Lucas Digne is Everton’s official player of the season.
His team-mates think so, too. While Richarlison collected this season’s “Dixie” for Young Player of the Season.
But who was actually Everton’s most influential performer of 2018/19?
Who, statistically and independently, produced the best performances of Everton’s campaign just ended?
The ECHO's Everton writers attended every single Blues match this season – and after every game they produced what is always the most eagerly read piece of content of every match: the player ratings.
We have collated all of the marks together and divided them by the number of games played, to come up with a definitive average for the season just played.
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And while Digne’s average backs up his team-mates’ belief that he enjoyed an excellent debut season in Royal Blue, he wasn’t our player of the season. Or even runner up.
Read on to see who was.
Only Sandro Ramirez and James McCarthy have not been included, as they only made one solitary appearance, but if you’re interested Sandro scored 7/10 for his performance in the Carabao Cup against Rotherham while McCarthy earned the same mark for his brief cameo against Manchester United.
But here are the rest of Everton’s season’s marks…in characteristic awards ceremony fashion, in reverse order.
5.00 – Maarten Stekelenburg
Two appearances, two 5/10 marks. That’s consistency, of a sort.
5.00 – Kieran Dowell
Two appearances, two 5/10 marks. Ditto.
5.31 – Theo Walcott
A disappointing average from a player who started the season with a 9/10 performance against Southampton but found it impossible to maintain that kind of performance.
5.33 – Mason Holgate
The young defender found consistency and admirers on loan at West Bromwich Albion, after a disappointing start to the season at Goodison. A 3/10 mark at home to West Ham seems harsh, but then he wasn’t alone in scoring poorly that afternoon.
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5.4 – Oumar Niasse
Yes, he did start the season in Royal Blue. Ineffectively as his mark indicates.
5.75 – Phil Jagielka
A 3/10 on the opening day of the season at Wolves, when he was red-carded, looks harsh, but the skipper bounced back with solid, effective displays on the rare occasions he was called upon after that to bump his mark back up to respectability.
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5.75 – Jonjoe Kenny
Like his skipper, Kenny didn’t feature as often as he would have liked last season. But when he did he was reliable and dependable.
5.88 – Leighton Baines
A 5/10 performance at Bournemouth effectively cost him his first team place and he found it impossible to displace Digne after that. Digne’s score later on will show you why.
5.9 - Cenk Tosun
An average mark for a player who enjoyed an average kind of season.
5.98 – Morgan Schneiderlin
The Frenchman’s average was climbing as the season ended and 8/10 performances against Manchester United and Burnley suggest those that forecast an end to his Goodison career this summer may have been premature.
6.07 – Yerry Mina
Not as involved anywhere near as much as Evertonians might have hoped for, his mark indicates a player who struggled to find consistency as much as he struggled to avoid injury in his debut Goodison season.
6.25 – Ademola Lookman
Occasionally bright – 8/10 on the final afternoon of the season at Tottenham – occasionally less stellar, Lookman still needs to add consistency to his game.
6.28 – Jordan Pickford
When we last assessed the season’s ratings, during the international break inbetween the disappointing defeat at Watford and the springboard win at Cardiff, Pickford had recovered from a wobbly start to the season to produce a robust 6.45 average. But 5/10 performances at Newcastle and Fulham – coupled with largely inactive afternoons and evenings against Manchester United, Arsenal and Burnley, saw his total slip.
6.4 – Tom Davies
He didn’t feature as often as he would have liked, but whenever he was called upon the youngster performed effectively and impressively. Consistency isn’t a quality you usually apply to youth but Davies has it.
6.41 - Andre Gomes
A slightly above average mark for a player who is anything but slightly above average. 5/10s against Chelsea and Fulham – when he picked up the ban which effectively ended his season early – cost him a higher seasonal average.
6.56 – Richarlison
The Brazilian enjoyed an outstanding start to his Everton career, sprinting out of the blocks with back to back 8/10 performances, before he stumbled with a red card and a 4/10 at Bournemouth. But he picked himself back up, endured a lull in the middle of the campaign and then came again at the end to score impressively on his debut season at Goodison.
6.75 – Gylfi Sigurdsson
The Icelandic playmaker scored a miserable 4/10 in the disappointing defeat at Fulham, but bounced with an outstanding 9/10 performances against Manchester United the following week. But those fluctuations were uncharacteristic of a player who enjoyed another consistent campaign.
6.75 - Seamus Coleman
A measure of Coleman’s improvement – and complete recovery from that horrific broken leg – was that in mid-February Coleman’s average mark for the season was a disappointing 5.57. Cue a run of consistently excellent form including four 8/10 displays against West Ham, Arsenal, Manchester United and Burnley which saw him end the campaign on a much much more impressive 6.75. Time to be replaced? Don’t be too sure.
6.84 – Bernard
The little Brazilian was slow burner in 2018/19, but when he ignited he was incendiary. When we last totted up our season’s averages, during the international break in February, he was on a steady 6.08. But a series of sparkling displays – including 9s at West Ham and against Manchester United – saw him end the season on a big high.
6.97 – Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Dominic Calvert-Lewin was only a fraction away from scoring the sought after 7/10 average – and his marks were peppered with 8/10s. If he could have added a few more goals in those matches who knows how highly he may have scored?
7 – Idrissa Gueye
Told in January he could not have his dream move to PSG, when his season average was 6.08, the fact that the Senegal midfielder ended the season on 7/10 says everything you need to know about his character – not to mention his ability. He ended the campaign with 9, 9, 8 and 6.
7.04 – Lucas Digne
The club’s official player of the season, French full-back Digne enjoyed an outstanding debut season and was one of only four players to average over 7/10 every week.
7.14 – Kurt Zouma
Zoum. Just one look and then our hearts went boom! Evertonians had to wait a short while for their first glimpse of Kurt Zouma, but when they did see him in action they were instantly smitten.
An 8/10 performance against Huddersfield was followed by an uncharacteristic 5/10 in the home horror show against West Ham.
But he quickly recovered and a colossal 9/10 performance against Burnley in the final home match of the season almost took him level with Everton’s player of the season…
7.15 - Michael Keane
Everton’s most consistent performer throughout 2018/19, according to our weekly marks, was defender Michael Keane.
He started the season solidly with a series of 7/10 displays, only interrupted by a fractured skull at Bournemouth!
When he returned his performances were stamped with consistency and 8/10 performances against Chelsea, West Ham and Manchester United sealed his standing as Everton’s Echo Player of the Season.
