Everton have reportedly agreed a new contract with Idrissa Gueye - but transfers in midfield need to follow
BRIGHTON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 24: Idrissa Gana Gueye and James Garner of Everton battle for possession with Danny Welbeck of Brighton & Hove Albion during the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Everton FC at the American Express Community Stadium on February 24, 2024 in Brighton, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Idrissa Gana Gueye and James Garner of Everton battle for possession with Danny Welbeck of Brighton & Hove Albion during the Premier League match at the American Express Community Stadium on February 24, 2024
(Image: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
The joy over Idrissa Gueye will be understandably widespread among Evertonians. As his new contract will be a huge relief.
A portion of that relief will be born out his talent as a footballer. Last season, Gueye set standards for the Blues at the age of 35 as a midfielder and as a burgeoning leader. The Senegal international remains Everton's most important outfield footballer.
The other portion will be logistical. There will be plenty among the club's new-look recruitment team who will take a deep breath, too, when the deal is finally done. Because Gueye's new contract means an unenviable and enormous potential job can be struck off the massive summer to-do list.
Everton's squad is in the middle of major surgery. Key players have gone, new faces are set to come in and those who remain will be desperate to impress David Moyes in these embryonic days of pre-season.
Without Gueye, the centre of midfield would have been the team's priority to fix. With him, that desperation is a little more dormant. But that doesn't mean it has disappeared.
If we're counting Carlos Alcaraz and Harrison Armstrong as attacking midfielders or wide options, then Everton currently only have three natural central midfielders in the squad.
Abdoulaye Doucoure was rarely used in that role in his latter days at the club but was capable of playing there, while Orel Mangala impressed before a devastating knee injury at Brighton. They have both gone, at the end of their contract and the end of their loan respectively.
James Garner stepped up to partner Gueye following Mangala's injury last season and performed well.
But perhaps more than anything it is Garner's durability that should be commended. After coming back into the team against Leicester City in February after a three-month layoff, he started all but one of the remaining games of the campaign.
That one game was Arsenal at home, when Moyes opted for Tim Iroegbunam. He was given 65 minutes before being replaced by Garner.
Iroegbunam has shown flashes of ability in his one year with the club, especially early on. Mixed in were moments of defensive naivety and 12 months on from his arrival it feels tough to pinpoint exactly what type of midfielder he is. At 22, the time is coming to start showing it.
Garner, by contrast, is a steady performer capable of doing a decent job in the Premier League. But alongside Gueye, who excels in the defensive aspects of the game, you would perhaps want a more expansive and incisive ball player. The 24-year-old finished the season with one assist and zero goals.
Both Garner and Iroegbunam have each had their injury issues at Everton, too. Both missed three-month spells last season, while the former was out for a similar timeframe in his first campaign at the club.
And then there is Gueye himself. While he is currently playing arguably as well as he ever has for the Blues, so often with players in their mid-30s the decline can come unexpectedly and sharply. Tim Howard, Sylvain Distin and Gareth Barry - to name but a few - seemed to go from capable veterans to players who needed to be carried in the blink of an eye.
Everton will naturally have all the data they need regarding Gueye's physical performance, but that decline is clearly something they are wary of. It's why there has been a haggling over the length of his new deal from both camps.
Gueye will also be taking part in the Africa Cup of Nations this season and could potentially miss seven Premier League games as a result. Garner and Iroegbunam, while they each have their merits, is not a partnership that would inspire too much confidence at the highest level.
All of this means the Blues cannot ignore central midfield as a priority position in this window. Be it in terms of depth, fitness and future-proofing.
So maybe don't scratch 'CM' off that transfer to-do list just yet. Even with their main man set to be secured.