Everton monitoring Slavia Prague starlet Abdallah Sima
By Tom Gott
Everton are among the sides keeping a close eye on Slavia Prague striker Abdallah Sima, who has enjoyed a breakthrough season with the Czech side.
The 19-year-old forward only made his debut for Slavia in September 2020, but he has not looked back since. He has 11 goals and four assists from his 14 league appearances, but it is his form in the Europa League which has caught the eye.
Abdallah Sima made his first-team debut against Slovácko in September last year.
— SK Slavia Prague EN (@slavia_eng) February 28, 2021
? And so the fairy tale began! pic.twitter.com/7WifgcXKpK
Sima bagged his fourth goal of the competition in the recent 2-0 win over Leicester City, which sent the Foxes crashing out of Europe, and it seems as though his form has not gone unnoticed.
According to Football Insider, Everton are keeping a close eye on the Senegal native, who is seen by many at the club as a potential target for what is expected to be yet another summer of heavy spending from the Toffees.
However, if rumours on Twitter are to be believed, they will face competition from West Ham United, who have fallen in love with the idea of signing Slavia players by the looks of it.
David Moyes brought in midfielder Tomas Soucek and right-back Vladimir Coufal from Slavia during the summer, and both players have played key roles in the Hammers' surprise push for Champions League qualification.
Soucek recently confessed to CT Sport that West Ham are monitoring the teenager's progress, and they likely won't be afraid of plucking another player from the Czech side after striking gold with Soucek and Coufal.
Reports suggested West Ham had been quoted a fee of £35m for Sima, although Slavia president Jaroslav Tvrdik took to Twitter to label the rumour as 'not true', but whether he was referring to the fee or the Hammers' interest is unclear.
Both Everton and West Ham are expected to be in the market for a forward in the summer. The former have only Bournemouth loanee Josh King as cover for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, while West Ham failed to replace record signing Sebastien Haller, who was offloaded to Ajax in January.
With Slavia's stock as high as it has ever been recently, it would come as no surprise to see Sima command a huge fee, but there's no denying that the teenager has looked like one to watch this season.