The January transfer window closes tomorrow and there are still no new signings at Everton but Kamaldeen Sulemana is a name that continues to be linked with a potential move to Goodison Park.
The plan was and is for Everton to add attacking reinforcements to their squad but despite having suffered four straight defeats since the New Year – dropping into the Premier League relegation places and being knocked out of the FA Cup, leading to Frank Lampard's sacking – no fresh faces have arrived at the club.
The ECHO understands that Sulemana is one of a number of players the Blues like. The 20-year-old came through the Right to Dream youth academy in his Ghanaian homeland before getting his big break in Europe with Danish side Nordsjaelland aged 18. He’d go on to be handed the number 10 jersey when Mohammed Kudus – a summer transfer target for Everton – joined Ajax and, after 10 goals in 30 games in 2020/21, he moved to his current employers in France for a reported €20m fee in July 2021.
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Capped 15 times for Ghana, and appearing twice in the recent World Cup finals, Sulemana netted five times in 27 outings for Rennes last season but has struck just once in 18 matches so far this term. Standing 5ft 9in, he turns 21 next month and while primarily a left-winger, like many modern attackers he can operate across the frontline and is also capable of being deployed on the opposite flank or even at centre-forward.
Comparisonator’s Similarity Comparison tool shows that Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling is the Premier League player most like Sulemana with a 90% match in terms of their style. Next up is Crystal Palace’s Wilfred Zaha – subject of an Everton bid in 2019 that would have broken the club’s transfer record – with a score of 88% followed by West Ham United’s Jarrod Bown on 87%, while Leicester City’s Harvey Barnes is rated at 76% and the Blues’ very own Demarai Gray at 75%.
Correlating Sulemana’s statistics from Ligue 1 this season against players in his position already operating in the Premier League through Comparisonator’s Virtual Transfer option shows just what an explosive talent he is in terms of potentially galvanising the attack of an Everton team that has netted just 15 goals in 19 games this term. Not only has he made 7.87 successful dribbles per 90 minutes, dwarfing Premier League leader Kaoru Mitoma of Brighton & Hove Albion on 4.51 with Manchester City’s Jack Grealish next best on 4.2, his 9.76 successful attacking actions per game tops Mitoma again, who is top in his division with 5.63 ahead of Liverpool’s Luis Diaz on 5.56.
Only West Ham United’s Said Benrahma (2.83) has more shots than Sulemana’s 2.52, which puts him ahead of the aforementioned Barnes on 2.37 although he does drop to sixth for shots on target (0.94), a category that Diaz tops on 1.22 ahead of Barnes (1.13) and Benrahma (1.11). With Everton strikers Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Neal Maupay both on just one goal apiece this season, Benrahma can also provide a supply line of chances with more successful long passes per 90 minutes (1.89) than Premier League leader Ivan Perisic of Tottenham Hotspur (1.69) and 0.94 successful crosses a game, a figure only bettered by Perisic (2.08) and Leandro Trossard of Brighton & Hove Albion (1.57).
Sulemana works hard out of possession with only Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella (1.86) having more ball recoveries in the opposition half than his 1.57 - and he’s a full-back who has been pushed up at time. The he same goes for Everton’s Vitalii Mykolenko (1.51), who is next on the list. Looking after possession is also an asset with Sulemana (0.63), with just Benrahma (0.4) having fewer ball losses in his own half.
One-on-one situations seem to be relished as well with Sulemana taking part in more offensive duels (20.77) than any Premier League player in his position with Zaha on 16.94 and Diaz on 16.54. He has won more offensive duels, too, with 9.76 per game as opposed to Joelinton of Newcastle United on 6.71 and Eberechi Eze of Crystal Palace on 6.46.
Overall, given Everton’s lowly Premier League position and current finances, the prospect of landing a player of Sulemana’s ilk would seem to be something of a coup. It remains to be seen whether they can pull of a deal of this magnitude – it seems rather odd to think the Blues could land a target whose price tag Saudi-backed Newcastle United are said to have scoffed at – but at this stage director of football Kevin Thelwell would be well-advised to pull out all the stops for anyone who can provide some desperately-required inspiration in the final third.
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.
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