£7.1 million Gueye outperforms United’s £100 million man

Unarguably Everton’s best player all season, Idrissa Gueye has been sensational throughout and enjoyed another world-class performance in the 1-1 draw with Manchester United.

Gueye comprehensively outperforms £100 million Pogba

But for a lack of a scoring touch, the Senegalese midfielder was unerring and all but immaculate in the first 13 matches. His performance against United, incredibly, was even better. Gueye acquitted himself like Toffees supporters have come to expect.

Gueye was every bit Paul Pogba’s equal on the day and more.

Outplaying the £100-million man is no easy task. Though, as we’ve seen so often before, expensive, high-profile transfers, don’t always guarantee consistent success.

Ronald Koeman deserves credit for bringing Gueye to Goodison. Gueye was playing for Aston Villa when Koeman, for only £7.1 million, brought him to Merseyside. Money definitely doesn’t buy you happiness, as United can attest. They spent an outlandish £92.9 million more on Pogba, who was convincingly outperformed by Gueye on the day.

While Pogba hasn’t been the world beater most expected, he’s still a formidable presence in midfield. But Gueye wasn’t overawed in the least; quite the contrary, actually.

Gueye’s man of the match performance

He was tough in the tackle, covered more ground than a prowling cheetah, pinged the ball about the park with precision and pace and commanded respect in the heart of midfield.

Oh, and who can forget that it was Gueye who drew the 89th minute penalty from former Toffee Marouane Fellaini, which Leighton Baines buried with ease.

But Gueye wasn’t finished there. Inconceivably, the 27-year-old did one better. He found his shooting boots.

Ordinarily a bit erratic and uncomfortable in front of goal, Gueye looked more like Romelu Lukaku on Sunday. He fired from long range on numerous occasions. One of his attempts hit Lukaku, while the other was struck with so much venom that it almost eluded David de Gea. It was a world-class performance from a world-class player.

Marcos Rojo’s horror tackle

Gueye also deserves a lot of credit for the way he handled Marcos Rojo’s 16th-minute horror tackle. Not only was it a straight sending off missed by referee Michael Oliver, but it was the type of challenge that could have resulted in a broken leg.

Gueye may have forced Oliver’s hand a bit more had he rolled around like a fish out of water, akin to so many other players these days. But the rough-and-tumble midfielder played truthfully and displayed the type of honesty that so often goes amiss in today’s game.

Gueye deserves credit for taking the tackle like a man, the way most players would have handled it in the good old days.

The full package

The 27-year-old defensive midfielder, if he can keep his recently found pair of shooting boots, has the complete package.

Next: Ronald Koeman sees Fraser Forster as long-term keeper solution

He has publicly talked about his desire to add goals to his otherwise flawless game and it looks like he’s about to make good on that wish.

The football world is on notice and the sky’s the limit for what Gueye can accomplish if he is able to address, and consistently improve upon, his goal-scoring prowess.

The lynchpin of Everton’s midfield, Gueye deserves his irrefutable man of the match plaudits.