Everton fans are bracing to potentially lose Iliman Ndiaye this summer, but in Jonathan Rowe the Toffees may find a solid replacement.
Ndiaye is the subject of interest from Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal at the moment. They have expressed interest and are in contact with his camp.
Club-to-club talks are expected soon, but Everton don’t want to sell and will likely demand a fortune.
Al-Hilal have opened talks to sign Iliman Ndiaye! What do we make of this, Everton fans? 😳
How much should Everton be demanding, or should he be deemed untransferable? 🤔
But we have seen over the years how willing Saudi clubs are to pay the big bucks, so there is every chance Ndiaye will make the move.
That would obviously be a real blow for Everton, with Ndiaye a technically gifted game-changer.
But recently Everton were linked with Jonathan Rowe – and he might make a lot of sense as the replacement.
Jonathan Rowe could replace Iliman Ndiaye at Everton
Everton were said to have looked at signing Rowe, who plays his football at Italian side Bologna these days.
He moved there last summer after a stint with Marseille, which admittedly ended after some pretty unsavoury scenes, about which Rowe has expressed regret.
But focusing on the football, Rowe may genuinely be a good player to go for in the event Ndiaye leaves.
The star has scored 24 goals and made 13 assists during his senior club career so far.
Ndiaye has scored 43 and made 22 assists, but is three years older than Rowe and has played 75 more games. (130 vs 205).
If you include Rowe’s games for the Norwich U21s and U28s, though, he has 47 and 24 in 192.
So he has been scoring and assisting at a fairly similar rate to Ndiaye, and Rowe does also have that eye for creating something out of nothing like the Everton man.
He even said before that’s how he plays, telling Norwich fans in 2021: “I’m really, like, a flair-y type of player. I’m really out there. When I play, you’ll know I’m on the pitch. It’s more like, I’m not really a simple type of player. I like to take risks for the team and create something from nothing.”
His former manager at Norwich, David Wagner, also called him ‘a complete offensive player’ a few years ago (via BBC Sport).
Like Ndiaye, Rowe can produce the spectacular. Against Napoli last season, he scored a superb bicycle kick winner in stoppage time at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
And also like Ndiaye, Rowe is very two-footed.
He is perhaps not quite as twinkle-toed as the Everton number 10. But technically he is certainly very good, and he does have more straight-line speed than Ndiaye.
It is obviously a concern that Everton could lose their talisman.
But Rowe – who is valued at £39 million (via Sport Mediaset) – is a maverick who has been progressing nicely over the last couple of years, and has even played for Ndiaye’s former club Marseille, as well as played in the Championship with Norwich, as Ndiaye did with Sheffield United.
There are several parallels that can be drawn, and if Al-Hilal prise him away from the Hill Dickinson Stadium then Rowe ought to be strongly considered as his replacement.
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