Is Richarlison signing a worthwhile gamble by Everton?
Everton have gambled heavily by spending over £40 million on Brazilian attacker Richarlison – will it prove to be worthwhile?
There has been much said about the very expensive fee that Everton have paid Watford for the 21-year-old forward. Is he really worth that much money and what by the way does it say about the ever more crazy nature of the modern transfer market?
In my view I don’t think anyone is really actually worth £44 million, expect perhaps Lionel Messi at his peak!
But the transfer market is so inflated by all the money sloshing around football at the moment that the fees being paid are going to be increasingly out of kilter with any objective evaluation of a players worth.
Many Everton supporters might think the club have paid well over the odds for such a young, relatively unproven player. They could be right but of course only time will tell.
However lets take a closer look at the former Fluminese player and how he can impact on Everton’s team next season.
The Guardian have produced an in-depth analysis of Richarlison and how he performed last term.
The player started last season very well following his £11.5 million move to Watford in 2017. In his first seven games he scored five times and added four assists. But after that fast start he faded as did Watford’s form overall.
By the time the Hornets had sacked Marco Silva, claiming Everton’s approach for him had precipitated the decision, he was no longer as productive.
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As the Guardian outlines, Richarlison only managed one more assist and no more goals for the rest of the season. One interesting stat is that he did get fouled the most often in the Premier League last season.
This might actually be a very useful attribute perhaps giving Gylfi Sigurdsson plenty of chances to put quality balls in from set-pieces.
The article also claims Richarlison had 95 shots, more all but three other players. However he only scored five times, which is obviously not a very high conversion rate! That’s something that certainly needs to be higher next season.
So Richarlison has certainly showed plenty of talent and promise. He’s a player with pace, skill and power and he has a lot of strength in the air too. But the stats also indicate he isn’t a very good passer or effective at crossing the ball. So there are some areas for improvement here too.
All in all it’s very difficult to be certain that Richarlison will be a success at Everton. Given the less than outstanding return on big money signings last year, he needs to buck that trend. Let’s hope he can.