Prince Rupert's Tower
Fansided

Gonzalo Villar could be Benitez’s Alonso at Everton

By Matt Townsend

LEGANES, SPAIN - JUNE 08: Gonzalo Villar of Spain U21 battle for the ball with Martynas Dapkus of Lithuania during the international friendly match between Spain U21 and Lithuania at Estadio Municipal de Butarque on June 08, 2021 in Leganes, Spain. (Photo by Diego Souto/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
LEGANES, SPAIN - JUNE 08: Gonzalo Villar of Spain U21 battle for the ball with Martynas Dapkus of Lithuania during the international friendly match between Spain U21 and Lithuania at Estadio Municipal de Butarque on June 08, 2021 in Leganes, Spain. (Photo by Diego Souto/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

As we’ve reported recently Everton might have the chance to sign the young Spanish midfielder Gonzalo Villar, for a knock-down price. So could he be another Xabi Alonso?

There have been a welter of reports of potential midfield additions that Everton are supposedly monitoring with a view to moving for one, possibly as early as the January transfer window.

Villar the Roma midfielder is the latest to be linked with the Blues and it seems he could be available for a considerably reduced transfer fee.

That’s because the Italian club’s manager Jose Mourinho apparently doesn’t see a role for the Spanish international in his plans.

The 23-year-old has had very limited opportunities even before Mourinho arrived in the Italian capital this summer after his latest short-term spell at Tottenham came to an end.

Because of that there’s not a lot of recent statistics on the Spaniard but he seems to be considered to be a talented and promising young player (although that’s obviously true of many players knocking around European leagues).

He’s able to play as a box-to-box midfielder who has both defensive and attacking qualities to his game and seems very comfortable playing in a number of different positions although he mainly plays in central midfield or as a deeper-lying defensive player.

In some respects then he resembles another Spanish footballer who was a little under the radar that Benitez brought to Merseyside in his first stint as a manager here when he was Liverpool manager from 2004-2010.

That player was Xabi Alonso. He joined Liverpool in August 2004 as one of Benitez’s first signings when he moved to England.

Alonso proved to be a huge success in the Premier League eventually forming a superb partnership with Javier Mascherano in Benitez’s central midfield two and won both the Champions League and FA Cup at Anfield.

Combining strong defensive qualities with excellent passing ability, he was a key member of the Reds side that came so close to winning the Premier League title in 2008-09.

It’s possible that the Roma player is a similar type of midfield addition who can replicate some of Alonso’s contributions and supply additional steel, energy and attacking creativity to midfield.

At the moment Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure are excelling in midfield for the Toffees and hopefully they can each stay healthy and continue this fine form for the rest of the season.

But both had injuries during last season and Allan in particular had several spells out, although that might have been mainly down to the relentless run of fixtures in the last campaign. However, given his age and tough-tackling style, you woudn’t bet on him not getting hurt again.

With Jean-Philippe Gbmain yet again injured and apparently permantly struggling for fitness and rumours that Tom Daives might be on his way if a decent offer comes in for him, Everton do need more options in central midfield, especially as it’s such a key area of Benitez’s team and tactical formation.