These stories won’t go away and today there are more rumours that Everton are interested in both Adrien Rabiot and Isco.
Both these players have been linked with Everton over and over again. Now the latest stories from Sportswitness claim the Toffees have put an offer down for Rabiot and media in Italy say that Carlo Ancelotti is still keen to also bring Isco to Goodison Park.
I’m almost reluctant to write about these two again as we’ve covered this rumour so many times before. But then came Monday night’s match at Chelsea where the Blues were throughly outplayed, especially in midfield.
One of the biggest problems Everton had at Stamford Bridge was their inability to get hold of the ball for any length of time.
That was in large part due to not having Abdoulaye Doucoure in their midfield. But for all his undoubted defensive abilities, Doucoure is not a player who is very creative in an attacking sense and if there’s one criticism of him it’s that his passing can sometimes be a little wayward, so conceding possession for his team a bit too easily at times.
On Monday the Toffees perhaps needed a player who could get hold of the ball once it was won and keep it better allowing the Blues to more effectively control the pace and tempo of the game.
Ancelotti has set Everton up to be very hard to beat, particularly in these sorts of matches and that means sitting back at times and being willing to concede possession to your opponents.
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It’s a strategy that has paid off handsomely many times this season. But if you don’t score the opening goal and go behind yourselves, it can work against you when you are playing a very good side. That’s what happened on Monday.
Chelsea got that first goal and then dominated the ball for long periods of the match, with Everton often unable to get hold of it for any length of time.
Obviously without the ball it’s very difficult to create enough chances to win a game and the Blues forwards, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison were starved of decent service.
Both Rabiot and Isco are very accurate in their passing, in fact they are almost identical in that respect and so they rarely give the ball away. They are also both creative, hopefully providing more attacking support from midfield perhaps than the current options Everton have.
On balance I think Rabiot is probably the better choice although Isco offers more attacking threat. Rabiot is younger, left-footed and can also offer genuine defensive solidity, (especially in the air), when he’s focused, at his best and on his game.
Having a player like him would in theory allow the Toffees to compete more effectively and keep the ball better in these sorts of matches and create a bit more when they did have it.
Again, as I always say I don’t know whether there is anything at all in these rumours. But if one or other of these players is available for a very reasonable fee, Ancelotti might be tempted to consider signing one of them.