It was Happy New Year for Everton today as the Toffees opened the January transfer window with a splash by snapping up Vitaliy Mykolenko, but the same old rumours continue for the Blues as we start 2022 with the long-running Philippe Coutinho story rearing its head once more.
The Coutinho to Everton links have been doing the rounds on and off for many months now with the Brazilian at one point early in 2021 heavily tipped to make a summer switch to Goodison Park.
Along with a couple of other reoccurring names who keep being named as potential Blues targets like Manchester United’s Jesse Lingard – although he was successful on loan at West Ham United last season – and Sean Longstaff, who Rafa Benitez knows from his time in charge at Newcastle United, the prospect of Coutinho’s arrival is hardly met with universal approval.
Having already had to swallow what was a bitter pill for many Evertonians in accepting a former Liverpool manager as their boss last summer, the prospect of embracing a player who in the not-too-distant past was a Kop Idol seems like a bridge too far for some.
Nevertheless, the Daily Mail reports that Everton have been offered the chance to sign Coutinho with Barcelona looking to get rid of their £146million flop.
The article claims that the Catalan giants are eager to move him on and his representatives have spoken to Everton about the possibility of him moving to Goodison Park this month but it remains to be seen whether Benitez will pursue the deal.
Just how Coutinho would squeeze in with the Blues’ Financial Fair Play ‘wriggle room’ remains to be seen but if Benitez did decide to take the plunge and bring another Anfield alumnus across Stanley Park, what might he offer?
The short answer is the ability to pick a pass.
Benitez has already gone on record to lament Everton’s shortcomings in this area, admitting after the sorry 3-1 defeat against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on December 12, “We are not amazing in possession. It’s a fact we have to realise.”
It’s perhaps no coincidence then that the Blues have also been linked with the likes of former player Ross Barkley, now of Chelsea, and Nottingham Forest youngster Brennan Johnson, who both offer a certain dynamism in that area.
With 16 appearances to date so far this season for Barcelona, Coutinho has mostly been deployed cutting inside from the left wing as he would often do for Liverpool.
Using Comparisonator to see how he stacks up alongside current Premier League players in that position, the Brazilian rates highly for passing statistics.
Despite question marks about how effective he is for Barca, Coutinho is still making more key passes per game (1.58) than any of his peers in England’s top flight with Manchester City’s Jack Grealish top on 1.57 followed by Liverpool’s Sadio Mane on 1.53.
Coutinho is also finding the mark with those key passes because his success rate of 0.95 per game tops the figure of Premier League leader Raheem Sterling of Manchester City on 0.84 followed by Southampton’s Kyle Walker-Peters (0.77).
They’re in the danger zone too as the 29-year-old’s passes to the final third are 30.42 per game minutes compared to English top flight number one Grealish (28.73) and Brighton & Hove Albion’s Marc Cucurella (25.21).
Coutinho is getting on the ball more as he receives on average 56.73 passes per game which is more than any of his Premier League peers including the aforementioned Grealish (48.93) and Sterling (48.48).
When it comes to sheer passing, only Brighton’s Barca old boy Cucurella (61.01) in that area of the field delivers more than Coutinho (52.29) per game and at 51.68 he’s also the only one to top his successful passes figure (44.37).
For successful passes to the final third, Grealish (24.13) is the only man to better Coutinho’s figure of 23.13 which puts him ahead of Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho on 20.22.
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Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising over 100 different parameters. Click here for more details.
