Everton battle Arsenal for Serie A midfielder

Everton has been linked with central midfielder Jakub Jankto of Udinese. Jankto is 21 years old and made 29 appearances in Serie A last term. The midfielder is also linked to the likes of Juventus and Arsenal. The natural fit positionally for Jankto is as a backup to Davy Klaassen, which could theoretically spell bad news for hometown hero Tom Davies.

via FussballRadars

This radar is an example of how this format can be misleading if you are not careful. The dribbled past and foul numbers look outstanding, and in some ways they are the real eye catching part of this radar, but there are two ways to not get dribbled past and not foul... one is by being a really great defender, and the other is by not defending at all. With Jankto we heavily suspect the latter.

The player is valued at €8m by Transfermarkt, but if he is being seriously considered by some of the large clubs named he could very well run more expensive than that.

Looking at this player statistically, his key passes come from a nice blend of set piece and open play, though if he is a reserve one wonders if he would get the opportunity to use his set piece ability. His dribbling is quite sub par, and his pass accuracy from open play is somewhat average.

If we signed him, Tom Davies’ role in the club would change. Instead of primarily backing up Klaassen, Davies’ role would likely shift to backing up Idrissa Gueye. All in all, it is likely to be a net loss on minutes for the Merseyside youngster.

Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

This story has not yet found its way to the strongest of sources and any complication to the development of Davies is less than desirable. All in all, Jankto is not someone I would expect to see in blue this season, and it’s probably all for the best.