It remains to be seen whether Everton can do a deal to prise Morgan Gibbs-White from Wolverhampton Wanderers but with Frank Lampard in need of hungry, young players to reshape what has been an under-achieving squad, it seems obvious why the 22-year-old has caught the Blues’ eye. The Daily Mail has reported that Everton have had a £25million bid for Gibbs-White rejected by Wolves but Wolves may still look to sell the Stafford-born player – whose current contract expires in 2024 – while they can command a decent fee for him after talks over a new deal stalled while a piece in the i claims it is understood that the England Under-21s international is keen on a move to Goodison Park and there is optimism that a transfer can be structured which works for all parties.
Gibbs-White is the kind of versatile attacking player highly-valued in the modern game. Last season – the bulk of which he spent on loan at Sheffield United – he played 10 games at centre-forward, which brought five goals and five assists; nine on the right of midfield (three goals and one assist); nine as a central attacking midfielder (two goals and one assist); seven as a secondary striker (two goals and one assist); two as a right winger (one goal and two assists) and one in central midfield.
New director of football Kevin Thelwell knows Gibbs-White from his own time at Molineux when the player was a youngster breaking through at the academy where he was manager and if he was to move to the Blues then he would represent something of a throwback to the days when David Moyes – who himself came to the club from second tier Preston North End – would pluck some of the Championship’s brightest prospects and give them a chance to perform on the big stage such as Tim Cahill, Joleon Lescott and Jermaine Beckford. Currently back working under Bruno Lage, when Gibbs-White’s attributes are matched to others in Premier League players on Comparisonator’s Similarity Comparison, Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez is deemed to be the closest match on 74% followed by James Maddison of Leicester City on 48% but it’s his displays for the Blades last term that impress and suggest he could be worth taking a chance on.
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When measured against others in the Championship operating in his position, Gibbs-White recorded more attacking actions per 90 minutes (11.37) than anyone else with Queens Park Rangers’ Chris Willock (9.98) his nearest challenger followed by Coventry City’s Viktor Gyokeres (8.98). When it came to successful attacking actions, Gibbs-White (4.63) came in second, behind Willock (4.9) but ahead of Bournemouth’s Siriki Dembele (4.3).
Such diligence in the final third put Gibbs-White in top spot for expected assists (0.44), ahead of West Bromwich Albion’s Callum Robinson (0.37) and Luton Town’s Harry Cornick (0.35). He was also placed highly among several other offensive tables including second spot for shot assists (1.35 behind Gyokeres on 1.46); dribbles (6.33 behind Dembele on 6.63) and successful attacking actions (4.63 behind Willock on 4.9) while he was third for assists (0.35 behind Robinson on 0.5 and Bristol City’s Antoine Semenyo on 0.45); shots (2.87 behind Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic on 3.89 and Gyokeres on 3.08); successful dribbles (2.99 behind Dembele on 3.78 and Willock on 3.58) and touches in the box (6.86 behind Mitrovic on 7.43 and Gyokeres on 7.09).
Gibbs-White dominated in the passing tables and was first among half a dozen different categories. He was first for passes (36.06, ahead of Willock on 35.49); received passes (49.95, ahead of Bristol City’s Chris Martin on 43); key passes (2.35, ahead of Robinson on 1.43); successful key passes (1.29, ahead of Robinson on 0.94); passes to the final third (22.93, ahead of Willock on 19.68) and successful passes to the final third (15.07, ahead of Willock on 14.4). He also came second for successful passes (26.03, behind Willock on 29) and long passes (1, behind Charlie Austin of Queens Park Rangers on 1.34).
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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