Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has been included in a shortlist of players considered among the best signings of the season in the Premier League
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall celebrates scoring the Everton's second goal during the Premier League football match with Burnley at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall celebrates scoring the Everton's second goal during the Premier League football match with Burnley at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images
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Everton's Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has been highlighted as one of the best signings of the season by the Premier League.
The 27-year-old has provided six goals and five assists in a stand-out first campaign since his summer move from Chelsea. The midfielder has achieved those numbers despite missing six league matches with a hamstring injury - and a further game due to a controversial suspension early in the campaign.
With the season approaching a dramatic run-in, the Premier League is now asking for supporters to vote for the best signing so far, with Dewsbury-Hall making the 15-man shortlist.
The England hopeful has enjoyed an impressive start to life on Merseyside, quickly becoming a fan favourite. His six goals have included a stunning strike in the win at Wolves and a sublime touch and finish at home to Newcastle United.
Since recovering from the hamstring injury that ruined his Christmas and new year, he has stepped into the void created by the injury to Jack Grealish and proved instrumental in big results including the away win at Fulham and the victory over Burnley on Tuesday night - scoring in both of those games.
Those goals mean Dewsbury-Hall, who won the Europa Conference League and Club World Cup in his season at Stamford Bridge, could still reach the 10-goal target he told David Moyes was his ambition when he joined in a £28m deal.
It has been some season for a player who was the subject of a bizarre one-game ban for picking up five yellow cards in the opening weeks of the season - including an extraordinary yellow card simply for taking a quick free-kick at Liverpool.
Moyes was convinced Dewsbury-Hall would help the team progress and his instincts have been vindicated. After the win at Newcastle United, the Blues boss suggested his performance levels were close to putting him in contention for an England call-up.
He said: “I don't think he needs to go too far [to get in to the squad], I think with better players [around him] he'll be a better player. I think we've lost a little bit of the connection with him and Jack Grealish. I think they have a really good understanding of how to work together and how they can receive the ball and play to each other. That was a big part of our first four months.
“And then Kiernan getting injured… by all accounts he's not a boy who's had loads of injuries and I think it took him back a wee bit that he picked up an injury and he was a bit upset because when he got that he was probably on the verge of being our top goalscorer.”
Those efforts against Fulham and Burnley have moved him level with Thierno Barry as the club’s joint top goalscorer and once again underlined his importance to the team.
Moyes believes Dewsbury-Hall finally returned to full match fitness last week and said that progress was crucial to the back-to-back wins that have left Everton well positioned for a tilt at Europe.
The former Leicester City's man campaign, which also included the winning goal in a milestone win for the Blues at Manchester United, has captured attention elsewhere - and not just from the Premier League, which named him alongside the likes of Bryan Mbuemo, Rayan Cherki and Bryan Mbuemo in their shortlist.
After the midweek win over Burnley, former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock, assessing Everton’s hopes of qualifying for Europe, told BBC Sport’s Football Daily podcast: “Dewsbury-Hall got a goal against Burnley. I think he has been arguably one of the signings of the summer. You need workhorses in the midfield who also provide quality and get you goals.
“They just have a sprinkling of game-changers with Iliman Ndiaye and players like that but they also have a strong backbone and goalkeeper as well. They have got the ingredients to get over the line.
“The big thing is turning their home form into more victories and not rely so much on their away form. If they do that I think they could sneak in.”