Che Adams could provide Everton with transfer fix and stand-out figure proves it
A look at what Che Adams could offer Everton if they can reach a deal for the Southampton striker
Everton are understood to be trying to do a £15m deal with Southampton for striker Che Adams but what might the Scotland international potentially offer Sean Dyche’s side?
Adams is a player who has been on the Blues’ radar for some time and they submitted a formal offer for him before last weekend. He subsequently netted his third goal in as many Championship outings this term for relegated Southampton in the shape of a 94th-minute winner in their 2-1 victory at newly-promoted Plymouth Argyle on Saturday while Everton are still waiting for their first point or goal of the campaign after a 4-0 thrashing at Aston Villa the next day.
Although the 27-year-old bagged 22 goals in his previous season in the Championship (for Birmingham City in 2018/19), last term’s all competitions total of 10 for Southampton was the only time he achieved double figures for the Saints and only half of this tally came in Premier League matches. An examination of Adams’ statistics from last season in correlation with other Premier League strikers on Comparisonator highlights the kind of attributes he possesses.
In truth he was way down the pecking order for several offensive tables as well as goals: 26th for shots (1.76 per 90 minutes); 33rd for shots on target (0.59); 30th for successful attacking actions (1.68); 23rd for touches in the box (3.35) and 30th for expected goals (0.25), Adams did creep into the top 10 for shot assists (0.8), a section topped by Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez, who was the only player with more than one per game (1.03). While you’d rather strikers are getting on the end of balls into the danger areas, Adams rated ninth for successful long passes (0.71), a category that Harry Kane led with 1.64.
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One area where the Leicester-born player who started out in non-League with Oadby Town and Ilkeston in his native East Midlands did shine, though, was for aerial duels won. He was ranked fourth overall with 2.93 per 90 minutes, a figure that only two players still in the Premier League could better with Bournemouth’s Kieffer Moore (5.59) and Everton’s own Dominic Calvert-Lewin (5.36) the top two while Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic, who came on as a substitute at Goodison Park in the opening weekend of this term but has since joined Saudi side Al-Hilal, was on 4.08.
Such figures seem to represent something of a mixed bag then but Everton need to have someone who can bridge the gap between Calvert-Lewin – who has played fewer than half their matches in both of the previous two seasons and went off with a facial injury just 38 minutes into his latest comeback at Aston Villa on Sunday – and teenage recruit Youssef Chermiti of whom Dyche said: “He’s young. We’re not putting any kind of pressure on him at all at this stage,” yet is more of a like-for-like alternative than Neal Maupay.
Adams seems to fit the bill as much as you’d be able to expect to fulfil such a niche role and his stand-out figures for dominating in the air suggest that he might be able to plug that gap if director of football Kevin Thelwell is able to reach an agreement with his counterparts at St Mary’s.
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.