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Mills suggests Davies should leave Everton

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Sky Sports pundit Danny Mills has suggested that midfielder Tom Davies should look to quit Everton amid his lack of game-time at Goodison Park.

Davies, 21, has not played since his 11-minute appearance off the bench against Crystal Palace on the opening day of the season and was completely left out of Marco Silva’s matchday squads against Lincoln and Wolves before the international break.

Ex-England international Mills has been impressed by what he has seen from Davies when he has played and clearly sees the midfielder with someone who has the potential to improve.

However he does not believe the England Under-21 international is going to benefit from sitting on the fringes of Marco Silva’s first-team squad and has suggested a move away from Merseyside could be a sensible option.

“It’s been difficult for him, he hasn’t had much game time, he’s been in and out. He’s clearly a very good, young player and the most important thing is finding that consistency and playing week in, week out,” Mills told Football Insider.

“He’s still relatively young, he’s got enough experience – maybe he just needs to be somewhere different. Sometimes homegrown players need something fresh, something new. Maybe he needs that move to get himself away and get a bit of consistent football.

“Get that self-belief, that confidence that he’s going to start week in, week out.”

TIF Tactics

Davies started six of Everton’s first eight Premier League matches last season but as soon as Andre Gomes recovered from injury, the English central-midfielder lost his spot in the starting line-up and was an unused substitute in the next eight matches.

Gomes replaced Davies and based on stats by WhoScored, Marco Silva’s decision on the two midfielders was probably justified.

Gomes averaged more passes and long balls per Premier League appearance than Davies last season while the former Barcelona midfielder also completed 84.8 per cent of his passes compared to Davies’ 80 per cent.

However when comparing the defensive contribution of the two players, Davies was perhaps the more solid midfielder.

Davies averaged more tackles and interceptions per league outing compared to Gomes while the 21-year-old Englishman also conceded fewer fouls and was dribbled past on fewer occasions than the man who replaced him in Silva’s starting line-up.

In the six games when Davies was in the starting line-up and Gomes was injured, Everton conceded seven goals while in the six games after Gomes replaced Davies, Everton conceded five goals.

Davies’ defensive contribution may have been better but overall the team simply played better with Gomes in the side.

Everton won 1.1 points per match when Davies started yet they won 1.4 points per match when Gomes started.

What next for Davies?

Davies cannot go anywhere until the transfer window re-opens on January 1 so up until that point, the midfielder is going to have to get his head down and work hard on trying to force his way back into Silva’s plans.

It may be too difficult for him to replace Gomes in Silva’s starting line-up in the Premier League so the best that he can hope for right now is to aim to start in the Carabao Cup clash against Sheffield Wednesday on September 24.

If Davies can impress in that match then he may give Silva some food for thought but if not, then a move away from Merseyside, as Mills suggests, could be what the midfielder needs to do for the good of his career.

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