It is no secret that Everton have been keen to bolster its midfield options for some time.
In an immense credit to the scouting and recruitment departments, the Toffees set out and achieved just that in the summer. Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure were two notable arrivals who have immensely shored up the heart of the Toffees’ central axis – yesterday’s 3-2 win over Fulham exhibited that – and even James Rodriguez possesses strong centrally-creative abilities despite being deployed as a winger by Carlo Ancelotti.
Joined by the likes of Andre Gomes, the new signings indicate a turning point for a typical weak spot for Ancelotti’s plans, although the midfield situation is not all rosy. The likes of Gylfi Sigurdsson and Tom Davies have been linked with moves away from Merseyside – with the latter having been previously touted with a summer move to Southampton.
However, recent links with Tottenham’s Harry Winks have caught the eye. The England international, has fallen down the Spurs pecking order behind the likes of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Tanguy Ndombele.
As per Sky Sports, he failed to make the matchday squad for the 2-0 victory over Manchester City on Saturday and has not started in the Premier League since September. ‘Out of favour’ is putting it lightly.
Winks acknowledged the ‘difficulty’ of his situation as he told Sky Sports: “Definitely, my situation at Tottenham is difficult at the moment. It’s important that I keep fighting and working as hard as I can to stay in the squad and to stay in the team.”
It is for this reason that the Everton-linked midfielder needs to make the move to Merseyside. Assuming Everton can shift unwanted players, Winks could fill the void in a way which matches the dynamism of many other options to Ancelotti.
His superb ball-winning qualities would complement the likes of Doucoure and Allan perfectly in a 4-3-3 formation, whilst it could free up the more defensively-orientated Doucoure to drop into a deeper role, shoring up Ancelotti’s backline. Kevin Phillips was singing the praises of the Spurs man to Football Insider, saying that he “never lets the team down”.
As a result, Winks’ deep-lying playmaking skills could be the final piece in Ancelotti’s rebuilding puzzle this season as he looks to push up the table.
