthless efficiency in the box.
His movement between centre-backs, his timing on crosses, his ability to punish half-chances – those are traits Everton simply do not have enough of. In a team that often has to work hard for territory and relies on moments rather than waves of chances, an elite converter can transform the mood of a season.
Barry can still develop, still make his mistakes, but with Icardi ahead of him or alongside him, those errors would not carry the same weight. The pressure on a young forward eases when he knows a proven goalscorer is there to finish the chances he misses.
Everton’s dilemma: now or January?
Everton’s stance is cautious but interested. Icardi has been offered, his representatives are open to a move, and the club are actively scouring the free-agent market after the Balogun deal collapsed. All the ingredients are there for a deal if the numbers align.
The key question inside the Hill Dickinson Stadium is timing.
Do they move now, plug the gap, and trust that Icardi’s finishing will outweigh any concerns over age and mobility? Or do they gamble on Barry, ride out the next few months, and return to a wider pool of options in January?
In a league that punishes hesitation, that decision may define more than just a transfer window.
