Everton have been linked with a potential transfer move for Antonio Nusa of RB Leipzig
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Antonio Nusa celebrates scoring for Norway against Italy at the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo on June 6, 2025
Antonio Nusa celebrates scoring for Norway against Italy at the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo on June 6, 2025
(Image: CORNELIUS POPPE/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)
Among the plethora of names being linked with Everton this summer, a prospect dubbed ‘The Norwegian Neymar’ has now seemingly entered the mix. A catchy alliteration and the tantalising prospect of some silky skills, the nickname doubt has the potential to have supporters’ hearts raising, but is Antonio Nusa all that he’s cracked up to be?
It appears that the race is on for the RB Leipzig wide man with CaughtOffside reporting that multiple insiders in the industry have confirmed Arsenal’s interest in the player to them, along with other clubs such as Chelsea, Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Everton and Napoli, although in the next breath they concede it is not clear whether the 20-year-old, valued at around €45million (around £38.47m) is a priority target for any of these clubs.
The Blues, or anyone else for that matter, is never going to publicly disclose how large their transfer war chest is but an article from Football Insider on Wednesday claimed sources have told them The Friedkin Group is prepared to back David Moyes with a budget of around £70million as he prepares to rebuild his squad.
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While that might seem like a significant figure, especially when you consider that between 2022 and now, since the arrival of Kevin Thelwell as director of football, who has just joined Rangers in a similar role, Everton are the only club still in the Premier League to have made a net profit on transfer trading, splashing out over half of your reported potential kitty on a single signing would represent a significant outlay.
The significance of putting so many of your eggs into one basket is amplified further if you take into account the fact that 10 senior players (including four of their loan men) from their 2024/25 squad have left Goodison Park and, depending on how contract negotiations go with the others whose current deals expire at the end of this month, another four could potentially be heading out
The Blues did show that they were willing to spend at least £30million on one deal this window with their attempt to trigger Liam Delap’s relegation release clause at Ipswich Town, only for the striker to choose Chelsea instead after transfer talks with David Moyes.
While another frontman the ECHO understands to be of interest, Thierno Barry, has a release clause of €40m (£34.19m), although if a deal was to be done, they would try and get the France Under-21 international for less.
So, what does Nusa, dubbed ‘The Norwegian Neymar’ because of his technical ability and flair, bring to the table?
We’re told, unlike many wingers who struggle when switching flanks, Nusa is equally effective on both wings. Renowned for his explosive pace and direct playing style, he offers a significant threat on the counter-attack.
Born in Oslo on April 17, 2005 – three days before Duncan Ferguson headed in his winner against Manchester United in front of the Gwladys Street to keep Moyes’ men on course for a Champions League qualification spot – to a Nigerian father and Norwegian mother, Nusa started his career with local club Stabaek, making just 13 appearances and scoring three goals before he signed for Belgian outfit Club Brugge on transfer deadline day of the summer window in 2021.
After 86 appearances and seven goals in Flanders, becoming the second youngest player to score in the Champions League in a 4-0 away win at Porto, he penned a five-year deal with Leipzig on August 13 last year, in a deal worth €21m plus add ons. With three goals in 25 Bundesliga matches in 2024/25 (plus four assists) and five in all competitions, Nusa was hardly prolific though.
While that would represent an increase on the numbers from Everton’s pair of on-loan right wingers last term, Jack Harrison (one goal, one assist) and Jesper Lindstrom (no goals, one assist), you’d imagine for such a potentially large outlay, the Blues would want more bang for their buck. When asked about the duo’s lack of tangible contributions at the time in his pre-match press conference for the trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers on March 8, Moyes said: “Let’s be fair, you won’t have longevity if you’re not going to get me assists and you’re not going to get me goals. You have to find ways of coming up with those numbers, it’s just the world that we’re in.
“We can get all the statistics now and we can talk about it. Those two are both attacking players, I think both of them have done well but yeah, I need goals from them, I need assists from them.
“They both need to improve. They’ve done a really good job in recent weeks but they’re parts of the game we want them to improve on.”
We can use Comparisonator’s Virtual Transfer tool to correlate Nusa’s statistics in the Bundesliga from 2024/25 against his Premier League peers. Although he’d be ranked eighth for assists (0.22 per 90 minutes) in a category topped by Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (0.44), he’s numbers are much lower in other sections.
For shots (1), he’s 25th in a category led by Antoine Semenyo of Bournemouth (3.48) and that drops to 30th for shots on target (0.11) where Salah is number one on 1.55. Nusa would be down in 24th for successful dribbles (1.56, behind leader Savinho of Manchester City on 4.21); 18th for successful passes (16, behind leader Bernardo Silva of Manchester City on 35.63) and 25th for successful crosses (0.56 behind leader Pedro Neto of Chelsea on 1.79).
Antonio Nusa's assists statistics in the Bundesliga for 2024/25 compared to Premier League players
Antonio Nusa's assists statistics in the Bundesliga for 2024/25 compared to Premier League players
Although Nusa operated in a variety of position for Leipzig last season: right wing 31%; left-back 29%; left wing 23%; striker 7% and right-back 5%, when it comes to which Premier League players he is most like in style, they are all full-backs. In Comparisonator’s Similarity test he scores 84% with both Southampton’s Kyle Walker-Peters and Fulham’s ex-Blue Antonee Robinson; 79% with Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Rayan Ait-Nouri, who has just joined Manchester City; 62% with Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell and 39% with Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez.
Could he be the kind of hungry, young player that Moyes has an impressive track record of developing though? When it comes to Comparisonator’s Artificial Intelligence Team Finder, Nusa, with an A.I. Suitability Weight of 177.54 is deemed a better fit than the aforementioned former Everton loan pair of Harrison (145.47) and Lindstrom (134.92).
But while his youth and versatility could be assists, this sounds like a big wedge for a utility man who could give Alan Harper and Steve Watson a run for their money, rather than the Samba star who inspired his moniker.
*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.