Abdoulaye Doucoure was having a spectacular season before injury struck
3. Central midfielder
Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure are complementing each other in the middle of the park which has proven to be extremely fruitful for Everton. The duo brings different type of skillsets to the table and they blend together, keeping the engine running. The when the injury bubble burst and the Royal Blues lost Abdoulaye Doucoure to metatarsal injury, problems rose quickly.
There was no one in the senior who could replace the energy and box-to-box characteristics of Doucoure. Tyler Onyango could come the closest but the burgeoning youngster has a long way to go on the path of development before he can feature regularly. The injury storm worsened when Tom Davies also picked up an injury leaving Allan, Fabian Delph and Jean-Philippe Gbamin as only available options.
Gbamin isn’t trusted in entirety by Benitez and could possibly head out on loan in January. This could leave Everton short of options in midfield and expose the fragile squad depth. Even though Doucoure has returned, having a skilled midfielder in the roster will boost the squad depth and aid Everton’s cause.
Donny van de Beek and Sean Longstaff are being mentioned as targets and there could be serious approaches for either of them in the January transfer window. At this point, Everton’s dream for European football has drowned like the city of Atlantis. January reinforcements are a must for the Toffees to avoid a debacle and there’s no other alternative to not spending.
Which position should Everton strengthen first?