Everton told to sign £150k-a-week midfielder and partner him with Idrissa Gueye

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Everton’s transfer business has been one of renewed forethought this summer, making shrewd and intelligent moves with alarming speed for a change.

After all, for so many years prior, they have dragged out signing top targets, eventually resulting in paying over the odds or having another club swoop in.

The same could not be said for Jesper Lindstrom or Iliman Ndiaye, and now Jake O’Brien who has completed his Everton medical just days after quickfire negotiations were sorted.

However, there still remains one target that is dragging on, if reports of their interest are to be believed.

Gabby Agbonlahor tells Everton to sign £42m player

Chatting on talkSPORT about the Toffees’ transfer strategy, Gabby Agbonlahor then honed in on one target in particular.

After all, with Everton’s interest in Kalvin Phillips, this remains the outstanding saga of the window for this club, to acquire a £150k-a-week player of such value and quality.

Although his form is faltering, the former Aston Villa striker attested he would shine, telling Sean Dyche: ‘Could he look at Everton? Onana has gone, could he go to Everton? 

‘The way that Sean Dyche plays, could he just say to him ‘Kalvin, get me that ball back and then you give it to the other midfielder,’ whoever is in there, Idrissa Gueye, whoever is in there, and then they do the work. Gana, it could be him and Gana playing in there as well.’

Would Kalvin Phillips and Idrissa Gueye work?

Whilst both are predominantly defensive-minded, preferring to break up the play and offload to a more confident creator beside them, there is reason to expect that such a partnership might work under Dyche’s leadership.

After all, he seldom relies on his midfielders for chance creation, instead trusting the defenders with their accurate long balls and going from there, allowing the wingers and attacking midfielder to uphold the bulk of that attacking pressure.

With the squad only growing, and the attacking talent flourishing too, this is a system that is only set to improve.

However, with it, the Toffees must ensure that they do not lose that patented solidity, and an unrelenting midfield partnership to screen the backline is imperative for this.

Last campaign, Idrissa Gana Gueye came into the first-team as a regular later in the Premier League season, and added some crucial goals to his game to secure their position in the division.

But, he blended that with 2.9 tackles and seven ball recoveries per game.

To compare that with Phillips’ first season in the top flight, and the two seem equally as combative.

However, the Leeds United academy graduate has a tad more technical excellence, with his long balls certain to be a big feature for Dyche should he get him up to speed.

He managed 64% accuracy with his long passes alongside 2.6 tackles and 1.7 clearances per game, with the former figure a huge upgrade on Gueye’s 42%.

It may be a strange pairing on paper, but Agbonlahor might just be onto something under Dyche’s leadership.