WHY EVERTON SHOULD SIGN DAVID NERES

 

Rumours continue to circulate regarding a potential Everton move for Ajax winger David Neres. With Everton being in the market for a left-footed winger, the transfer would make sense. Evertonians are excited at the prospect of the pacey Brazilian joining, and with good reason.

Although he plays the majority of his football in a fairly limited in quality Eredivisie, Neres impressed during Ajax’s Champions League campaign; a campaign which saw the 2018/19 Dutch Champions reach the semi-finals of the competition. Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt took a lot of the headlines, but the Ajax wingers, David Neres and Hakim Ziyech brought the excitement.

Having only turned 22 recently, Neres is still young and has the potential to be a world-class winger. After making 45 appearances in the 2018/19 campaign, he tallied 11 goals and 10 assists. This is a fairly good return, particularly for a young winger.

Furthermore, he showed his ability to go past players and create opportunities against the likes of Real Madrid and Juventus in the Champions League. This would suggest he’s good enough to be effective in the Premier League, however question marks remain over whether he’d be able to cope with the physicality of the Premier League. Having said this, we’ve seen the unusually small Bernard, excel for Everton.

As well as Neres’s speed and dribbling, his other attributes include finishing and possession play. These qualities would be useful for an Everton side who’ve recently adopted a more possession based style of play, yet lack goals. His crossing accuracy isn’t great, but this may not be an issue with the likes of Digne and Coleman overlapping, and tasked with crossing.

With the lack of left-footed attackers in the squad, the transfer would make sense. Additionally, he’s still young and so would be favoured by Marcel Brands’s transfer strategy. Some Evertonians may question this potential transfer, as Everton already have two impressive wingers, in Bernard and Richarlison. However, the addition of Neres would provide competition ahead of the disappointing Theo Walcott, and the seemingly disinterested Ademola Lookman. Furthermore his direct style of play would be a welcome addition, and he’d be another great option for Marco Silva. It would also give Silva the opportunity to play Richarlison at striker, with Bernard and Neres out wide.

The likeliness of this transfer remains questionable, with Neres being linked with a number of other teams as well as Everton. Moreover, the other teams linked with the player include Champions League sides such as PSG, Atletico Madrid, and Liverpool. Although the attraction of Champions League football is absent at Everton, Neres is likely to play more minutes with Everton than at teams like PSG and Liverpool. For a talented young player, such minutes are vital in order to develop.

Neres would reportedly only cost around £35 million, and so is affordable for a usually big-spending Everton. Other players such as Bertrand Traore, Cengiz Under, Malcolm, and Allan Saint-Maximin have also been rumoured, but it remains to be seen who Everton will settle on.

Let us know which winger you’d like Everton to sign…

BILLY MINSHALL