Sam Allardyce worked with Patrick Van Aanholt at Crystal Palace and Sunderland and is now reportedly keen to bring him to Everton.
Ronald Koeman’s decision to omit Luke Garbutt from Everton’s 25-man Premier League squad looks a strange one in hindsight. With Leighton Baines injured, right-back Cuco Martina has been forced to switch flanks with no other senior left-sided defender in The Toffees’ squad.
At least Koeman’s successor, Sam Allardyce, is attempting to solve this problem position. Though it’s fair to say the man he wants to bring to Goodison Park isn’t exactly the first name on the fans’ lips.
According to ESPN, Allardyce is keen to bring Patrick Van Aanholt to Crystal Palace, a flying left-back he worked with at Sunderland and brought to Selhurst Park in last January’s transfer window.
It is understood that, for all Van Aanholt’s deficiencies, Allardyce is a big fan of the Dutchman, who could be willing to reunite with the 63-year-old at Goodison Park after losing his starting place at Palace to Jeffrey Schlupp.
But while the former Chelsea youngster is one of the Premier League’s most exciting attacking full-backs on his day, scoring nine goals in the last two-and-a-half seasons for Sunderland and Palace, there’s a nagging feeling that Everton could do far better.
Van Aanholt may be renowned for his buccaneering style but he is far from a faultless defender and Everton need to find a way to stop the goals going in first and foremost.
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