OPINION
Despite putting in a man-of-the-match performance in a pre-season friendly against Lille, Everton midfielder Muhamed Besic must be sold.
As reported by the Liverpool Echo, Besic was outstanding in a goalless draw against French side Lille on Saturday and was even named man-of-the-match by the newspaper.
The Merseyside publication also claim that new Toffees manager Marco Silva will look to sell a number of players this week and have already had enquiries from interested clubs for the Bosnian midfielder.
Despite his undoubtedly brilliant performance, the 25-year-old still must be sold as the club have too many options in his position.
The defensive midfielder is great at what he does – he harries, presses and intercepts in order to stop the opposition playing. It’s a crucial role in any team and Besic does this particularly well.
However, the Merseyside club already have a number of players who can do this role and the club simply cannot afford to keep all of them in the same squad, as not all of them will be able to feature.
First, there’s Morgan Schneiderlin, who was a £20million big-money buy from Manchester United last summer.
Although he did not exactly have a good campaign last time out, not many Everton players did, and he will surely improve under new boss Silva, as he protects the back-four really well and is a good option in defensive midfield.
There’s also Idrissa Gueye, who’s a similar player to Schneiderlin but has a lot more energy and is able to press a lot harder up the pitch than his French teammate.
Finally, there’s the highly-rated 19-year-old Beni Baningime, who has already made eight first-team appearances and looks like he could become an important player at Goodison Park for years to come.
There is no way that Besic will be able to usurp Schneiderlin or Gueye and if he stays at the club anyway, he will block any hope that Baningime has of getting in the first-team.
It might sound harsh, but Everton can’t afford to be sentimental this summer – he simply has to go.