It seems Ronald Koeman won’t stop at bolstering his midfield with just Morgan Schneiderlin. Although the gap left by Tom Cleverley in the middle of the park will be filled by Schneiderlin, Everton are reportedly trying a move for Senegal international midfielder Papa Alioune Ndiaye, who plays for Turkish side Osmanlispor.
With many players in contention for the midfield, a move for the 26-year-old midfielder could only mean that there will be more departures from Goodison Park soon. At present, Koeman has the likes of Schneiderlin, Gareth Barry, Idrissa Gueye, James McCarthy, Tom Davies, Darren Gibson and Muhamed Besic as options in the midfield.
Gueye has left a huge void in the middle as he is away at African Cup of Nations and won’t return for a month. Gareth Barry has given enough indications that he is not the same anymore with age taking a toll on him. He has lost his regular place too, with Koeman giving chances to Davies quite often. While Besic out injured Gibson has been poor.
McCarthy’s injury problems have been a huge concern and although he is immensely experienced in English football as a midfielder, what good will he be if he isn’t playing half the season?
Koeman is looking for a player to effectively pair up with Schneiderlin at the heart of the team, and Ndiaye more than fits the bill. Ndiaye has been quite impressive for the Turkish side, especially in his club’s Europa League campaign. He has scored six goals this season so far and Palace are the other club to be highly interested in the player.
Osmanlispor bought him for £1.2million in 2015 and if they would have to sell him in January, an offer in the region of around £6.8million is expected. He has created three chances and one assist completing 117 passes this season with a passing accuracy of 86%, of which 72% were forward passes.
He has an average passing accuracy of 78% and wins 61% of his average duels. He also takes an average of 3.5 shots per game from the middle, which reflects his offensive and defensive abilities from the deep. Apart from his impressive passing abilities, Ndiaye is also quite adept at taking controlled long range shots.
Although Everton haven’t had the best of the seasons so far, the Toffees have shown that they can play good football. They need better players to bring in the consistency to their game and Ndiaye can help them achieve that.
