Everton have been linked with a move for Sean Longstaff but would the Newcastle United man actually provide an upgrade on what the Blues have already got in midfield? Longstaff is one of those players who Everton have seemingly been tracking for several years given there were rumours of him being wanted by Rafael Benitez during the 2021/22 season with the Spaniard having been his manager during his own spell at St James’ Park.
Now, talkSPORT claim that the North Shields-born player is open to a move away from his native Tyneside this summer, having spent his entire career with the Magpies – other than loan spells at Kilmarnock and Blackpool – and Everton are interested in the 27-year-old with David Moyes a fan of his talents. The Blues boss is said to be keen on players with Premier League experience and with 167 outings in the competition among his 210 appearances in total for Newcastle United, Longstaff offers that but what else does he bring to the table?
An examination of his individual statistics on Comparisonator enables us to see how he stacks up against Moyes’ incumbent central midfield duo at Goodison Park, James Garner, who celebrates his 24th birthday today, and Idrissa Gueye, 35. Using over 100 parameters to measure players’ performance Comparisonator calculates Longstaff’s displays as giving him an overall Artificial Intelligence points score of 169 but this is lower than Garner’s 202 or Gueye’s 234.
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We can break down the trio’s contributions into four sections with offensive, defensive, passing and duels elements. When it comes to offensive contributions, there isn’t a goal between all three of them this term but while Longstaff and Garner are tied on 0.41 shots each per 90 minutes, Gueye is trying more than twice as many with 0.83.
Longstaff has more dribbles (0.82) and successful dribbles (0.41) than Garner (0.62 and 0.31) but fewer than Gueye (0.94 and 0.64). Despite operating in a more successful team under Eddie Howe, he is making fewer progressive runs (0.51) than either Garner (0.83) and Gueye (0.71).
When it comes to defensive contributions, Longstaff finds himself behind the Everton pair in all key areas. His 5.01 ball recoveries are fewer than Garner’s 7.47 or Gueye’s 9.63; he’s only producing 2.76 interceptions compared to Gueye’s 3.46 or Garner’s 4.25 and making 0.51 clearances as opposed to Gueye’s 0.75 and Garner’s 1.97.
Passing is something of a mixed bag as while Longstaff, operating in a team where others are doing more with the ball, makes fewer passes (31.46) than either Garner (33.59) or Gueye (37.44), his 27.68 successful passes is in between the Blues duo with Garner on 24.78 and Gueye on 32.88. The man from the North East has also been less effective in one-on-one situations as not only is he contesting fewer duels (12.87) than either Garner (13.68) or Gueye (16.22), he’s winning fewer (6.03) than either the Birkenhead-born player (7.36) or Senegal international (9.26).
Moyes has a masterful reputation for player recruitment having snapped up the likes of Seamus Coleman, Phil Jagielka, Leighton Baines, Mikel Arteta, Tim Cahill, Steven Pienaar and Joleon Lescott – famously watching the latter on 24 separate occasions for Wolverhampton Wanderers before snapping him up – and following his impressive return to Everton, will play a prominent role in reshaping the squad this summer as the club will transition from a single director of football to a wider sporting leadership team.
The ECHO understands that Longstaff is one of the potential targets on the Blues’ radar this summer with the Scot having looked at him in January only for the player to have reservations about Everton’s precarious Premier League position at the time.
It would therefore be curious to find out what the 61-year-old potentially sees in him beyond the numbers which do not exactly paint an attractive picture in terms of seemingly improving on what Moyes currently has at his disposal.
*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.
