Everton could snap up free transfer who shoots more than Cole Palmer

Sekou Koita has been linked with a potential move to Everton but what might he potentially bring to the Blues side?

Sport Witness cites Africafoot as reporting that Koita is heading towards Everton with a source close to the player telling them that Goodison Park chiefs have accepted all requests made by the player. The article adds that Koita’s transfer to the Blues is “almost complete”, and the two parties are “only waiting” to sort out a few details.

Koita, 24, who can operate as a striker or just off the front man as an attacking midfielder, is currently a free agent after his contract with Red Bull Salzburg expired. He netted seven goals in 19 games in the Austrian Bundesliga last season but although his overall tally with the club was 43 goals in 106 games plus 21 assists, he struggled with injuries and had issues with adductor pain and thigh problems during 2023/24.

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Like Everton’s Abdoulaye Doucoure, who operates in a similar area of the pitch, Koita has represented Mali at international level and has been capped 27 times by his country, scoring four goals for the west African nation. Playing youth football for his home town club USC Kita, he started off in Europe with Liefering, who play in the second tier in Austria and act as a reserve team for Red Bull, while also having a loan spell at Wolfsberger in 2018/19.

On February 18 2021, Koita, along with Mohamed Camara, his team-mate for both club and country, was suspended for three months of all club and international football activities by UEFA, following a doping investigation in which he tested positive. The pair were prescribed medicine to combat altitude sickness that contained a substance on the banned list.

In its verdict, UEFA ruled that in this case there was no intentional violation of doping rules, but the rules stipulate that every player is personally responsible for ensuring that no banned substances enter their body.

Comparisonator’s Virtual Transfer tool allows us to correlate Koita’s statistics from last season against those already playing in his position in the Premier League and the numbers make for interesting reading. The A.I. Offensive Index scores Koita at 292, which would place him third in the English top flight behind Chelsea’s Cole Palmer (335) and Matheus Cunha (316) of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Although playing in a weaker division, Koita’s 1.09 goals per 90 minutes tops that of the Premier League leader in his position, the aforementioned Palamer on 0.82. He’d also be in first place for shots (4.15) ahead of Palmer on 2.71; playing in scoring attacks (1.75) ahead Palmer on 1.6; opportunities converted (1.09) ahead of Cunha on 0.61; and successful offensive actions (74%) ahead of Julian Alvarez of Manchester City on 72%.

Koita would be third for expected goals (xG) on 0.42, behind Palmer (0.58) and Cunha (0.43); fourth for shots on target (1.53) in a section topped by Cunha (1.64); fifth for successful dribbles (2.4), a section led by Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze (3.2), and eighth for assists (0.22) with Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White top on 0.39. One of Sean Dyche’s mantras is “the minimum requirement is maximum effort” so the Blues boss might be encouraged to see Koita scoring highly for off-the-ball aspects of his game too.

His 1.09 interceptions in the opposition half per 90 minutes would place him third in the Premier League behind Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher (1.51) and Cunha (1.13) while he’d also be third for clearances on 0.66 after West Ham United’s James Ward-Prowse (1.25) and Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes (1.07). Koita is also capable of picking out team-mates as his 67% score for successful crosses puts him ahead of Premier League leader Lucas Paqueta of West Ham United, and he also excels in one-on-one battles, with his 63% duel success rate above that of Ward-Prowse (52%) who is the best in his position in the English top flight.

While Everton director of football Kevin Thelwell has made it clear that a sustainable football model has to be built on astute trading in and out of the club, and free agents such as Koita offer potentially prudent moves, there will be potential question marks over the player’s fitness record and the level of competition he has been operating at. Ironically, the presence of fellow Mali man Doucoure would represent a potential obstacle to minutes, while the Blues have only just beefed up in that area by announcing the signing of Senegal international Iliman Ndiaye from Olympique Marseille on Wednesday.

*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.