The last time Everton splashed out on a teenager from Juventus, what initially seemed like a transfer coup failed to come off but might the Blues have better luck with Samuel Iling-Junior?
Back in 2019, Everton paid £25.1million for Moise Kean with director of football Marcel Brands telling the youngster’s mother Isabelle: “We will take care of your son.” Unfortunately for the Blues, the Italy international striker proved to be an expensive flop as he struggled to adapt to life in England both on and off the pitch.
Kean just twice in 32 Premier League matches and Everton released a statement to express they were “appalled” by his “unacceptable actions” after he posted a video of party he hosted in his Cheshire apartment during the height of lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. After being farmed out to Paris Saint-Germain for the following campaign, he subsequently went back to Juve on a two-season loan with his return being made permanent in March this year.
Everton are now being linked with a potential move for Juventus’ Iling-Junior who left Chelsea’s academy for Italy in 2020. It’s claimed that the Blues are one of three Premier League clubs eyeing him with West Ham United and Fulham offering the chance for the Islington-born player to return to London.
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Maybe the Blues might fare better with this young man – he doesn’t turn 20 until October – than their previous prospect from La Vecchia Signora (The Old Lady). Iling-Junior is a versatile performer and given that he can operate anywhere down the left flank at either full-back, wing-back or winger and has also turned out in an attacking role on the right.
Comparisonator’s Virtual Transfer tool enables to correlate Iling-Junior’s statistics from last season in Serie A against those already playing in in similar positions in England’s top flight. Given that Everton, who netted 34 times in 38 Premier League games in 2022/23 are in desperate need for more creativity, it’s encouraging to see that only Allan Saint-Maximin of Newcastle United (0.3) and Ivan Perisic of Tottenham Hotspur (0.27) can top Iling-Junior’s 0.25 assists per 90 minutes, a figure that puts him level with Jack Grealish of Manchester City and Kaoru Mitoma of Brighton & Hove Albion.
The prospect, who played 18 times last term, is far from being the finished article though when it comes to his duties out of possession though with his 11.6 defensive actions placing him 24th out of a category containing 58 players (Junior Firpo of Leeds United was top on 15.6). Also, Iling-Junior’s 4.21 interceptions per game pales in comparison to Vitalii Mykolenko’s 5.77 that puts the Everton man third overall behind Luke Thomas of Leicester City (6.44) and the aforementioned Firpo (6.41).
It seems that his recent schooling in Italy has taught him not to give up possession cheaply though and Iling-Junior’s 7.93 ball losses would place him eighth among Premier League peers with Manchester United’s Tyrell Malacia the section leader on 5.96. Overall, the player’s youth and ability to plug several gaps could make him a tempting option for manager Sean Dyche and director of football Kevin Thelwell but a reputed asking price of €20-30million (£17.2m-£25.8m) seems somewhat prohibitive with funds understood to be tight at Goodison Park with Financial Fair Play restrictions continuing to bite.
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.
