Why signing Gianluca Mancini would be an excellent move by Everton
Everton set out strongly to find defenders that would fit Marco Silva’s system and they were extremely aggressive in the way they went about this. Multiple marquee signings were made by the Toffees – most of which have paid off completely.
Defensively, Everton have done a pretty decent job, maintaining a goal difference of zero by cancelling out their goals for and against at 31 each.
They have been able to collect 27 points from 21 games so far this season while winning 7 games in this period. Sitting at 11th place behind Wolves and West Ham, Everton have had an extremely average season so far.
Everton’s defensive core has always been very strong, where the likes of Phil Jagielka and Ashley Williams were natural leaders. While Everton’s current defensive options are solid, there isn’t a natural leader available.
Their central defensive options include Yerry Mina, Phil Jagielka, Tyias Browning, Michael Keane and Kurt Zouma. Mina and Keane are both contracted to the club on a long-term basis, making it two solid defenders for next season.
Phil Jagielka is 36 and is edging towards the end of his career whereas Kurt Zouma is on loan from Chelsea. Browning is a talented player but is yet to feature for the first-team.
If Everton are able to keep Zouma beyond the end of the season, then Marco Silva will have three first-team centre-halves in Keane, Zouma and Mina at his disposal. But for a Premier League team to survive in today’s footballing world, it needs to have four top-quality centre-halves capable of walking into the first-team.
According to reports from the Mirror, Atalanta defender Gianluca Mancini is the man that Marco Silva has identified as a possible successor for the ageing Jagielka.
Having come up through the Fiorentina youth setup, he spent a few years bouncing around between Fiorentina and Perugia before eventually being sold to Atalanta in 2017.
This season, he has played 17 times for the Serie A outfit, scoring 5 goals in the process. He has even played in three of the club’s six Europa League encounters. Still only 22, the tall centre-back would be a brilliant addition to the Toffees’ ranks.
His physicality would suit the Premier League game quite well and his presence will be felt in either box. All this means that Mancini has the potential to eventually replace Phil Jagielka.