Fair to say, Everton have not made a rip-roaring start to pre-season.
So far, the Toffees have drawn 1-1 with Accrington Stanley, Beto converting a late equaliser at the Crown Ground, but David Moyes’ men were beaten 1-0 by Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Saturday.
Next up, the Blues have travelled stateside to participate in the Premier League Summer Series, taking on Bournemouth in New Jersey on Saturday, before games against two of Moyes’ former clubs, facing West Ham in Chicago and Manchester United in Atlanta.
Before then, will Evertonians everywhere have a new signing to get excited about?
Everton’s search for a new signing
So far this summer, Everton stalwarts Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Abdoulaye Doucouré have both been released, meaning reinforcements will be needed.
Well, to replace Calvert-Lewin, Thierno Barry has arrived from Villarreal for a reported fee of £27.6m, with Cerys Jones and Steve Madeley of the Athletic outlining how, at 6ft 5in (195cms), he is your archetypal, classic target man centre-forward, adding that he does his best work inside the penalty area.
To add to this, according to reports in Spain, Everton are ready to make a move to sign Atlético Madrid left-back Samu Lino, with the Toffees said to be ‘willing to sign’ the defender.
They add that Atleti are listening to offers for him, with the Premier League his most-likely destination, while reports elsewhere in Spain claim that he is valued at around £20m.
Los Colchoneros, for their part, have already bought a replacement, namely Matteo Ruggeri for around €20m, also bringing in Álex Baena (€50m), Johnny Cardoso (€30m), Thiago Almada (€27m) and Marc Pubill (€15m), which all suggests they’d be open to a sale.
So, could Lino soon swap the Metropolitano for Hill Dickinson Stadium?
How Samu Lino would improve Everton
Vitaliy Mykolenko started 35 of Everton’s 38 Premier League matches at left-back last season, so Lino is coming in to usurp him in the pecking order.
So, let’s assess how the duo compare.
|
Vitaliy Mykolenko vs Samu Lino 2024/25 comparison |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Statistics (per 90) |
Mykolenko |
Lino |
|
Assists |
0.1 |
0.3 |
|
Chances created |
0.8 |
1.2 |
|
Crosses attempted |
3 |
2.4 |
|
Crossing accuracy % |
29% |
22% |
|
Take-ons completed |
0.3 |
1.6 |
|
Duels won |
4.5 |
6 |
|
Touches |
51 |
64 |
|
Ball recoveries |
2.6 |
5 |
As the table outlines, Lino comes out on top for the vast majority of statistics included.
Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout believes the 25-year-old has a “very interesting profile”, while Sive Vishwa of Breaking the Lines describes him as ‘athletic and strong’, adding that ‘he is a very attacking player’ often ‘overlapping’ to support attacks.
In 93 appearances for Atleti, Lino has accumulated 12 goals and 16 assists, underlining his attacking threat, while he also ranks in the top 1% of his peers in Europe’s top five leagues for progressive carries per 90, as well as in the top 6% for successful take-ons per 90, as per FBref.
A pass is considered progressive if the distance between the starting point and the next touch is at least 10 meters closer to the opponent’s goal or any completed pass into the penalty area.
While that ball-carrying quality is exciting, the point about getting forward to put crosses in and create chances is particularly key, given the profile of Everton’s new striker Barry.
The towering Frenchman scored 11 times in La Liga, three of which were headers, from an average distance of 12 yards out from goal, underlining that he does all of his best inside the box. Indeed, he also ranks in the top 14% of strikers in Europe’s top five leagues for aerial duels won, once again highlighting that aerial prowess.
So, with Lino – who was described as “incredible” by scout Antonio Mango during his time on loan at Valencia – bombing forward and putting in crosses, he and Barry could form a lethal combination.
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