The 4th Official
·21 July 2023
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Yahoo sportsThe 4th Official
·21 July 2023
In a recent interview with Falcon Blues TV, Kevin Campbell urged Everton to sign Moussa Dembele who is currently a free agent. Campbell said,
“I quite like the link with Dembele.
“I like Dembele, he’s a free so are there excuses? There’s no excuses. That’s somebody you can make it work with.
“He’s played for a lot of top clubs around Europe. He’s not even hit his peak yet, so I think he would be somebody that could do a job at Everton.”
Dembele had a tough campaign at his last club Olympique Lyon last season as he struggled to catch the eye with his performances in the final third. The French striker scored three times and earned one assist in 28 matches for the French club in the previous campaign across multiple competitions.
The 27-year-old made most of his appearances off the bench which explains why he only averaged 1.2 shots, 0.2 key passes and 0.2 dribbles per game in Ligue 1. He lacked quality when distributing possession in the opponent’s half after making 72.9% of his attempted passes in top-flight football (stats via whoscored).
Lyon’s French forward Moussa Dembele (R) fights for the ball with Montpellier’s French defender Arnaud Souquet (L) during the French L1 football match between Montpellier Herault SC and Olympique Lyonnais (OL) at The Stade de la Mosson in Montpellier, southern France on October 22, 2022. (Photo by Sylvain THOMAS / AFP) (Photo by SYLVAIN THOMAS/AFP via Getty Images)
Dembele can engineer a yard of space for himself to get a few strikes in on-target. He can be a streaky goal-scorer in the final third when he is playing well on the pitch. However, the French talent struggled to be consistent due to the limited playing time he received at Lyon last season.
Now that Dembele is a free agent, it makes sense for Everton boss Sean Dyche to bring him on board during this summer transfer window.
Dembele is good enough to offer some serious competition for Dominic Calvert-Lewin at the Merseyside club next season. At 27, he is about to enter his prime which makes him a good option for the Toffees to consider before the start of the new campaign.
However, there are some serious concerns over whether he would be able to cope with the physical side and high intensity of Premier League football if Everton manage to get a deal done for him soon.