Everton linked with defender in Spain
The summer transfer rumour mill continues to gather pace and in the latest story Everton are being linked with a move for a defender in Spain.
According to the Spanish website marca.com it appears Everton are one of two English premier league sides, (along with Arsenal), being connected with a move for the Togo international central defender Djene Dakonam who is currently playing at Getafe.
Obviously these stories must be taken with the usual pinch of salt. However central defence is one area of the Blues team that might need further strenghening with the real possibility that Kurt Zouma won’t be available to sign given Chelsea’s transfer ban.
If Zouma isn’t free to sign or decides he wants to return to Stamford Bridge anyway, then the Toffees will need to replace him.
Losing Zouma would be a real blow especially because he had formed a really strong partnership with Micheal Keane as the season concluded.
Zouma’s departure will hurt even more with Phi Jagielka leaving the club and last summer’s big-money signing Yerry Mina struggling with injuries and form since his move from Barcelona.
That leaves only Keane and Mason Holgate, (if he returns from his loan at West Brom), as central defenders who would be available alongside Mina. And given the Colombian’s problems adapting to the English game, it would mean Everton are thin in that crucial part of the team.
All this would be particularly frustrating as defensive solidity was one of the things that the Blues managed to make really significant progress with in the last third of the season.
Although most of the attention in that fine late season run focussed inevitably on the Toffees re-born attacking fluidity, it was defensively where arguably Everton achieved the most tangible improvement in form and consistency.
Early on in the campaign the Blues had been very erratic at the back, something that often undermined some decent attacking play. It was especially problematic around the turn of the year when Everton were on a horrendous run of form.
The team was leaking goals like the proverbial sieve and the Blues season was threatening to disintegrate very quickly. In particular the side were chronically unable to prevent soft goals being conceded from set-pieces on an almost weekly basis.
But it seemed as though manager Marco Silva and his coaches worked hard to turn around the team’s defensive fortunes. And that hard work paid off as the Blues suddenly became one of the meanest teams defensively in the league.
Positive results soon followed and sustaining that improvement will be critical to the Toffees achieving anything substantial next season.
Returning to this particular rumour, Dakonam looks to be a decent looking centre-back although hardly spectacular and he has a poor disciplinary record, something that would be concerning.
No doubt we will see a succession of these and similar stories as the Blues are a club with a still ambitious owner and a considerable amount of money to spend.