Everton narrowly avoided Premier League relegation this season as Frank Lampard guided his team to a dramatic 3-2 victory over Crystal Palace in their penultimate game to guarantee survival.
This close escape won't be enough to satiate the Goodison Park faithful, though, and they may be expecting big things next season, especially with the manager getting a full summer transfer window to reshape the playing squad.
One move that they could make is signing defender Adrien Truffert from Rennes, as Farhad Moshiri looks to loosen the purse strings to sign the £10.8m-rated left-back.
He can be their own Theo Hernandez
That’s according to French outlet L’Equipe, who claimed that Everton are keen on the 20-year-old as Lampard aims to boost his porous defence.
Truffert could develop into Everton’s very own Theo Hernandez, the AC Milan and France left-back who has won the Champions League and UEFA Nations League, and the Merseyside club are in need of a defender with his quality.
FBRef's similar player model compares Truffert with his compatriot and it's clear to see why. Both are goalscoring full-backs and love to get forward as much as possible. Hernandez scored five goals and registered five assists in 2021/22, while the Rennes youngster notched three goals and three assists in Ligue 1.
Truffert committed fewer fouls than the AC Milan defender (24 to 39), and although Hernandez makes more interceptions (26 to 19) and tackles (40 to 21), there is plenty of time for the former to improve certain areas of his game and, at 20 years of age, he isn’t near the finished product yet.
Hernandez displayed his attacking qualities by delivering almost three times as many crosses (141) as Truffert (47) this season, but a move to the Premier League could see him gain more experience playing at a much more demanding level of football than the French top flight.
The Rennes left-back has been dubbed “incredible” by the French media, and given his performances during the season, it's clear to see why there has been interest from England. Everton might never sign Hernandez from Milan, but Moshiri could get the next-best thing with a swoop for Truffert.