Speaking on the Royal Blue podcast, David Prentice has heaped a whole load of praise on Abdoulaye Doucoure.
The former Watford midfielder was a Carlo Ancelotti signing last summer, arriving for a reported £20 million, and featured 29 times in the league with an injury halting his campaign but according to Prentice, he’s hit the ground running this time out.
Is Doucoure Everton's best midfielder?
Yes!
No!
Doucoure has featured in every league game this season under Rafa Benitez with the midfielder clearly being an influential figure carrying the ball the most amount of times and for the furthest amount of yards (FBRef), so it seems like he is putting the team on his back and getting them up the pitch, on top of that he also has three assists in the league this season (via Transfermarkt).
Prentice spoke highly about Doucoure’s performances this season so far (2:16):
“Doucoure, who you know, has been a revelation under Rafa Benitez already, a good signing anyway but seems to be playing a very, very different role, just underlined again what he’s got in his armoury.
“So we know he can tackle, we know he can cover ground, we know he can break things up, he can score goals now we’ve witnessed and he can also create.”
TIF Thoughts on Doucoure at Everton…
At Goodison Park, there are a lot of central midfielders fighting for a starting spot, but it appears that Allan and Doucoure are the preferred starting pair for Benitez, having played every minute of every league game so far, but the Toffees did manage to flex their strength in depth when Andre Gomes came on as a substitute against Burnley and almost got on the scoresheet.
His energy is something that appears to be powering the midfield engine room alongside Allan with the two of them occupying the number one and two spots in terms of pressing the opposition and successful presses with both of them dominating the defensive third and midfield battle (FBRef).