How Badou NDiaye Could Offer Everton Something Different
With the new season just around the corner, Everton are rumoured to be interested in Stoke City’s Badou NDiaye. The Senegalese man’s stats suggest that he could be a shrewd signing for the Blues.
Rumours about Badou NDiaye continue to abound on Merseyside. The Liverpool Echo report that Everton are one of a host of teams interested in signing the Senegalese midfielder – who is currently contracted with relegated Stoke City. NDiaye had a solid half-season with the Potters, after arriving from Turkey in January – managing two goals in 13 appearances.
At first glance, it seems that NDiaye should not be a priority. After all, the Blues need urgent support at centre-back, having allowed both Ramiro Funes Mori and Ashley Williams to leave this summer. If Yerry Mina does not complete a move from Barcelona, the entire Everton back-staff should assume crisis stations to locate defensive support as soon as possible.
Yet, analysis of NDiaye’s performance last season suggests that he could bring something different to the Everton midfield. Moreover, the Blues urgently need some creative flair in the centre. Signing the Stoke’s Senegalese dynamo could be very useful indeed.
NDiaye offers something different
How would NDiaye fit into the Everton midfield? If he were to start, what would he offer that was different to either Morgan Schneiderlin or Idrissa Gana Gueye?
As most Everton fans should know, it not hard to look better than Schneiderlin considering his torrid season last year. The 28-year-old looked sluggish for the most part of 2017-18, and did little of note in defense or attack to mitigate his apparent lack of stamina.
According to WhoScored, Schneiderlin managed just 57 tackles all season, and completed 84% of his passes – a pretty poor percentage considering that the majority of these distributions were short.
Needless to say, NDiaye, who managed similar passing success, and more tackles per game, seems to be an improvement on Everton’s controversial Frenchman. The Senegalese midfielder is far more athletic too, which could prove crucial as the Blues’ ageing defence continues to slow.
When compared to Idrissa Gueye, NDiaye’s skillset is only emphasised further. Gueye is a pure-recycler and his stats on WhoScored show such; last season, he managed a high number of tackles (3.9) and interceptions per game (1.9), and maintained a high pass rate each match (47.5), most of which were played short.
NDiaye’s game performance mirrors this to an extent – although he is not as effective as Gueye across the majority of defensive statistics.
The two are split on offensive stats however. NDiaye’s Premier League sample is far smaller, but he still showed a notably higher rate of dribbles (1.3) and shots per match (1.5) (WhoScored). He created more opportunities per game in 2017-18 too. According to Squawka, NDiaye provided seven chances in 13 matches. Gueye offered just 11 in 33.
It is clear that NDiaye was relied on far more by Stoke as a creative outlet than his Goodison compatriot. His wildly contrasting creative performance suggests a box-to-box midfielder rather than an out-and-out ball winner. He is a different type of player to Gueye, and looks more likely be a complementary piece, rather than a carbon copy.
Everton’s needs in midfield
During the Koeman era, Everton learnt a valuable lesson in midfield selection. In signing Schneiderlin as the heir apparent to Gareth Barry, Barry’s importance to the Blues’ playmaking and chance creation was severely overlooked.
Schneiderlin was never billed as a dynamo – but when partnered with Gueye, Everton lacked any flair in the engine room. They may seem similar players to James McCarthy and Gareth Barry in their Martinez-era pomp, but they are not. In his final Everton season (2015-16) Barry managed to create a chance every other game (Squawka). Last season, Schneiderlin produced a chance every fourth.
Badou NDiaye will not transform Everton, but he could provide balance to their under-performing midfield. Ideally, we would like a larger sample of games played in the Premier League, as we cannot yet be sure whether NDiaye’s dynamic performance is sustainable or an accurate representation of his skillset. Still, the early indicators are promising – and Marco Silva may need to act quickly to secure his signature.
In the veritable bonanza of attacking midfielders that have arrived on Merseyside in the past-24 months, I can’t help feel that our central midfield has been overlooked and under-loved.
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Sometimes, teams make the greatest improvement when they fix a longstanding shortcomings, instead of making marquee signings. NDiaye could be the man to galvanize Everton’s stagnant central midfield.