After five sometimes-difficult years at Everton Football Club, midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure will not be returning next season as the club makes the move from Goodison Park to the new Hill Dickinson Stadium on Bramley Moore Dock.
Signed by Carlo Ancelotti in the summer of 2020 in the middle of lockdown, Doucoure primarily featured in the position behind the striker especially in later years. But in that half-decade, he saw the best and worst of Everton. From playing alongside James Rodriguez as Ancelotti lifted them to lofty heights playing magical football, to pressing high near the corner flag as Everton turned in dull and dreary performances in two consecutive relegation battles, we saw it all.
We even saw countless counter attacks break down as Doucs sometimes chose the wrong pass or wafted a poorly weighted ball to an open man, but we also saw the Mali international pop up with some truly key goals that lifted the club from depths of despair, including that volley in the last game of the season at Goodison to win against AFC Bournemouth and plunge Leicester City to relegation instead a couple of seasons ago.
In the 4-2-3-1 formation, the attacking midfielder in the middle that plays behind the striker is usually the creative force that drives the team. Through poor recruitment and no direct fault of his own, Doucoure got square-pegged into that round hole by manager after manager. And despite criticism of his ‘concrete boots’ and ‘lead feet’ that often led to misplaced passes or play breaking down when the ball got to him, he manfully plowed on in his lonely furrow upfront, harassing goalies and defenders alike and causing turnovers in dangerous areas. He even managed to knock down the great England striker Harry Kane by simply flicking an eyelash off his cheek!
For Everton to truly progress as a modern football team that will not just play for draws and snatch wins where they can get them, they will need to get more out of the #10 position that Doucs occupied. As one of the highest-paid players on the team, and at 32 years of age, it was unlikely that any contract extensions that the Blues tabled would be on the same financial terms, and so it proved. While in the emotional farewell message he posted on social media just indicated that his time on Merseyside was done, the club released a statement about his departure in which they said he had been offered a new contract without going into more details.
There will be mass turnover at the club with nearly a dozen players out of contract or having loan terms ending. It would have been good to keep his experience on as a whole host of new faces will walk through the doors of Finch Farm this summer, but we can expect this new era under The Friedkin Group to marked by financial prudence, which definitely includes not overpaying for older players.
When Doucs was substituted off late in the 2-0 win over Southampton on Sunday to mark Goodison Park’s final game, the player was in tears as he went off the pitch. A number of his teammates went over to hug him and it was clear that this was indeed his farewell.
Everton FC v Southampton FC - Premier League Photo by Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images
If that was his last game for the Blues, then he leaves having featured 165 times for the Toffees in all competitions, scoring 21 times with 14 assists. 70 of those games in central midfield, with 49 further forward as an attacking midfielder.
Doucoure’s two best campaigns were the ‘22-’23 and ‘23-’24 seasons when he logged five and seven goals respectively, and none more important than the one against the Cherries to preserve Premier League status. There are more goals though, and some came at very important junctures too - his brace away at Brighton got us to the point where we weren’t already dead in the water in that Bournemouth game, a goal and an assist to win a point away at Chelsea, assisting the winner against Brentford and another goal to snatch a draw at Nottingham Forest.
The question most often asked about Doucoure at Everton is if he made the team better when he featured, and that brings us to a remarkable stat about the games he laced his boots on for the Blues.
In the 148 games when Doucs has been on the pitch, Everton have won 55, drawn 34 and lost 59 games, for a total of 199 points, which works out to 1.34 per game. When the Blues have been without him, for 41 games, they have only won 4 of those, with 16 draws and 21 losses. That adds up to 28 points, a measly 0.68 per game.
Since Abdoulaye Doucoure signed in 2020...
Everton with Doucoure are:
Played 148
Wins 55
Draws 34
Defeats 59
Points 199, 1.34 per game
Everton without Doucoure are:
Games 41
Wins 4
Draws 16
Defeats 21
Points 28, 0.68 per game https://t.co/NIgQrg0QxQ
— Michael (@greenallefc) May 20, 2025
Granted those stats are dependent on manager, squad strength and opponent, but when you look at a large sample size of that nature, you have to see that Doucoure’s tireless running and indefatigable energy made a big difference to Everton’s playing style.
His larger-than-life personality and boundless joy whenever he played for the Blues will be sorely missed as we wish the player all the very best in his future.