Everton eyeing midfielder who wants to become the next N’Golo Kante

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Everton’s list of midfield targets continues to grow by the day as they prepare for Idrissa Gana Gueye’s potential exit.

In recent days, it has been suggested that Everton are keen on Villarreal midfielder Pape Gueye as he continues to shine at the World Cup.

Everton departures could be expected over the coming weeks as Hull City are showing an interest in Tim Iroegbunam.

What would you do with Idrissa Gana Gueye this summer? 😬

He's got a one-year extension clause in his deal…

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With midfield changes potentially set to land on Merseyside, the Blues are considering Mandela Keita from Italian outfit Parma.

Everton eyeing Parma midfielder Mandela Keita

It has been reported by Sky Sports that Everton are showing an interest in Keita among a host of several other names.

Everton have already made their move for Hayden Hackney, but club-to-club talks are proving tricky for the Blues.

Seemingly, the Toffees are now assessing their options, with a wider scope than just Hackney on Angus Kinnear’s radar.

In Keita, Everton could land a player who has admitted he’s tried to model his game on Manchester City’s Rodri and former Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante.

What Mandela Keita said about Rodri and N’Golo Kante

Speaking to the Serie A YouTube channel, Keita has shared his admiration for the two Premier League greats.

“In my role, there are a lot of really good midfielders at the moment,” he said.

“I think you can name Rodri, Kante, There are a lot that I look up and try to take a little bit from everyone and try to learn and hopefully make the best Mandela possible.”

Keita joined Parma back in 2024 following his development in his homeland of Belgium.

The 24-year-old started 36 times in the Serie A over the 2025/26 campaign, where the defensive midfielder returned a goal and an assist.

However, there will be serious questions over whether Keita would be able to provide Everton an upgrade on Gueye.

Everton may have better targets than Mandela Keita on their shortlist

At the age of 24, there is certainly still time for Keita to develop his game, but the standout numbers in his data do raise some concerns.

Gueye is yet to decide on his Everton future, with the Senegal international potentially set to leave a big hole in the midfield on Merseyside.

In comparison to Gueye, Keita still has a lot of work to do to get to the levels of the 36-year-old.

Through the comparative data for midfielders, there is no metric where Keita outperformed Gueye last season.

Playing as a defensive midfielder can be somewhat of an excuse for a lack of key passes, but Keita failed to outperform Gueye on the defensive side of the game, too.

However, the passing stats should be noted by Everton considering the frustrations surrounding Tim Iroegbunam’s struggles on the ball.

Clearly, Keita has plenty of ability defensively as he almost matched Gueye in that aspect, but Everton require a midfielder who also has the ability to distribute the ball once he has won possession.