Everton have reportedly concluded a deal with Juventus to bring Moise Kean to Goodison Park.
The 19-year-old Italian striker is thought to be joining for an initial £29m, the approximate fee for which Idrissa Gueye left for French champions Paris Saint Germain.
A player regarded as a strong prospect for the future, Kean is an interesting choice for the Toffees, who have lacked consistent goals from a No 9 in recent years.
The question is whether he will fit the system of manager Marco Silva.
Silva’s 4-2-3-1
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Silva’s favoured system at Everton has been a high-pressing 4-2-3-1 with inside forwards and overlapping wing-backs.
Lucas Digne and Seumas Coleman are excellent, technical wing-backs who get forward and cross with accuracy. Digne in particular enjoyed a strong season last year. Both work well with inside forwards – Richarlison, Theo Walcott and Bernard in particular – who can cut inside to cause issues for opposition full-backs and centre-backs alike. The system is designed to create holes and pull players out of position high up the pitch and it offers Gylfi Sigurdsson a lot of attacking freedom, usually in a No 10 or second striker role.
The weak link in the system has been the lack of a potent goal threat. Sandro Ramirez, Oumar Niasse and Cenk Tosun have all had underwhelming goal returns in recent years, and while Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s skillset, work-rate and potential is strong, the 22-year-old’s eight goals from 38 games last season is certainly not prolific.
Tactically, one would expect Everton to be looking for a hard-pressing, clinical striker who has the physicality to win aerial balls in the Premier League and the tactical awareness to play in others. Moise Kean offers some of these qualities, but crucially not all.
How Kean could fit
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With seven goals in 17 matches last season at Juventus, Kean enjoyed a breakout start to 2019 in Turin. He is fast and tactically astute, offering clever movement to get in behind defenders, is aware of teammates’ movement and is an excellent sriker of the ball. He will finish capably and assist teammates in pressure scenarios.
However, he has some limitations. Some may improve with age.
Kean is currently six foot tall but very lean. He may grow an inch or more still and fill out, but at the moment his record in aerial battles is not particularly strong. More concerning, his defensive workrate is outright poor at the moment – partly because Juventus gave the youngster a relatively free brief to focus on attacking in the matches he started last season.
If he were to start in the No 9 role, Everton’s attack could be frighteningly quick and creative.
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Bernard, Kean and Richarlison all offer skilled footwork, pace and tactical awareness. Both Brazilians offer a strong defensive work-rate, and while Bernard’s delivery and shooting is a little more suspect than Richarlison’s, they can both contribute well to an opposition-flustering press. Everton flourished with these two either side of the equally energetic Dominic Calvert-Lewin towards the end of last season.
However, Kean’s reluctance to do little more than mark passing channels may require a tactical tweak, putting more of a defensive onus on their midfield.
There are other options too, however, including the possibility of playing Kean wide.
Alternative option
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Kean certainly has the pace to play wide, and could play as a wide forward cutting in. Both he and Richarlison possess the ability to shoot well off both feet and manipulate the space behind defenders well, especially if Calvert-Lewin were to act as a false nine in tandem with Sigurdsson in an advanced midfield role, looking to play defence-splitting passes.
Kean and Richarlison could get on the end of some interesting through balls in this scenario with the ability to swap wings and drift about the pitch in attack.
The young Italian certainly brings options for the Everton side, however the Toffees must be aware that he may limit their aerial threat and possibly their defensive solidity – unless he develops favourably physically and/or tactically.
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