OPINION
Theo Walcott should be sweating buckets over his future at Goodison Park after it was reported that Everton are in the hunt to sign Lyon attacker Bertrand Traore.
According to the Daily Mail, the Toffees are among a number of clubs interested in the £40million-rated Burkina Faso international this summer.
Traore, 23, is a right-sided winger who has had a great season in France, scoring 11 goals and supplying four assists in 46 appearances across all competitions, and Walcott, 30, should be very worried about losing his spot in Marco Silva’s plans ahead of next season because of the interest in the ex-Chelsea attacker.
Walcott has been one of the most disappointing players for Everton this season.
The former Arsenal winger scored just six goals and supplied two assists in 40 total appearances for the Toffees, which is clearly not as good as what Traore managed for Lyon.
According to WhoScored, Traore has a better pass success rate (82.7%) in Ligue 1 than Walcott managed in England’s Premier League (72.6%), which just shows that Lyon ace is a lot more creative than the frustrating Everton wide-man.
Traore also averaged more key passes per game at 0.8 compared to Walcott’s 0.6, and more shots at goal per game with an average of two compared to the than Walcott’s 1.2.
So not only is Traore more creative than Walcott, he is also a lot more deadlier at getting into the penalty area and that is what Everton have really lacked from their £100,000-a-week [Spotrac] winger this term.
Just the fact that Everton are looking at Traore is bad news for Walcott anyway because it suggests that Silva and director of football Marcel Brands are not at all happy with the options that they have on the right wing.
If any of Everton’s first team regulars are going to worry about their future at Goodison in the summer, it has to be Walcott.