Everton are closing in on the transfer of Thierno Barry - but is he the right man for the job despite his flaws?
Everton’s search for a some more firepower up front seems to be gradually reaching its conclusion, with fresh reports suggesting that the club are in active negotiations with Villarreal over the transfer of Thierno Barry – and ESPN suggest that they could be prepared to pay the entirety of his €40m (£34.1m) release clause to get the deal done.
It’s only a year since Barry moved to Spain from Swiss side Basel for a third of that price, but 11 goals in his debut season have encouraged Everton to come in for the 22-year-old even while Villarreal play hardball over the price. But is the young Frenchman the answer to Everton’s issues in front of goal?
Everton target Thierno Barry has talent – but problems too
Now that France have been knocked out of the European Under-21 Championship in Slovakia at the semi-final stage, Barry – who played in all five matches and scored against Georgia in the group stage – is finally free to sit down and do a little bit of negotiating with Everton, and on the surface it’s easy enough to see why they’d want him.
You won’t find it hard to find a highlights video of Barry that makes him look distinctly dangerous. Some of those 11 goals were beautifully taken, with accurate finishing and a knack for lobbing the goalkeeper on the half-volley in evidence.
A dig into the stats does highlight some red flags, however, as does a more in-depth dive into the tape. While those goals were impressive, they also came from an xG of 12.5, and taking the time to unearth the moments in which he missed the target suggest a habit of snatching at chances, of putting power into shots when accuracy is required, or of blasting the ball into defenders when a pass might have been the better option.
A dreadful miss against Athletic Club highlighted the issue. Having worked hard to get into a perfect position at the back post as Gerard Moreno hared down the right flank on the counter-attack, Barry lost focus when the cross seemed set to be cut out by the goalkeeper. As a result, when the ball unexpectedly squirted through to him, he flailed wildly at it, scooping it awkwardly over the bar with an open goal in front of him.
Shots heading high and less than handsome is, unfortunately, a rather regular occurrence, which makes the precision and sometimes elegance of the finishes he does pull off feel rather startling at times. The feeling is that when he sees the chance coming and can envision the exact outcome he wants, he can pull it off. When there’s pressure or the opportunity doesn’t line up exactly as he hopes, he can panic.
His technique and touch are also below the standard most Premier League sides would expect. While he can burst past defenders with ease off the ball, he struggles to maintain full speed when dribbling or to protect it. He only succeeded with 18 of his 50 attempts to beat a man one-on-one in La Liga last season as a result.
Nor is his passing especially impressive. A 62% completion rate is about as low as it gets at the elite level, and he was involved in the creation of just 1.78 shooting chances per match for his team-mates. In short, his technique has a lot of room for improvement, his first touch needs sharpening, and he could stand to become a fair bit cooler in front of goal. So why, exactly, are Everton contemplating paying the better part of £35m for him?
Why movement is the key to Everton’s bid for Barry
The same reason, ultimately, that he is a part of France’s Under-21 squad and was a first-team regular for Villarreal on their way towards Champions League qualification – because while there are rough edges to polish off, and quite a few of them, he is exceptionally good in other areas.
Specifically, his movement off the ball is already quite brilliant. He uses a good turn of pace well to find half-yards of space in the channels, has a remarkable knack for timing late runs into the box to get between defenders and into dangerous areas, and is lethal against high lines, feasting on direct passes over the top, with several of his best strikes coming in those exact situations.
He's also tall at 6’5” and as good in the air as one might expect from a striker of such stature, scoring three headed goals last season and winning the significant majority of his aerial duels. Having Barry in the box makes crosses and long balls far more rewarding than they might otherwise have been.
In short, he’s perfect for a team that looks to play direct and on the counter-attack. A side that wanted a striker to drop into deeper areas and play a creative role in the build-up would be well-served looking the other way, but David Moyes’ system and Everton’s style should suit him down to the ground.
He also doesn’t seem to let his less edifying moments get him down, as can so often be the case with young forwards. Against Osasuna towards the end of the season, for instance, he blazed a reasonably presentable chance well over the crossbar, only to put a half-chance away with aplomb later, allowing a high angled ball to drop over his head before dinking the ball over the goalkeeper and into the far corner. It was a fine finish under any circumstances, never mind under pressure from a defender, with the goalkeeper rushing, and shortly after the kind of wild effort that would knock other strikers’ confidence.
No team attempted more long passes in the Premier League than Everton last season, and their methods should be a perfect fit for Barry’s skillset – one that is arguably limited, but in which he has areas of undeniable excellence.
The price tag Villarreal have supposedly set is steep enough that signing Barry wouldn’t necessarily be a home run on paper. But this is a fine example of a team identifying a player who can do exactly what they need him to do, regardless of whether he can offer anything else. Who knows, perhaps he’ll even give Gareth and Horne a run for the title of the best Barry to play for Everton one day.
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