As pre-season ignites, Everton face a dilemma upfront. Analyse Thierno Barry’s turbulent debut and Beto’s divisive output to determine if the Blues need fresh firepower.
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Pre-season is officially underway this week, and with the transfer rumour mill starting to spin, I thought I’d look at one of the more divisive positions in our current squad.
It’s of course the number nine spot, contested by Beto and Thierno Barry. It’s been a troublesome position for Everton in recent seasons, with debates always going on between fans about who is the best option to lead our frontline.
Whether it was Calvert Lewin and Beto, or Barry and Beto, these arguments always seemed to crop up.
In this article, I’ll give my opinion on how I think we should approach the situation regarding our strikers and look at some potential targets who have been linked in recent weeks.
Thierno Barry - a turbulent first year on Merseyside…
I think it’s a fair assessment to say that Barry’s first year at Everton was a rollercoaster.
The good moments were fantastic. That performance at Old Trafford leading the line and winning everything in the air, the winning goal at Newcastle and the consolidating goal at Nottingham Forest, not to mention his winner at Villa Park.
Some not-so-good moments included that Merseyside Derby cameo and the Arsenal incident, which didn’t help his cause.
To say it was turbulent is probably a good reflection in all honesty.
However, I personally do think there’s a player in there and I was a big fan of some of the glimpses I saw from Thierno Barry last season. I think it was always going to be tough for him to adapt to the Premier League straight away, but finishing the season with eight goals in your first year is a good return for me.
I remember speaking with a Spanish football expert on a podcast last year and he said that the move probably came a year too early for Barry, but he has all the hallmarks of being a Champions League striker. I kind of see his point, I think there were definitely good aspects of his performances, but of course a lot to learn too.
The biggest indicator of how Barry may shape up this season will be in pre-season, I think if he starts sharp and looks on it, we will have a real talent on our hands this season.
I’m not giving up on him yet, I think it’d be silly to do so. Let’s just see how he develops.
Beto - is he good enough?
It was a decent end to the season for Beto, he finished on 10 goals across all competitions for Everton, which I personally think is a good return.
There’s obviously massive question marks over his ability, and if he’s good enough to kick Everton on to the next level. I don’t think he fully suits the way we play, we certainly don’t play to his strengths and he’s not a target man who can hold up the ball easily.
You need to look at his contract situation too, he’s entering into the last year of his deal and he’s 29 in January, all things you need to consider when making a decision on his future.
What I will say, you’re never going to get more money than you would this summer. So if Everton were looking to cash in, now’s the time. I think you’d get a sizeable chunk of what you paid for him in 2023 back.
One thing you can say about Beto is, what he lacks in talent, he makes up for in his commitment and dedication to Everton, always gives 100% whenever he puts on that blue shirt, which goes a long way in the estimation of fans, mine included.
What’s next?
As I said earlier in this article, I’d stick with Thierno Barry for at least another season and see how he performs now he’s fully settled into the club and had a full pre-season.
I think Moyes needs to take him under his wing a little bit, develop him and see what he can become. I think he definitely has the ability to be a good player.
With Beto, it’s a bit of a sticky situation. I think you’re getting towards that make or break situation where a decision needs to be made on his future this summer.
If one striker were to go, for me it’d be Beto, I think he’s probably got more of a value right now to cash in on after hitting double figures for goals.
For me personally, I’d be content with seeing us lineup with both of them as our striking options next season. I think there’s bigger issues to address in the transfer window and I’d only make a switch if a serious opportunity presented itself.
Potential replacements
If we were to make that switch, I’ve been looking into some of the potential options who could come in as a replacement, who Everton have been linked with in recent weeks.
The first one is Liam Delap, and this is a hard no from me.
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
I think I saw figures in excess of an eye-watering £40million being spoken about for Delap, £10million more than Chelsea paid Ipswich for him last year, despite him coming off a worse campaign this time around.
I’ve seen some say that he’d be the perfect mould for Everton as he likes to get stuck in and throw himself about. Not sure that’d be the best idea, I just think he’d end up with more red cards than goals in an Everton shirt.
Christian Kofane is another name I’ve seen a lot of this week, not sure on how much is in those rumours.
He looks like he’d command a seriously high fee, and at 19 years of age, I think it’d be a big risk and would deplete our transfer budget heavily.
That being said, his stats are good. He scored 5 goals in just over 1200 mins of football, which isn’t a bad return at all. I’m just not fully sure it’d be the best move for Everton.
Daizen Maeda, Taty Castellanos, Ayase Ueda and Franculino Dju are all names that have been linked also, but none of them really convince me that we should be parting ways with a big sum of money, especially considering the other areas we need to strengthen.
Ultimately, I think sticking with what we’ve got is a sensible move this summer. It gives us an extra year to see how Barry develops, maybe with the return of Tyrique George, Barry might have more service to feed on.
As I said at the top, this is a topic which divides opinion, so I’m expecting some to disagree with me, which is absolutely fine, debate is what it’s all about! Let me know your thoughts in the comments about what you’d do with our striker situation this summer.
Thanks for reading!