Is RB Leipzig striker Yussuf Poulsen heading to the Premier League with Everton and Newcastle United apparently interested.
The number really don’t do Emile Heskey justice.
While the former Liverpool, Leicester and Aston Villa striker will always be a figure of fun among those obsessed with stats over substance, his detractors (and there are many, even three years after he retired) should take a moment think about why Heskey earned 62 caps for the England national team in the first place.
Yes, he hit the net just seven times with the Three Lions on his chest but to judge the 6ft 2ins centre-forward on his goalscoring is like judging Lionel Messi on his heading ability. That was just one minor part of a much wider game.
If it wasn’t for Heskey, pinning defenders and providing knockdowns aplenty, Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney would not have been anywhere as prolific at international level. Yet, the barrel-chested, Leicester-born battering ram was still subjected to relentless criticism, even at his peak.
Yussuf Poulsen must know exactly how he felt.
Underappreciated and understated
Like Heskey, the giant Dane has frequently been written off despite playing a crucial role in RB Leipzig’s stunning rise from the third tier to the top of the Bundesliga in the space of just six years.
But while Timo Werner remains the poster boy of Leipzig’s recent success, Poulsen is the Pacino to Vito Corleone’s De Niro with Leipzig’s modern day interpretation of the big-man, little-man partnership reminiscent of Heskey and Owen in their early noughties pomp.
“It’s great for me with him up front. We complement each other really well. He likes going for aerial challenges, which I don’t. He’s got an amazing set of lungs,” the speedy, diminutive, Owen-esque Werner told the Bundesliga website, who themselves also drew comparisons between Poulsen and Heskey.
But Poulsen is more than a provider, a pivot to play off. He scored 19 goals in all competitions last season, showing the kind of clinical, dead-eyed finishing that Heskey, for all his qualities, never managed to master.
According to The Express, Marco Silva has demanded that Everton send scouts to watch Poulsen as he looks to add some cutting edge to a toothless Toffees attack. Newcastle United are long-time admirers too.
And if Poulsen does arrive in England in the new year, the likes of Moise Kean and Miguel Almiron will be licking their lips even if his qualities continue to go underappreciated by the masses.
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