Last night’s World Cup game between England and DR Congo was quite something – and for Everton, it may have been a useful scouting exercise.
England are through to the last 16 of the tournament, after coming from behind to beat the African nation 2-1 in Atlanta.
It was a dreadful performance from England for the most part.
Are you worried about what you’re seeing from Pickford? 🤔
Jordan Pickford didn’t cover himself in glory, conceding at his near post to allow DR Congo to take the lead.
But captain Kane bailed England out, and a very tough game against Mexico now lies in wait on Sunday.
And for Everton, the game may well have helped them decide which player to sign out of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Djed Spence.
Everton target Aaron Wan-Bissaka shines again as Djed Spence struggles
Everton were recently credited with interest in Aaron Wan-Bissaka, following West Ham United’s relegation from the Premier League.
Fans were initially a bit underwhelmed.
But he’s had a good World Cup, and last night he produced another fantastic defensive performance for DR Congo.
They may have lost the game, but Wan-Bissaka won four of his five duels, and had a whopping 11 defensive actions, in addition to one clearance off the line from a Marcus Rashford shot.
The whole DR Congo backline was impressive, and frankly they were unlucky to lose the game, falling short only to the magic of Kane.
By contrast, the other Everton right-back target Djed Spence had a very poor outing.
Spence started at right-back amid an injury crisis, and looked totally uncomfortable for large periods of the game before his exit from the action after 70 minutes.
As per Sofascore, he was untidy on the ball, completing 31/40 (78%) passes, and none of his three crosses found a man.
He did win four tackles, but Spence could again be seen copping for an earful from Thomas Tuchel, who was not happy with his full-back playing backwards.
The performances of the two players were in stark contrast to one another, and the game may well have helped Everton make up their minds on who to sign.
We know that Moyes likes a full-back to be defensively solid and he is absolutely going to get that with Wan-Bissaka.
Spence has incredible pace, but he is not really that dangerous with it and, as the past couple of weeks have further demonstrated, he is not a patch on Wan-Bissaka when it comes to actual defending.
It was suggested that Wan-Bissaka was valued at about £10 million ahead of the World Cup.
After his four appearances for DR Congo, Everton may now have to fork out a bit more if they want to land him this summer.
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