Everton journalist Dave Prentice has expressed his concern over the recent form of Mason Holgate following the club’s defeat to Sheffield United.
The 24-year-old defender, valued at £16.20m by Transfermarkt, didn’t have the best of performances against the Blades, scoring just 5.8 on WhoScored before being dragged off at half-time to be replaced by Gylfi Sigurdsson, although it was slightly better than his display against Aston Villa where he only scored a 5.1.
And speaking on the Royal Blue podcast, Prentice spoke about his recent performances and says that if he doesn’t buck his idea up soon, that he might find himself out of the team moving forward:
(32:03) “I mean, Mason Holgate was hauled off at half time yesterday, and you know, that you could see coming a mile off because he’d had a very, very poor performance. And it worries me, how sloppy, how lethargic he looks on occasions.
“Was it Villa, where he gave the goal away with the back pass? He did it again yesterday, very nearly with another awful back pass and he just seems to be switching off too frequently.
(34:24) “Mason Holgate will find that if he continues to make mistakes, you know, he’ll be getting hauled off more frequently, and he won’t be playing sort of more regularly.”
Does Mason Holgate have a big future with Everton?
No, he's not that good
Yes, he's a class player
TIF Thoughts on Dave Prentice’s comments about Mason Holgate
Prentice is right to say that Holgate’s form could find him out of the team, and you could make the argument that these lapses in form are coming at the worst time, at the end of the season with the transfer window around the corner.
Bad performances at this time of the year might just put a few seeds of doubt into the mind of Carlo Ancelotti that he might want to think about replacing him in the summer.
So whilst Prentice says Holgate won’t be playing regularly, he might end up not playing at all next season if Ancelotti decides to bring in someone else at the back.
In other news: “He’s struggled” – Exclusive: Ex-Toffees star drops honest verdict on £50k-p/w Everton man