Everton will have their work cut out to improve on last season’s finishing place of seventh. There have been quite a few departures from Goodison Park, but with the return of the prodigal son, Wayne Rooney, much will depend on their business and incomings in the transfer window. Their midfield did not have the greatest of contributions and with just 15 goals shared between 8 midfielders, we take an in-depth look at those performances coming from the middle of the park.
Ross Barkley has been at the centre of a lot of transfer speculation this summer with both Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal being linked with the English international. His contribution last season was respectable and with 5 goals, 8 assists and 13 clean sheets, he finished the season with a points total of 57, making him the highest scoring midfielder at the club. He is valued at 7M and completed the season with a price/performance ratio of 8.4, having started 32 of 38 matches.
Everton’s second highest contributor from midfield was Seamus Coleman. The steady midfielder made 26 starts and contributed with 4 goals, 3 assists and 10 clean sheets. He racked up a points total of 39 and with a lower value of just 3M, he finished the season with a price/performance ratio of a respectable 13.7.
Defensive midfielders are never going to earn a huge amount of fantasy football points and this was the case for both Gareth Barry and Idrissa Gueye. Between them, they made a total of 55 appearances and assisting just one goal apiece. Goal statistics were not much better for either player with Barry having scored two and colleague Gueye managing just one goal all season.
Winger Yannick Bolasie had an injury hit season and will be hoping to have an uninterrupted run at the first team in the upcoming season. He managed just 12 starts in the season just gone and scored just one goal and assisting on 4 occasions. The highly-rated arrival from Crystal Palace still has a lot to prove in an Everton shirt, however, if he can stay injury free, he is a player that will excite the Goodison Park fans.
There is a lot of expectation from Everton and with the arrival of Wayne Rooney, they still look a little bit short of what is required at the top end of the table. The departure of top-scorer Romelu Lukaku is a huge blow and if Ross Barkley leaves, it could be argued that their 2 best players are missing. How they replace those two will have a huge say on how Everton perform next season.
Play European Fantasy Football against your friends and colleagues, sign up now with Eurofantasyleague.com
To leave a comment, you must be logged into www.eurofantasyleague.com