Kevin Campbell has been on the latest episode of Royal Blue: The Everton FC Podcast discussing former midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye.
Campbell discussed many Everton-related topics but spent a little bit of time on the Senegal international.
Here is what he said on the current PSG man when asked by Adam Jones if Everton miss Gueye.
“I think defensively especially, his energy was infectious; putting tackles in, making contact with opposition players.
“That is underrated and you only really realise it when you lose it, and when it’s gone out your team and then you start seeing more passive performances, it’s not on.”
It seems as if Campbell believes that the Toffees are missing the influence of Gueye on their team.
Do Everton miss Gueye?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
Gueye joined the Toffees in 2016 and went on to make 108 appearances for Everton before departing for PSG last summer for £27m, where he has won the Ligue 1 title in his first season.
However, we can see what Campbell means because this season, Gueye had averaged 3.3 tackles and 1.7 interceptions per game in Ligue 1.
Compare this with Morgan Schneiderlin – Everton’s best-performing midfielder for tackles (2.1) and interceptions (1.4) – and it is clear that Gueye has outperformed him.
So, it is understandable why Campbell feels the Toffees are missing Gueye.
To replace him, the Toffees brought in Jean-Philippe Gbamin, but he has had a horrid time with injuries and has only made two appearances all season.
It will be interesting to see if the Toffees try to sign someone else like Gueye in the summer or wait for Gbamin to return from injury and hope he can contribute at some point next season.