Brands can win back Everton critics with £36m swoop for Gueye-like beast who silenced Salah – opinion
One of the biggest problems at Everton is in midfield and you’d have to imagine it is an area that Carlo Ancelotti will be desperate to strengthen this summer – but can Marcel Brands really be trusted to pull something wonderful out of the bag?
His recent business has been nothing short of an embarrassment.
£34m for Alex Iwobi, who’s merely returned one goal all season; £25m on Jean-Philippe Gbamin, who has featured for a total of 135 minutes all season; and only then consider the impacts of Fabian Delph and Moise Kean.
However, the Dutch director of football can win back his critics with a swoop for Napoli’s defensive midfield enforcer Allan.
Should Brands splash the cash on Allan?
The 29-year-old has once again been linked to the club this week with journalist Nicolo Schira claiming that talks are ongoing between the Brazilian and the club.
Last month, reports suggested that the Serie A outfit would be willing to listen to offers of around €40m (£36m) for him and given that’s merely £2m more than Iwobi, it would be dumb not to make a ploy for him.
The Toffees have never really replaced Idrissa Gueye with the departing Morgan Schneiderlin ranking top for tackles in the squad – and if there’s a player out there with similar attributes to the PSG man, then it is Allan.
Under Ancelotti at Napoli last season, the lynchpin was an absolute beast across all competitions. He averaged a whopping 6.3 tackles per game in the Champions League as well as 4.3 per match in the Europa League and 3.2 in Serie A, via WhoScored.
That’s triple what Everton’s best defensive midfield option has mustered up this season.
In three campaigns at Goodison Park, Gueye recorded no fewer than 3.5 tackles per game with a best of 4.3 during his final season here.
And as an added benefit, Allan is somewhat a nemesis of our arch-rivals already having kept Mo Salah and co quiet earlier in the season as Napoli defeated Liverpool 2-0 in the UCL.
Not for the first time either as he shut out the Reds last term as well as Neymar’s Paris Saint-Germain.
Brazil head coach Tite once said this about the ‘new Arturo Vidal’: “Allan is good in transition, going box to box, leading counterattacks and breaks. He’s mobile and brings protection defensively.”
It’s absolutely a no-brainer for Brands to splash the cash on the 29-year-old this summer.