Everton’s error-prone backline certainly had a lot to answer for as one of the Premier League’s ever-presents flirted with relegation throughout a torturous 2021/22 campaign. But the blame cannot lie solely at the feet of Frank Lampard’s oh-so inconsistent central defenders.
It’s the role of Brazilian midfielder Allan to put our fires before they turn into a blaze of white hot heat. But the 31-year-old frequently failed to step up to the challenge over the last 12 months, with countless opposition forwards exposing his lack of mobility in the number six role.
“If you go through them, man for man, it’s a poor outfit,” former Tottenham, West Ham and Southampton boss Harry Redknapp told talkSPORT.
“They have recruited badly. They have no legs in midfield. The little boy Allan can’t run. He can’t get around the pitch.”
You certainly couldn’t level the same accusation at Guido Rodriguez.
Allan out, Guido Rodriguez in for Everton?
No player in La Liga completed more tackles per game than Real Betis’ steel-capped Argentine international (three per 90 minutes, WhoScored). What’s more, no one in Everton’s squad completed more than 2.6.
Rodriguez is just as effective with the ball as he is without it too. His 85 per cent pass completion rate is better than any Everton player barring Cenk Tosun and Moise Kean, both of whom made just one single appearance in the Premier League.
Allan has had his moments since arriving from Napoli in a £30 million deal. But his lack of speed has started to become a chronic issue, with Everton haemorrhaging goals at a remarkable rate. What’s more, he turns 32 in February.
In fact, some have suggested that Allan would be more effective as a box-to-box shuttler, given his apparent lack of suitability to a deep-lying role.
Ageing Allan not the answer to Everton’s problems
A player brought in to replace the industrious, tenacious Idrissa Gana Gueye has done nothing of the sort. It is three years since Gueye left for Paris Saint-Germain. And his absence continues to be keenly felt at a club who will find themselves circling the plughole once again in 2022/23 if they cannot solve those familiar old issues.
So enter Guido Rodriguez; Not quite a miracle cure for all that ails Everton, but someone capable of cauterising those gangrenous defensive wounds.
According to Estadio Deportivo, Everton are holding talks with Real Betis regarding a potential £33 million for the late-blooming enforcer. And, considering where Everton’s problems lie, it is no stretch to suggest that Guido Rodriguez could be their most important – most transformative – addition since Gueye crossed the Channel.
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