OPINION
Everton should attempt to sign Brighton centre-back Lewis Dunk this summer after Kevin Kilbane suggested him as a potential addition to Marco Silva’s defence.
Dunk, 27, has played a key role in helping Brighton remain in the top-flight over the last two seasons and after an inconsistent campaign by Silva’s back-line, the 6ft 4 [transfermarkt] colossus would be a very clever addition.
BBC Sport pundit Kilbane took to his personal Twitter account to reveal how much he would want to see Dunk head to Merseyside before the start of next season.
“Would love him at the Toffees,” Kilbane said in response to a tweet suggesting Dunk as a summer signing for Everton.
Would love him at the toffees! ? https://t.co/rYHbR3jVUX
— Kevin Kilbane (@kdkilbane77) June 7, 2019
Dunk has been one of the best centre-backs outside of the Premier League’s top-six in the last couple of seasons.
He made 38 appearances across all competitions last season for the south coast club, scoring two goals in the process – one of which came against Everton in November.
According to stats by WhoScored, Dunk had a fairly similar season to Everton’s Michael Keane.
They both averaged 1.2 tackles and 1.3 interceptions in each of their Premier League appearances, but it is worth noting that one was playing for a team fighting for survival down the bottom of the table while the other was comfortably mid-table.
Dunk is also a good passer of the ball for a centre-back at a relegation-threatened club.
Despite Brigthon’s woes and the perceived ‘boring’ style of play that was enforced by former manager Chris Hughton, Dunk completed 82.8 per cent of his passes, which is better than Keane’s 80.8 per cent.
Dunk is also imperious in the air.
He won, on average, 3.3 of his aerial duels in the Premier League, which is better than every player at Goodison Park, except for Keane.
Now that Kurt Zouma has returned to Chelsea after the end of his loan spell, it would be a quality piece of business by Silva and Marcel Brands for them to sign Dunk and partner him with Keane in the heart of the Toffees defence.
It may cost quite a bit to sign Dunk, who still has another four years left remaining on his £45,000-a-week [Spotrac] contract, but if Everton want to improve next season, they need to sort out their defence.
Kilbane will be hoping that his dream becomes a reality by the time next season kicks off, and so should every Everton fan.