Former Everton player praises Dyche for bold Danjuma decision

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Former Everton full-back Michael Ball has praised manager Sean Dyche for his decision to drop Arnaut Danjuma.

Everton signed Arnaut Danjuma in the recent summer transfer window on loan from Spanish outfit Villarreal. The Dutch attacker arrived at Goodison Park with a point to prove in the Premier League.

Danjuma has made a fairly bright start to life on Merseyside. The 26-year-old has bagged two goals for the Toffees so far, and has added drive and dynamism to Sean Dyche’s attacking contingent. 

However, the Everton boss surprisingly elected not to name Danjuma in his most recent starting XI against Brentford. Instead, he picked a team with Beto leading the line and Dwight McNeil and James Garner operating on the flanks.

This team selection led to Everton recording their first Premier League win of the season so far. Whilst Danjuma did join the action from the bench towards the end of the match, the team performed well in his absence. 

Danjuma nudged down Everton pecking order

Michael Ball has applauded Dyche for his decision to bench Danjuma. Writing in the Liverpool Echo, he said, “Danjuma being dropped led to a lot of question marks but huge credit to Dyche – isn’t it nice to look at your bench and to have a headache for your starting line-up?”

Now that McNeil and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are fit again, Dyche has some attacking strength in depth to deal with. Having these options at his disposal is a great position for the coach to be in as he can now potentially shake up his frontline with greater regularity, making Everton less predictable for opposition defences to deal with.

It will be interesting to see if Danjuma comes back into the starting XI when Everton take on Luton Town in their next Premier League outing. With Beto impressing against Brentford, and Calvert-Lewin getting on the scoresheet, the 6-cap Netherlands international could find himself stuck in a back up role for now.