Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak has emerged as a potential January target for Everton, according to the Zenit St. Petersburg star’s agent.
Andrei Arshavin has been the headline grabber for Zenit, but Pogrebnyak’s worthy of his share of plaudits. The 25-year old was joint top scorer in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup with 10 goals, and had he not suffered a knee injury in a Euro 2008 warm-up, he’d have had a chance to display his talents on a bigger stage.
The injury put him out of Euro 2008, and he also missed significant time during Zenit’s league campaign, but he still finished with a respectable six goals in 19 league appearances, and he also has one goal for Zenit in the Champions League group stage.
Louis Saha will be back soon, but James Vaughan is sidelined indefinitely with knee issues, and with only Victor Anichebe the only other experienced striker available for David Moyes, Everton need at least one new striker in January.
Considering that David Moyes likely doesn’t want to spend very much money on a new striker (as shown by his interest in Henrik Larsson and David Nugent), a loan move for Pogrebnyak could be more realistic than a permanent move. Zenit won’t be looking to sell one of their top players on the cheap, so Everton could try to swing a loan move. The Russian Premier League’s new season starts in March, and Zenit look set for the UEFA Cup round of 32, which starts in late February, so Zenit could be okay with a short-term loan move.
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