This article is part of Football FanCast's Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news...

As reported by Tutto Mercato, Everton are showing interest in Shakhtar Donetsk chief scout Jose Boto amidst their current relegation scrap. The Toffees are sitting in the drop zone and may well need recruitments in January to help them out.

What do the reports say?

Boto has been in Ukraine with Shakhtar for a little over a year, after spending just short of a decade in his homeland with Portuguese giants Benfica (as per Transfermarkt).

The Blues are believed to be impressed by his track record down the years, and having not done spectacularly well in the transfer market themselves, have looked at Boto as a man to find the next stars for the Merseysiders.

The report by Tutto Mercato does indeed suggest that Everton are looking at a recruitment reshuffle, although Marcel Brands' position is seemingly safe as the club's director of football.

Necessary steps for improvement

As Everton are in the relegation zone and have scored just six Premier League goals, it is fair to say their recruitment up top has been poor. The likes of Gylfi Sigurdsson for £45m and Richarlison for £50m have proved to be decent signings in general despite some questionable form this season, scoring 26 league goals between them during the previous campaign.

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However, recruitment elsewhere has been poor, especially in the attacking aspects. Over the years, Everton have brought in Cenk Tosun for £27m, who has only scored nine times for the club and Sandro Ramirez, who only managed one goal and spent an awful lot more time on loan in Spain than in Merseyside.

Since the departure of Romelu Lukaku for £75m, the club have failed to replace his 87 goals in 166 appearances, and in truth, not even come close to doing so. Even the likes of Bernard, who they signed on a free, have been fairly wasteful pieces of business, having scored just twice for the club in 43 appearances.

Bringing in a new chief scout can perhaps find the next Lukaku or Wayne Rooney, rather than settling for signings such as Dominic Calvert-Lewin from Sheffield United, who can't be faulted for effort but for his goal record having netted a dismal 21 goals in 102 appearances for the Blues.

Everton have the right idea with Brands as director of football, but it will be near enough impossible for him to find all the future Goodison Park heroes by himself. He is going to need an army of scouts who are ready to get straight to work and fire the Blues into the European spots - Boto could be the man to do just that.