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Idrissa Gueye – Scout Report

Idrissa Gueye

Being labeled the best player in one of the worst Premier League teams ever to disgrace the top flight is a back-handed compliment. It’s seen to be the easy part of the equation but the question hangs in the air: can you cut it at a better club?

Idrissa Gana Gueye has set about proving the answer to that question is “yes”. Signed by Everton for £7.1m this summer, the Senegalese international may be viewed as the best ‘value for money’ deal this summer.

Steve Walsh, Everton’s newly-appointed director of football, disagreed. He had tried to sign Gueye from Lille when he was at Leicester City. Instead, he landed N’Golo Kante and the rest is history. The stats prove Walsh had an eye for talent. Whilst Kante led Europe’s major leagues on tackles and interceptions, Gueye ran him close in a team at the opposite end of the table.

The then-Leicester City midfielder made 156 interceptions and 125 tackles; Gueye made 140 and 108 respectively. Add in his ability to make goalscoring chances – 28 – and it’s easy to see why he attracted Walsh’s attention once more. The ridiculously low release clause in his Villa contract made the deal a no-brainer.

There was fury when it emerged that Everton’s bid had triggered the clause. Villa fans didn’t believe he was irreplaceable but they knew that one of last season’s best performers was leaving the club cheaply.

Perhaps it was fatigue at the events on the pitch which brought the emotions to the surface. Quite a few bought into the notion that the players who left weren’t good enough to keep them in the Premier League so why would anyone take the chance on signing them.

Football supporters have no problem being short-sighted and this season, Gueye is getting better.

It is him who is making the most tackles, not Kante: 15 in four games, surpassing Kante’s 11. The biggest difference is interceptions and passing accuracy. Gueye may win the ball more but Kante’s distribution is better, with 94.5% pass accuracy.

Gueye is no slouch, beating Kante’s total with 95% accuracy in the 3 – 0 win at Sunderland on Monday night, as well as providing the cross for Romelu Lukaku’s opening goal. His average is 1.5 chances created per game, outstripping his previous returns at Aston Villa and Lille.

This is building on the base for his career, a process which began during his last season at Lille before moving to Villa Park. But he has taken it to a new level in his short time on Merseyside.

Whilst there is undoubtedly a growth in his own game, Gueye benefits from having Gareth Barry alongside him. The experienced former England international is rejuvenated under Ronald Koeman. As the Roberto Martinez era disintegrated, Barry took it upon himself to try to do every role in the midfield. At once.

Koeman has refocused him. Barry is more disciplined, sitting back, patrolling the midfield to snuff out any raids launched on the Everton goal. At 35, he is happy to let the younger man carry out the pressing further up the pitch and Gueye enjoys that freedom.

The Senegalese midfielder is a tidy player. Not only his stats for passing are improving, so are his fouls conceded. At the moment, he is down to one per game; Kante is more than double that.

It isn’t just down to Barry’s presence. Gueye has far better players around him this season than last. Villa scored just 27 goals in total during last year’s Premier League. Romelu Lukaku almost managed that by himself.

Jamie Carragher, the former Liverpool and England defender, said during Monday’s match:

“His passing tonight was fantastic. Considering what I and maybe some others thought of him as a player to win challenges and tackles, he passes and wants the next ball as well.

“He’s not thinking like a defensive midfielder that wants to get back and do his job.”

His manager Ronald Koeman was equally impressed:

“Idrissa Gueye is fantastic – his energy, how he presses, how he keeps the ball. He’s important defensively and offensively.”

It’s early days yet though but there’s little sign of him dropping his performance levels. Not that Koeman would tolerate that, a point proven by his willingness to substitute ‘golden boy’ Ross Barkley at half-time on Monday.

Gueye opens up opportunities for the Everton attack which has pace in abundance. Deulofeu and Bolasie may garner the headlines but their chances are opened up by the hard-pressing in the midfield from high-up the pitch.

Everton have themselves a bargain and the early signs are that they have this season’s ‘Kante’. A lot of the credit goes to Walsh for finding both players for both Leicester and Everton but Gueye may yet prove to be the better of the two. Kante has moved to Chelsea, it won’t be too many years before the Senegalese is seen on the back of a top four club shirt.

 

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