The Everton squad circa 2015 can be a gaggle of gamers that’s fondly remembered by Toffees followers. In an period the place they’re at the moment struggling for any sort of kind underneath Sean Dyche, reminiscing over previous squads may make the Everton trustworthy miss gamers of yesteryear, and the squad virtually a decade in the past was actually full of nostalgic players.
That was an period with Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman of their primes, basic fullbacks who’re among the Premier League’s most underrated gamers. Romleu Lukaku was about to have the season of a lifetime in Blue, and a younger Ross Barkley was thriving in midfield.
One other participant who was arguably the Toffee’s most enjoyable attacker in that period was winger Gerard Deulofeu.
Gerard Deulofeu’s stats for Everton
A dynamic, tough winger, Deulofeu was one of many Toffees’ greatest cult heroes circa 2015. He initially joined the membership on mortgage for the 2013/14 marketing campaign, earlier than spending a yr taking part in in his native Spain for Sevilla on mortgage from Barcelona, though he was injured for a lot of that season.
He clearly left an enduring impression on the Toffees, who agreed a take care of Barca in 2015 to re-sign the attacker. They paid £4.3m to convey him again to Goodison Park, signing an preliminary three-year deal.
He didn’t see out all three of those seasons, transferring to AC Milan on mortgage for the second half of the 2016/17 marketing campaign, earlier than rejoining Barca in the summertime of 2017. Nonetheless, in that 2015/16 marketing campaign, Deulofeu was electrical.
The winger, who has been capped 4 occasions by Spain, played 33 times for the Toffees in his first season again on the membership, scoring 4 targets and grabbing a formidable 12 assists. Of these purpose involvements, ten got here within the Premier League in 26 video games, with the winger scoring twice and grabbing eight assists.
Sadly, his Everton profession curtailed from there, and the Spaniard didn’t rating once more for the Toffees within the following marketing campaign. Nonetheless, he’ll little question be fondly remembered for his direct nature and essential targets and assists.
In Dyche’s present squad, there’s a related participant to Deulofeu, who Toffees followers can be hoping can have the same affect and preserve them within the Premier League this time period. That participant is Iliman Ndiaye.
Ndiaye’s season thus far
Former Sheffield United attacker Ndiaye was a summer season signing by the Toffees. In response to BBC Sport, Everton paid French aspect Olympique Marseille a reported fee of £15m, on a five-year deal.
It has been a poor season for Dyche’s males thus far, who discover themselves in 16th place on four points, having conceded 15 targets already this marketing campaign; solely Wolves have let extra in. They obtained their first win of the season final Saturday towards Crystal Palace and some extent the week earlier than away to relegation rivals Leicester Metropolis.
Ndiaye was an important a part of the draw towards the Foxes, scoring his first league goal for the membership to present them an early lead, though they may not maintain on for the three factors. He additionally obtained on the rating sheet within the Carabao Cup towards Doncaster Rovers.
He’s one in every of solely 5 gamers to get a purpose or help this season, in what has been a really poor begin to the marketing campaign for the Toffees. They’ve thrown away a 2-0 lead on two separate events within the high flight.
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Everton most G/A in 2024/25 PL thus far |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Participant |
Video games |
Minutes per recreation |
G/A |
|
Dwight McNeil |
6 |
89 |
5 |
|
Dominic Calvert-Lewin |
6 |
84 |
3 |
|
Ashley Younger |
4 |
84 |
2 |
|
Iliman Ndiaye |
6 |
66 |
1 |
|
Michael Keane |
5 |
90 |
1 |
|
Stats from Sofascore |
|||
Former Everton winger Aaron Lennon, a teammate of Deulofeu again in 2015, was stuffed with reward for the Senegalese winger on talkSPORT last week. He known as Ndiaye a “match-winner”, praising Dyche for placing him on the left wing, and explaining that he can strike up a formidable partnership with Dwight McNeil.
Whereas it was McNeil who bailed Dyche out on the weekend after bagging an excellent brace towards the Eagles to seal a primary win of the marketing campaign, it’s Ndiaye on the left flank who might nicely get bums of seats at Goodison this season.
It does really feel like an space from which he can harm an opposition, chopping inside and driving on the defence, simply as Deulofeu used to do for the Toffees. It might show to be an impressed transfer from the previous Burnley supervisor, who’s seeking to preserve Everton within the Premier League as soon as once more.
