Everton have agreed a deal with Mainz to sign defensive midfielder Jean-Philippe Gbamin – can he replace Idrissa Gueye?
According to The Times journalist Paul Joyce, Everton have agreed a £25m fee with Mainz to bring the midfielder to the Premier League this summer.
Twitter: Everton agree £25m deal with Mainz for Jean-Philippe Gbamin, subject to medical. Centre back next priority. (@_pauljoyce)
Everton are signing Gbamin following the loss of Idrissa Gana Gueye – who signed for French giants PSG earlier this month.
Gueye has been a rock in midfield for Everton since his move to the club in the summer of 2016 from Aston Villa and leaves massive shoes to fill in Marco Silva’s side.
But how does Gbamin compare to the former Everton man?
Based on their league performances for their respective clubs last season, WhoScored gave Gbamin a 6.7 out of 10, whilst Gueye boasted an impressive 7.14 out of 10 – with Gbamin featuring 31 times in the Bundesliga and Gueye playing 32 Premier League matches.
However, 26 of Gbamin’s appearances came as a central midfielder, compared to Gueye’s 28 games as a holding midfielder. This suggests that Gbamin may be more suited to a holding role and his slightly lower WhoScored rating could be a result of where he was deployed at Mainz.
Gueye’s style of play is very much based around defending, with his main strengths being tackling and interceptions, whilst Gbamin is more rounded in his abilities and excells at passing and dribbling, along with having strong defensive capabilities.
Given that Gbamin is also six years younger than Gueye, he still has plenty of time to develop and progress as a player under Silva and improve the defensive side of his game in midfield.
Last season, Gbamin averaged just 1.6 tackles per game – compared to Gueye’s 4.3. Gueye also betters the Mainz man on interceptions and clearances per game.
It’s clear to see that Gueye’s defensive contributions will not be matched by Gbamin, at least not straight away, but the midfielder may be able to add more to Everton’s midfield in terms of carrying the ball forward and setting up attacks with his passes.
Is he the perfect replacement for Gueye? Not in a conventional sense, but he has the potential to exceed Gueye’s performances at Goodison and become a vital part of Silva’s squad.
