Are Everton making same mistake as Tottenham with Sigurdsson?

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Gylfi Sigurdsson has struggled at Everton since a summer move at Swansea and may be having the same problems he had at Tottenham.

Gylfi Sigurdsson of Everton reacts during the UEFA Europa League group E match against Atalanta.

It has not been a happy start to life at Everton for Gylfi Sigurdsson following a club record £45m (BBC) transfer from Swansea City over the summer.

In Europe Sigurdsson has scored a goal – a 50-yard worldie against Hajduk Split in Europa League qualification – and provided one assist, but in the Premier League the midfielder’s stats remain blank after six games. In fact the man who set up 13 league goals last season is yet to create a single chance in 2017/18.

Gylfi Sigurdsson of Everton looks dejected after the Premier League match against Burnley at Goodison Park.

The Toffees as a team are struggling having lost four of their seven outings in the English top tier so far this term to leave them 16th in the table as the third lowest scorers in the division.

Pressure is already building on manager Ronald Koeman and questions are being raised about the Merseysiders’ expensive incoming deals in the close season, with it being argued too many number tens are having to be fitted into the starting XI.

Sigurdsson is one of those and because of the presence of Davy Klaassen, Wayne Rooney and Nikola Vlasic as other options in the same position, the 28-year-old has been forced out wide to the left flank.

Everton’s Wayne Rooney (R) chats with Gylfi Sigurdsson.

Some would argue that the Iceland international often played on the left for Swansea and enjoyed much success, but he was actually part of a three-man attack and would come inside to play more narrow behind the striker. In Koeman’s system he can’t do that because Klaassen, Rooney or Vlasic is already in the position and he is proving understandably ineffectual as a winger.

This was the same problem Sigurdsson experienced during two years with Tottenham Hotspur, when the emergence of Gareth Bale as a number ten in 2012/13 once again pushed the midfield ace out wide.

The former Swan is at his most effective when allowed to operate behind the striker but until Koeman gives him that opportunity then goals and assists are likely to be few and far between.