EPL: Taking a Look at Everton's January Transfer Targets

Halfway through the season, Everton find themselves in a position which they'd have been thrilled to take if you offered it to them at the start of the campaign.

Sitting in fifth place, and two points behind Chelsea, Everton look poised to mount a serious challenge for Champions League qualification in the second half, but may need reinforcements if they are to pull the feat off.

Let's take a look at five players the Toffees have been linked with in the January transfer window.

Guillaume Hoarau

Source: Inside Futbol

Out of favour at PSG, Hoarau will be keen to find a new club in order to get his career going again, and to compete for a place in the French national side.

Everton, arguably short on options up front, would be a good fit for the Réunion born striker who would provide competition for places alongside Nikica Jelavic, Steven Naismith and Victor Anichebe.

You still get the feeling Hoarau is more likely to stay in France, but Hoarau has exactly the right profile for a striker looking to play in the English Premier League—tall, athletic, good in the air and a lethal finisher.

Vegard Forren

Source: Daily Mail

Despite being linked with various clubs throughout Europe since impressing as part of the Molde side who won the Norwegian Tippeligaen in 2011, Forren has remained in Norway so it's hard to know whether we should believe the rumours of his imminent departure this time.

However, the older he gets, it's harder to believe that the Norwegian international will be able to resist the temptation of moving to one of Europe's top leagues. At 24, he is no longer a youth player.

Forren will be more likely to move to a side competing in Europe, and while this is not the case for Everton this season, next year it almost certainly will be.

This could give them the edge over Forren's other suitors, Fulham.  

Nabil Ghilas

Source: A Bola via 101 Great Goals

Another striking target of David Moyes, Nabil Ghilas is an Algerian born in Marseille currently playing in Portugal.

Cosmopolitan, to say the least.

At over six feet tall, Ghilas is a powerful striker who is strong in the air, and has already scored seven times in 17 appearances in all competitions this season for Moreirense, including six in the SuperLiga.

Left-footed, Ghilas would provide some variation in an attack that is almost exclusively right-footed, and clearly fits the bill for the sort of striker Moyes is looking to bring in.

Scott Sinclair

Source: Metro

Sinclair is struggling to get playing time for Manchester City, having featured only six times this season, including four as a substitute.

With the options City has at its disposal, it's difficult to see this changing any time soon.

City are reportedly keen to hold on to the player, but are open to letting him go out on loan, a move which would suit an Everton side reluctant to pay over the odds for a player in January.

Sinclair would provide Everton with another option going forward, and although there is competition for places, based on what we've seen from him so far, Sinclair has the ability to become a first-team regular.

Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe

Source: Daily Mail

Odjidja-Ofoe moved to Hamburg in the Bundesliga at the age of just 18 from Belgian side Anderlecht, but found the transition difficult at such a young age.  He ended up returning to Belgium to Club Brugge for close to a £1 million a year on.

The young defender is a highly-rated prospect, having already been capped three times at international level, but a loan move is reportedly on the cards, with Everton being among the most likely destinations.

If Odjidja-Ofoe is to make his third January move, then he will provide Everton some backup in midfield, an area they are keen to strengthen with Darron Gibson likely to be missing for the next few weeks.