Time for Dwight McNeil to start delivering top performances for Everton
Everton were extremely active in the recently concluded transfer window where they signed as many as eight first-team players.
Out of those, one arrived on a free transfer — James Tarkowski — whereas two arrived on loan deals with an option to make it permanent.
One of the big-money signings made by the Toffees was of winger Dwight McNeil who was the club’s second-most expensive arrival this summer after making a move from Burnley in a deal worth about £20 million plus add-ons [BBC Sport].
Time to show his worth
Before arriving at Goodison Park, there was a silent agreement across the footballing community that the former England U21 international is very talented but is still in his developing phase.
There was also a feeling that his growth as an attacking winger has been somewhat affected by playing in a team where the focus was to bring defensive solidity over the years and therefore, much was expected from his move to Everton.
However, a few months down the line and McNeil has still not been able to produce any kind of notable performance for the Merseyside club despite making seven appearances across all competitions, playing a total of 432 minutes which is roughly around 69% of the total minutes played by the club in the ongoing campaign [Transfermarkt].
In those matches, he averages just 0.7 key passes and one shot on goal per game which is not acceptable from someone who was signed to bring more attacking flair at the club that has suffered massively in the final third in the recent campaigns [Whoscored].
Therefore, it is about time McNeil start producing the kind of performances that were expected of him and give more options to Frank Lampard to choose from.