Everton renew interest in Sevilla midfielder

Everton’s pursuit of wantaway Sevilla midfielder Steven N’Zonzi both makes total sense and yet no sense at all. Nevertheless, Simon Jones at the Mail reports the Toffees will persist with their interest in the Frenchman:

Everton will look to make headway on their proposed £25million move for Steven Nzonzi over the next 48 hours.

Manager Sam Allardyce and director of football Steve Walsh are pushing to get business done early in January with Everton's squad stretched with injury and illness.

On the one hand, the Frenchman has played for Sam Allardyce before - at Blackburn Rovers - and Everton are a little light on central midfielders. The Davy Klaassen...situation, Tom Davies’ regression, and the injuries to Ross Barkley and James McCarthy have hurt. There’s no doubt.

However, Steven N’Zonzi is a near perfect facsimile for Morgan Schneiderlin, who is already on the Blues’ roster, and has his own capable backup in Beni Baningime. It’s certainly possible to use two players of very similar profiles simultaneously, but it does get a bit dodgy. Check out the shape of these two radars:

Eerie, right? N’Zonzi’s tackling numbers grade out better, but then, he doesn’t have Idrissa Gana Gueye doing work alongside him.

Steven N’Zonzi is a very good footballer. He’s better than James McCarthy and Muhamed Besic. It isn’t that this would be a bad transfer for Everton, necessarily, simply a confusing one. Maybe Big Sam thinks he can play left back.

Radars courtesy of StatsBomb’s Ted Knutson