What’s new?
At £4m, Muhamed Besic comes in as a low-budget, high-potential signing to ‘bolster’ midfield and defence. Flying wide-forward Gerard Deulofeu returns to Barcelona to be replaced by another loan – Chelsea’s Christian Atsu who played at Vitesse last year. Moves for last year’s loanees Gareth Barry and Romelu Lukaku have been made permanent. Everton has splurged about £30m (the majority of the budget) to keep hold of players already embedded in the side.
How did Everton line up last season?
The graphic below shows the main first XI and passing networks. The bigger the circle, the more touches the player had. The thicker the arrows, the more passes in that direction. For scale purposes, it’s all per 90 mins:
It’s pretty clear how Barry became the hub of the side last season and why Martinez sought to make the move permanent. The player wasn’t short of offers it seems, which is presumably why Everton had to suck up a 3-year deal to secure the 33 year-old.
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