It’s often said that you should never go back in football but Everton are being linked with a transfer deadline day swoop for their former player Idrissa Gueye.
On announcing that Frank Lampard had agreed a two-and-a-half year contract with Everton after completing negotiations on Sunday, the Mirror’s Northern Football Correspondent David Maddock said that the new Blues boss was on his way to Merseyside to take training at Finch Farm today and wanted a midfielder and a defender with Donny van de Beek, Dele Alli and Gueye all considered.
A £7.1million snip from relegated Aston Villa in 2016 when Everton paid his release clause, Gueye was one of the few unqualified successes of the club’s first director of football Steve Walsh’s tenure.
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He gave three years of sterling service at Goodison Park before being sold to Paris Saint-Germain for a huge profit with the Blues raking in a £30million fee.
An energetic shield in front of the back four, the Senegal international’s success was largely based around his ability to get around the pitch but given that he turns 33 later this year, could he still be a force in the Premier League after two-and-a-half seasons operating in the slower pace of Ligue 1?
A look on Comparisonator at how Gueye compares to defensive midfielders currently operating in England’s top flight shows that he has still been producing impressive showings in several defensive areas.
While he doesn’t top any of the charts, his stats in France this term would put him second only to Manchester City’s Rodri (2.74 per game) for ball recoveries in the opponents’ half with Gueye scoring 2.36 and the next best being Brentford’s Christian Norgaard on 2.3.
Given that he’s playing for PSG who will boss possession, it’s perhaps not a surprise that Gueye would also score second for the fewest ball losses (2.36), a figure that tops West Ham United’s Declan Rice (2.81) and is only topped by Marvelous Nakamba of Aston Villa (2.17).
Gueye hasn’t been likely to put his team into danger either as he ranks third for ball losses in his own half than lead to shots within 20 seconds (0.15), proficiency only bettered by Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson (0) and Leeds United’s Mateusz Klich (0.13).
It’s a similar story with ball losses in his own half (0.59) where just the aforementioned Nakamba (0.43); Burnley’s Josh Brownhill (0.45) and Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse (0.47) can top him.
Gueye’s passing was one area that came under scrutiny during his time at Everton but again, as you’d expect when turning out for his petrodollar-fuelled outfit who dominate proceedings domestically, he stacks up well here this term.
There are just two Premier League defensive midfielders who attempt more passes, complete successful passes and receive passes than him.
For all three areas, Henderson leads the way (82.45, 74.44, 70.61) followed by Rodri (78.64, 73.77, 67.78) while Gueye’s numbers are 73.6, 69.46, 67.54.
Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising over 100 different parameters. Click here for more details.
