Everton have been linked with a potential summer transfer move for Koni De Winter of Genoa
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Koni De Winter of Genoa
Koni De Winter of Genoa
Everton have been linked with a move for Koni De Winter but what might the Genoa player potentially bring to David Moyes’ side? An article by TEAMtalk claims the Blues have joined the list of clubs chasing the £21million-rated defender alongside Premier League rivals Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers plus Internazionale plus several Bundesliga sides.
The report adds that De Winter is considered a possible replacement for Jarrad Branthwaite were he to leave – though they understand Everton could make a move for the 22-year-old regardless – and they’ve been informed that scouts are following him closely as he is considered a ‘strong candidate’ to reinforce their defence. Born in Antwerp to a Belgian father and Congolese mother, De Winter played youth football in his homeland with Lierse SK and Zulte Waregem before joining Juventus as a 16-year-old in 2018.
Curiously, he was the first player from Belgium to sign for the 36-times Scudetto winners, but he only ever made a brace of senior appearances for Juve, in Champions League matches, and spent the bulk of the 2021/22 season turning out for their Under-23s side in Serie C. De Winter stepped up to the Italian top flight in the following two campaigns with loan spells at first Empoli and then Genoa, completing a permanent switch to the latter last summer.
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Although he missed a couple of months’ worth of action between October and December due to a hamstring injury, the 6ft 3in player, who is primarily a centre-back but can also operate at full-back on either side or even as a defensive midfielder, has made 17 appearances for Genoa so far this term. Capped twice by Belgium, Comparisonator’s Similarity tool calculates De Winter as only having a 57% match in terms of style to Branthwaite but in terms of other Premier League performers, he scores 95% with £80million man Harry Maguire of Manchester United; 94% with Jannik Vestergaard of Leicester City and 93% with Dean Huijsen of Bournemouth.
Comparisonator’s Virtual Transfer tool also enables us to correlate De Winter’s statistics in Serie A this season against players competing in his position in the English top flight. He seems to relish one-on-one battles and not only does he contest more (19.2 per 90 minutes), ahead of Premier League leader Marcos Senesi of Bournemouth (19.18), his figure of 11.73 also tops Senesi (11.45) for duels won.
Koni De Winter's duels won statistics for this season compared to Premier League players in his position
Koni De Winter's duels won statistics for this season compared to Premier League players in his position
Only Ben Davies of Tottenham Hotspur (6.56) has contested more aerial duels than De Winter’s 6.33, while just Dara O’Shea of Ipswich Town (3.81) can top his average of 3.73 aerial duels won. With Moyes having called for more goals from all areas of the pitch – including his centre-backs – it’s worth noting that De Winter, who has netted three times this season, has more shots on target (0.47 per 90 minutes) than any Premier League player in his position with the category led by Cristian Romero of Tottenham Hotspur on 0.36.
His 11.87 ball recoveries per 90 minutes would place him seventh in the Premier League behind leader Nathan Collins of Brentford on 13.14, while his 2.93 picking-ups (of loose balls) would place him ninth in a section topped by Jan Bednarek of Southampton (3.43).
De Winter’s age and profile seem to make him an attractive-looking prospect but while Michael Keane is set to depart Everton this summer, if Branthwaite was to stay, with James Tarkowski, who hasn’t missed a Premier League game in almost three years since signing for the Blues also on the books, alongside another natural centre-back Jake O’Brien – currently getting a game at right-back – he might find himself facing a battle for minutes in his preferred role.
*Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising over 100 different parameters. Click here for more details.