With Everton forced to consider free agents after the January transfer window closed without them signing a single player, Isco has emerged as what is, on face value, the most unlikely of potential targets.
A report in the Times states that after “plates which had been spinning crashed to the floor” ahead of the deadline passing, “now the attention will turn to free agents, with Andre Ayew and Isco, who saw a move to Union Berlin collapse, under consideration.”
While nine seasons in Real Madrid’s first team with 12 goals in 38 games for Spain indicates that Isco is clearly a highly-gifted individual, he certainly does not scream of being an obvious Sean Dyche player. After departing the Bernabeu last summer, he joined La Liga rivals Sevilla on a two-year contract but his deal was terminated by mutual consent on December 21 with coach Jorge Sampaoli stating that Isco: “Did not meet the club’s expectations.”
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Despite passing a medical with Union Berlin, his proposed move to the German capital was not completed on January 31 with his potential Bundesliga suitors claiming afterwards that the player’s demands differed from the original agreement. Although he has over 400 Spanish top flight games under his belt, at 30 years of age, Isco now finds himself at a significant crossroads and the prospect of his next destination being Goodison Park would certainly represent a left field move for both parties.
It’s questionable whether the position in which he forged his reputation as a central attacking midfielder or second striker even exists in a Dyche team. Isco played that number 10 role for Manuel Pellegrini for Malaga but for Real Madrid, former Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti would often deploy him as a deep-lying playmaker.
You have to wonder whether Dyche, whose teams for prolonged periods of his nine-and-a-half year tenure at Burnley were heavily based around a rigid 4-4-2 formation, would indulge such a luxury player in the engine room of what is going to be a rough and tumble Premier League relegation battle when he has more combative individuals like Amadou Onana and Idrissa Gueye at his disposal. There is also the dilemma of what to do with Alex Iwobi who initially improved under Frank Lampard when operating as a more attack-minded central midfielder but could now find that role has disappeared.
Isco can also be utilised as a winger though and you suspect if he was to come to Everton under Dyche, following the £45million sale of Anthony Gordon to Newcastle United, that could be the area of the pitch where his strengths such as dribbling, shooting and picking a pass could be exploited. Using the Virtual Transfer tool on Comparisonator, Isco’s statistics from La Liga this season can be correlated against those who are already operating in the Premier League as left wingers, the position in which most of his outings for Sevilla came.
When it comes to offensive parameters, Isco would rate as highly as third for shot assists per 90 minutes (1.64) with only Manchester City’s Jack Grealish (1.79) and Leeds United’s Jack Harrison (1.66) ahead of him while he also creeps into the top 10 for assists (0.16) with Harrison top on 0.44. He’d be eighth for successful dribbles (3.28), a category topped by Kaoru Mitoma of Brighton & Hove Albion (4.3) but his successful attacking actions figure of 3.61 is less than the 4.23 of Everton’s Demarai Gray, with Liverpool’s Luis Diaz top on 5.56.
As you might envisage, Isco’s defensive tables appear much weaker and it’s an area that Vitalii Mykolenko of Everton, primarily a left-back of course, often outranks him in on the times that the Ukrainian international has been pushed further forward. The Spaniard only makes 1.81 interceptions per 90 minutes with Aston Villa’s Jacob Ramsey (4.94) the best in class ahead of Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella (4.76) and Mykolenko (4.63).
Mykolenko is actually the most-efficient Premier League player in the position for ball losses with just 4.21 per game followed by Cucurella (4.53) and Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze (4.86) but Isco typically gives up possession on 8.38 occasions. He is also way down when it comes to both defensive actions (7.55), a category topped by Cucurella (16.84) and successful defensive actions (4.27) which Cucurella also leads on 12.19.
Isco fares better for passing and would be fourth for successful passes on 37.12 with Cucurella first on 55.51 and fifth for successful passes into the final third with 15.77, behind leader Phil Foden on 21.24. While he hasn’t put in any successful crosses, which is somewhat damning for a winger, Isco emerges as a surprise leader in a category that could make Dyche’s ears prick up, topping the table for successful long passes with 1.81 per 90 minutes, ahead of Fulham’s Willian on 1.49 and Ivan Perisic of Tottenham Hotspur on 1.48.
The new Everton manager has already stated “why fight the box you’re put in” when it comes to preconceptions of his supposed direct approach while also speaking out on what he described as “trendy phrases” within the game. Dyche said: “You could have a million of them, I remember one of the managers, because we were always being questioned about playing longer balls, and they said ‘he’s playing vertical passes.’ We were wetting ourselves, me and my staff.”
Such is the presentation of the package though. What might have been called ‘long balls’ for Dyche’s Burnley could now be described as ‘vertical passes’ when delivered by Isco but whether that hidden talent alone is enough for him to find a place at Everton remains to be seen.
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.
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