Ironically enough, Everton could have done with a midfielder in the Davy Klaassen mould as their 100 per cent start to the Premier League season gave way to a run of one point from a possible 12 between October and November.
In eight games, none of the central midfielders at Carlo Ancelotti’s disposal have found the net.
The fading Gylfi Sigurdsson spent the afternoon at St James’ Park, during that most miserable of 2-0 defeats, firing wildly into the Gallowgate.
And while Andre Gomes and Abdoulaye Doucoure are certainly capable of putting the ball in the back of the net, it would be a stretch to call either the Portuguese or the Frenchman a natural finisher.
The same can’t be said, however, of a man who simply felt like the wrong man at the wrong time for Everton.
The Toffees were a club mired in mediocrity when Klaassen arrived in summer 2017.
The departure of manager Ronald Koeman, just four months into the former Ajax captain’s Premier League career, certainly didn’t help his adaptation to life on Merseyside.
Nor did the fact that, for whatever reason, Everton decided to sign two more number tens in Wayne Rooney and Sigurdsson – forcing Klaassen to drop back into an unfamiliar defensive midfield role.
The Dutchman got lost in the Sam Allardyce-led transition and, after just 13 months, departed for Werder Bremen in a £12 million deal – £10 million less than Everton paid for him a year earlier (Guardian).
This remains, however, the only blot in an impressive copybook. Klaassen was often the best player in a mediocre Werder side and, since returning to where it all began in the summer, is once again proving himself a goalscoring midfielder with genuine match-winning abilities at Ajax.
In his second spell in the home of total football, Klaassen has already scored four times in four Eredivisie games while his man of the match performance against Liverpool in the Champions League would have made a Duracell bunny gasp for breath.
A first cap since 2017 when Holland play Spain tonight would be a fitting reward, with manager Frank de Boer confirming he will start.
“He knows the Ajax way of playing. At Everton and Werder Bremen, he has become much more complete. And now we benefit from that,” coach Erik Ten Hag tells OneFootball of a £10 million signing who has added an exhaustive work ethic to his Lampard-esque penalty box bursts.
“When he left here he was, without discussion, the best player in the Netherlands. Then he has been in the Premier League and the Bundesliga. He has incredible experience and he carries it with him.”
Ajax were struggling to break down a stubborn Utrecht side on Sunday before Klaassen popped up in the penalty area and rifled home in typically ruthless fashion.
The game finished 3-0. Klaassen even found the energy to set up Ajax’s third for Quincy Promes after chasing down a Utrecht defender at the death.
With Everton scoring just twice themselves in their last three matches, Ancelotti must wish he had a midfielder with such a remarkable nose for goal.
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