Some new midfield options for Everton
The Liverpool Echo have been analysing some potential new signings as Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti talks of needing more ‘energy’ in midfield next season.
Central midfield has been a real problem for Everton all season long and while there have been improvements particularly up front and to some extent defensively too since Ancelotti arrived, the difficulties in the middle of the park have been a constant theme.
As we’ve said before, to a considerable extent this has been unavoidable. The virtual season-long absence of new signing Jean-Philippe Gbamin and then Andre Gomes injury back in early November, which looked like it might keep him out until next term, have hurt the team.
Gbamin’s loss was especially important as he was bought to replace Idrissa Gueye, such an important part of how the Toffees played under former manager Marco Silva.
In Silva’s 4-2-3-1 formation, Gana was the lynchpin enabling the Blues to operate to varying degrees of success with this system and giving other players like Gomes and Gylfi Sigurdsson more freedom to operate.
The absence of his new summer signing and the impact it had on Everton’s form this campaign, was a major factor in his eventual sacking.
Since Ancelotti has taken over the new manager has gone to a 4-4-2 and tried a series of different combinations in the centre to try to find the right balance.
He has used Sigurdsson and Morgan Schniederlin, or Sigurdsson and Tom Davies, Schniederlin and Davies and even Mason Holgate has played there, a change that Duncan Ferguson initially made.
Now with the unexpectedly early return to fitness of Gomes, Ancelotti has another option, although as if to balance out that piece of good luck, Gbamin has had another setback in his seemingly endless recovery process.
And although Gomes’ return is terrific news, the Portuguese is a player whose primary strengths are his technical ability that enable him to control possession and allow Everton to vary the pace and tempo of their play.
The first player that the Echo suggest the Blues boss look at is the Espanyol midfielder Marc Roca. Roca might not be an obvious choice given he is playing for a struggling club, but he has all the right kind of qualities if Ancelotti wants a more dynamic all-round central midfielder.
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Roca is defensively solid and creative as well although he does also have some disciplinary issues with picking up cards.
Another player who is very similar, is the Toulouse enforcer Ibrahim Sangare. He is perhaps even more defensively orientated than Roca and doesn’t seem to create as much but again, like the Spaniard, he’s currently playing for the bottom team in his league so making his performances even more impressive.
The final one worth a further look is the Baptiste Santamaria. The French player is more like Roca although he’s a little older. Santamaria looks like a very consistent player and one quality he seems to possess that Everton certainly need more of, is concentration.
Any of these individuals seem like they are certainly worth a closer look and we will wait and see whether the Blues move for any of these players in the summer.