Richarlison has told Frank Lampard that his preferred position is No.9 but can there be a future for the Brazilian in the centre-forward position at Everton?
The 24-year-old said : “I had a long conversation with the manager this week and he asked me about my preferred position. It is number nine, partly because that is where I play for the national team.
“But I was very clear that I will give absolutely everything, wherever he wants me to play. I will do my best and honour the shirt and help him as much as possible, whether it is in the middle or out wide.
“My ambition is always to contribute to the team’s success, with goals and assists but also through hard work and running and tackling and occupying defenders.”
Richarlison’s attacking versatility has ensured that he has been able to operate not only as a winger – primarily cutting inside from the left flank – but also as a striker for both club and country.
The player pushed hard last summer to be allowed to go to Japan straight on the back of going the distance in Copa America with Brazil.
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He recalled: “I had a fight there, right? I spent the whole day arguing with Everton, with the director.”
In the end, though, Richarlison would feel his efforts were vindicated as his five goals ensured he finished tournament top scorer enroute to securing an Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, and he returned to a hero’s welcome at Finch Farm.
During the competition in the Far East, the Blues ace operated both on the wing and spearheading the attack at different times, as Brazilian football journalist Rodrigo Calvozzo explained to the ECHO : “Even though he is offensive player, he is not always a scorer.
“He is expected to create offensive plays and he has shown himself capable of doing this.
“Of course, if he scores goals, everyone will be happy, but what is expected from a player with his characteristics is to enable and create goal chances.
“Whenever he has been on the field, Richarlison has shown a great disposition and a will to win and this is highly valued by the Brazilian fans.”
Does the former Watford man possess the goal output to lead the line for Lampard’s Everton, though?
In his first two seasons at Goodison Park, Richarlison netted an impressive 13 Premier League goals in back-to-back campaigns.
Under Marco Silva, who had previously been his boss at Vicarage Road, his outings during 2018/19 were fairly evenly-balanced between three attacking roles and so were his goals.
According to statistics compiled by transfermarkt, Richarlison bagged five goals from 12 games as a centre-forward and had identical figures on the left wing and three goals from 11 matches on the right wing.
The following season, which started with Silva but had Carlo Ancelotti for the second half, saw him score four goals from 17 games as centre-forward and as many goals from just eight matches on the left wing.
Richarlison netted twice in eight games on the right wing and enjoyed a prolific three from three as a secondary striker.
Last season under Ancelotti – a campaign in which Dominic Calvert-Lewin became the focal point of the attack, banging in 16 Premier League goals – the Brazilian’s scoring output almost halved.
Richarlison scored just seven times even although centre-forward was still his most-utilised role.
He led the line on 15 occasions, netting four times and struck twice in 13 matches on the left wing with just a solitary outing on the right.
There were also a further five games and one goal as either a second striker or attacking midfielder.
Despite being classed as playing centre-forward in all but one of his 17 Premier League outings so far this season (the anomaly being a scoring start against Southampton on the opening day), Richarlison has struck just three goals since and, with 14 fixtures remaining for Everton, remains a long way behind emulating his figures from his first two years on Merseyside.
Although the Espirito Santo-born player’s attacking versatility makes him a valuable asset, he is also quite a unique type of forward, like his compatriot from across Stanley Park, Roberto Firmino, although in different ways to the Liverpool man.
Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world that compares players and clubs by utilising over 100 different parameters.
On their site they have a Similarity Comparison with other players and there’s nobody else quite like Richarlison in any of Europe’s top five leagues (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France).
The player deemed to be most like him on the database is Nottingham Forest veteran Lewis Grabban who scores 95% similarity to the Everton man.
Throughout all of European football’s ‘Big Five’, the player calculated as being closest to Richarlison in style is USA wonderkid Ricardo Pepi, who became the most-expensive American to move from Major League Soccer to Europe when he joined Bundesliga outfit Augsburg for $20million plus add-ons in January.
The former FC Dallas teenager scores a 77% similarity to the Blues ace.
In France, Reims’ Hugo Ekitike, also 19, is most similar to Richarlison with a score of 69%, with Lyon’s former Fulham and Celtic man Moussa Dembele (64%) next up.
Liverpool old boy Luis Suarez (67%) of Atletico Madrid is deemed to be the most-similar player to Richarlison in Spain’s top flight, while on a relatively lowly 56%, Angolan international N’Bala Nzola of Spezia is Italian football’s closest comparison.
Burly target men in the mould of Dixie Dean, Tommy Lawton, Dave Hickson, Fred Pickering, Joe Royle, Bob Latchford, Graeme Sharp, Andy Gray and Duncan Ferguson are probably seen as being the archetypal Blues centre-forwards, of which Calvert-Lewin is the modern-day equivalent.
However, there have been many other different kinds of strikers to lead the line for the club.
While Romelu Lukaku and Yakubu were also both powerful, they weren’t just the ‘head on a stick’ style frontmen, and lots of alternative attributes came into play with the likes of smaller men like Alex Young, Adrian Heath, Tony Cottee and Andrew Johnson.
As stated earlier, though, for all his talent, Richarlison needs to be producing more tangible results is he’s to play up top for Everton.
When comparing his output this season with Premier League strikers, he’s ranked just 26 for goals and 31 for expected goals.
The main problem here seems to be the player just not getting enough shots in.
He’s ranked at 30 for shots (just 1.44 per game) and 31 for shots on target (0.31).
Those low figures are areas of concern given that Richarlison is ranked 10 for both attacking actions (6.33 per game) and successful attacking actions (2.76).
He also fares better when running at defenders and is ranked 5 for dribbles (3.89 per game) and 4 for successful dribbles (2.38).
Salamon Rondon’s brace against Boreham Wood in the FA Cup shows that Lampard has alternatives at his disposal within the squad but the Blues face far tougher opponents than the non-league outfit on a regular basis.
Calvert-Lewin’s injury problems this term plus lack of goals – after scoring three in as many matches in August he is still yet to register after his New Year return following a four-month spell on the sidelines – remain a worry.
Just how might Lampard find a solution to playing Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin up front together without reverting to an old-fashioned 4-4-2?
Perhaps a clue lies in the coaching book penned by the club’s new director of football Kevin Thelwell.
Lampard has already shown his eagerness to adopt a three-man defence but this has been in a 3-4-3 formation.
Marcel Brands’ 48-year-old replacement’s most prominent work is titled, ‘Coaching The European 3-5-2’.
Food for thought for both Lampard and Richarlison perhaps?
