Everton are readily associated with being blunt in front of goal, especially in the Farhad Moshiri era, and that is down to a multitude of issues at the club.

From hiring managers whose philosophies don't align towards being fluid in attack – like Sean Dyche – and rarely taking a measured approach in the transfer window, the Toffees have found coming across a lethal finisher hard to come by.

Since being unable to convince goal-scoring monster Romelu Lukaku to stay in 2017, the club has struggled to replace his powers with the likes of Sandro Ramirez, Cenk Tosun, Moise Kean, Josh King and Soloman Rondon all failing dramatically, while only one striker has remained throughout the Moshiri era and that is Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Although a return of 63 goals in 215 appearances is far from clinical, the most recent part of his career has been ravaged by injury troubles and the Englishman hasn't come close to eclipsing the 16 goals posted in the 2020/21 campaign.

While Calvert-Lewin's injuries have only compounded Everton's troubles in recent years, those could have potentially been resolved if they managed to sign Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang in 2018.

Did Everton almost sign Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang?

Back when Sam Allardyce was in charge, Everton were interested in signing Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund and the figure touted for the Gabonese international was around £60m.

In an interview with TalkSPORT in 2020, Allardyce later confirmed that interest, claiming that the striker was desperate to leave Germany.

He said: “I tried to buy him at Everton, it was about £60m or £70m I think. We were searching for goals after [Romelu] Lukaku went and just wanted to test the waters.

“We spoke through his agent, and we had a shout that he was apparently desperate to get away from Germany and get into the Premier League."

While Allardyce and Everton didn't get very far in their pursuit of the prolific striker, had they been successful, you'd imagine the Toffees – who instead completed deals for Theo Walcott and Tosun for a combined £47m – would have been in a much better place.

Indeed, Aubameyang went on to join Arsenal for £60m in January 2018 and following his scintillating performances for the Gunners, left Everton ruing their latest transfer mishap.

How many goals did Aubameyang score for Arsenal?

Aubemayang's legacy is tainted at Arsenal by how he departed the club, developing a toxic relationship with former Toffee Mikel Arteta after making multiple disciplinary breaches that saw him get stripped of the club's captaincy.

Despite departing in acrimonious circumstances to join Barcelona in 2022 on a free transfer, the striker – who was likened to Gunners legend Thierry Henry for his performances at the Emirates by Aaron Ramsey – will always be remembered by those associated with the club for his sensational goal-scoring touch.

Arguably the greatest ever striker to grace the north London giants since the Frenchman, Aubameyang's 92 goals in 163 appearances for Arsenal and 69 Premier League goals is a demonstration, if it was ever needed, that the Gabon international was dynamite in front of goal.

Instrumental to Arsenal's explosive attack, having defenders running scared against his searing pace in behind while finding him unstoppable to live with, he was lauded by Gary Neville as "absolutely sensational" and "a Premier League great" for standing toe-to-toe with some of the best forwards to ever grace the division, including Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane and Henry.

During his greatest-ever campaign in a Gunners shirt in 2018/19, in which he finished as the league's top scorer, Aubameyang's 31 goals in competitions was a glowing indication of his ruthlessness in the final third, ranking in the top 4% for non-penalty goals against his positional peers in the Premier League, top 2% for expected goals (xG) and top 4% for goals per shot on target, as per FBref.

An irrepressible monster in front of goal, but also a pressing machine and a leader all rolled into one, the 6 foot 2 phenom rose to the peak of his powers at Arsenal which culminated in a regular demonstration of him being a complete forward, the sort that would have been a resounding success to replace Lukaku at Everton.