Everton sold Nikola Vlasic to Russian giants CSKA Moscow for £14m and the Premier League strugglers could use a player like him now.
Everton were better against Manchester City on Saturday but Marco Silva’s side are still a million miles from becoming the finished article or, for that matter, forcing their way into the top four.
And while plenty of blame has been apportioned to the erratic centre-back pairing of Michael Keane and Yerry Mina, there are problems going forward too.
The Toffees have scored just twice in their last three Premier League games with Gylfi Sigurdsson, Alex Iwobi, Bernard and even Richarlison struggling for consistency in the final third.
So the last thing Everton fans want to hear is that Nikola Vlasic is creating chances at will over in Russia. After a fine loan spell at CSKA last season, which included a winner against Real Madrid, the Croatian international moved to the capital in a permanent deal worth £14 million in June, as reported by the BBC.
Vlasic was never given a chance under Marco Silva, much to the chagrin of his father, and the 21-year-old continues to prove that the Everton coach was perhaps a little hasty in writing him off.
Because the talented midfielder has four goals and three assists to his name in just 12 games this season while no one in the Russian Premier League has created as many chances (31), with Vlasic’s dynamism and ability to carve open a defence with a pinpoint through-ball coming to the fore.
In short, he is producing the kind of game-changing quality that the underwhelming Sigurdsson frequently fails to provide.
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