Everton have been linked with a potential transfer move for Southampton's FA Cup hero Shea Charles whose goal knocked out Arsenal
liverpoolecho
Everton have been linked with a move for Shea Charles. But what could Southampton’s FA Cup hero potentially bring to the Blues?
Introduced to the action as a substitute just nine minutes earlier, Charles netted the Saints’ winner five minutes from the end in their shock 2-1 quarter-final victory over Premier League leaders Arsenal on Saturday night to set-up a Wembley showdown against Manchester City later this month.
The 22-year-old was then rewarded with a place in Tonda Eckert’s starting line-up for Tuesday’s Championship trip to the Racecourse Ground and set up the final goal for Finn Azaz as Southampton thrashed fellow play-off contenders Wrexham 5-1.
A report in the Daily Mail claims Everton and Manchester United, along with two other unnamed Premier League sides and an Italian outfit, are among the clubs that are scouting the £20million-rated Mancunian player, who started his career at the Red Devils’ local rivals Manchester City.
The article states that Charles was signed by Southampton from City for an initial £11million in 2023 when United’s Jason Wilcox was director of football at the Hampshire outfit, while the piece adds that “Everton are scouring for midfielders to bolster their squad with Idrissa Gueye now 35 and in the last throes of his contract.”
Well, just for clarity, the Senegal international is actually 36 and has been so since last September. While his current one-year deal expires on June 30, there is an option for a further year.
Despite his North West roots, Charles represents Northern Ireland through his mother, alongside his younger brother, highly rated goalkeeper Pierce, 20, of Sheffield Wednesday. The siblings have been capped 32 and 10 times respectively.
So, just what sort of player is Charles? In terms of similarity, Comparisonator reckons that Burnley’s Josh Laurent is the only current Premier League star to be close in style and he only scores a 55% match.
It’s also curious that he offers a different kind of profile to Gueye, who Comparisonator calculate as scoring 6.4 out of 10 as a ball-winning midfielder; 5.4 as a holding midfielder and 4.1 as a regista.
In contrast, Charles scores 8 out of 10 as a regista (a deep-lying playmaker responsible for building the attack from the base of midfield.
Unlike the anchor man, the regista contributes primarily through creative and progressive passing from deep positions, with minimal defensive involvement. Charles is rated at 5.3 as a holding midfielder and 5 as a ball-winning midfielder.
We can also use Comparisonator’s Me2Others tool to look at the attributes of Charles and Gueye head-to-head.
Given that Charles is over 14 years Gueye’s junior, it’s perhaps of no surprise that on a per 90 minutes average, he is covering 14% more ground (10.866km to 9.495km) and he also hits a faster maximum speed of 34.27km/h to 33.29km/h.
Shea Charles' heat map this season for Southampton compared to Idrissa Gueye's heat map playing for Everton
Shea Charles' heat map this season for Southampton compared to Idrissa Gueye's heat map playing for Everton
View Image
However, Gueye does have a higher sprint count (runs of over 25km/h) per 90 minutes with an average of 14.05 to Charles’ 12.86. He also edges him out for sprinting distance (amount of ground covered at over 25km/h) with a score of 182m to 181m.
Both players have found the net four times apiece so far this season but with Charles having an expected goals (xG) figure of 0.04 and Gueye 0.06, neither look to be major threats in that department, despite the former’s FA Cup heroics last weekend.
Charles scores 0.11 for assists per 90 minutes and Gueye comes in at 0.09.
The Everton man shoots more (1.17 to 0.74) but the Southampton player gets more efforts on target (0.32 to 0.27). Charles produces more dribbles (1.38 to 0.94) and successful dribbles (0.64 to 0.58), but Gueye carries out more progressive runs (1.3 to 0.96).
Defensively, it’s also a mixed bag with Gueye ahead for ball recoveries (9.97 to 8.81) but Charles making more interceptions (4.25 to 3.59) and clearances (1.8 to 0.58). As suggested earlier when it came to playing style, Charles’ game is more about his distribution.
Even though he’s competing in the more helter skelter environment of the Championship than the Premier League, Charles produces more passes per 90 minutes (46.7 to 43.09); more successful passes (40.44 to 37.66) and key passes (0.53 to 0.22) than Gueye. He also competes in 42% more duels (16.45 to 11.58) than Gueye but wins just 7.8% more (7.64 to 7.09).
Overall, Charles, who stands at a statuesque 6ft 2in, some seven inches taller than Gueye, ticks a lot of the boxes that Moyes likes in terms of his age profile and athleticism.
As he showed during his first spell as Blues boss, the Glaswegian gaffer is willing to take a punt on rough diamonds from the second tier who he can polish up into Premier League performers, such as Tim Cahill and Joleon Lescott, while he repeated the trick at West Ham United with Jarrod Bowen.
Charles’ schooling at Manchester City also makes him a technically proficient player, but having spent last season on loan at Hillsborough, turning out alongside his brother, he’s not always been a regular at St Mary’s and is perhaps enjoying ‘flavour of the month’ status right now.
Everton will have to do due diligence on this prospect as the jury remains out on their last purchase from Southampton, Tyler Dibling, who has so far flattered to deceive at Hill Dickinson Stadium despite commanding a £35million price tag last August which ensured he was Moyes’ most-expensive recruit of the summer.
*Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising an industry leading 378 different parameters. Click here for more details.