If you can’t replace him, then buy him back. That appears to be the approach Everton are taking, with Idrissa Gana Gueye closing in on a return to the Premier League outfit three years after joining Paris Saint-Germain for £30 million (Fabrizio Romano).
And there’s certainly some sense to bringing Gueye back to Goodison Park, even if the Senegal international is the wrong side of 30 these days. On the madness-to-masterstroke scale, this deal appears to be leaning in the direction of the right-hand side.
Gueye averaged more tackles per game than any other player in England’s top flight during his final season at Everton in 2018/19 after all (WhoScored).
And neither Allan, Jean-Philippe Gbamin nor the now-departed Fabian Delph – for a myriad of reasons – have managed to emulate Gueye’s influence since then.
Everton’s central defenders might have faced plenty of understandable and highly-justifiable criticism as the Premier League’s ever-presents flirted dangerously with relegation last season, but the absence of a top-class defensive midfielder was certainly a contributing factor as the Toffees conceded 13 more goals than Burnley (66 in total).
Can Idrissa Gueye solve a major Everton problem?
But, on the other side of the coin, Everton have been burned before when signing ageing players; Even those with a proven track record in England’s top-flight. See Theo Walcott, Josh King, Salomon Rondon, Delph and Ashley Williams.
Gueye turns 33 in September. What’s more, Everton will have to take over his near-£100,000-a-week wages if he is to swap Paris for Stanley Park.
So reports from Portugal suggesting that Julian Weigl – player six years Gueye’s junior – is available for just £12.5 million should give Frank Lampard, Kevin Thelwell plenty of food for thought (Record). It certainly gives them an affordable alterntive.
Weigl would represent arguably a greater risk due to his lack of Premier League experience and his rather middling form over in Portugal, even if he did earn a re-call to the German national team in March.
But, with Financial Fair Play pressures eating away at Everton’s budget, the sense of handing a £100,000-a-week contract to a soon-to-be 33-year-old footballer is certainly up for debate.
A more long-term solution?
Weigl, at £12.5 million, would be far more expensive up front. But he offers a potentially long-term solution to Everton’s defensive midfield problems. Gueye, in contrast, feels distinctly like sticking plaster. An expensive one at that. A desperate and somewhat un-creative attempt to kick the can down the road for another season or two.
It is only a couple of years since Weigl was arguably Europe’s most exciting, up-and-coming ‘number six’. The Bavarian Sergio Busquets if you will. A player Toni Kroos was convinced would become ‘world-class’ sooner rather than later.
Weigl might have fallen short of such lofty expectations in the intervening seasons. But, at 26, he still has time on his side, and rich reserves of thick, luscious potential.
The same certainly cannot be said of Idrissa Gana Gueye; A practical Everton addition, maybe. But exorbitantly-priced paper covering gaping cracks is perhaps not the most sensible way for a club under FFP pressures to go about their business.
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