Everton may have plans to axe James Tarkowski already as Willian Pacho transfer news emerge
Everton could already be looking at long-term replacements for Goodison Park veteran James Tarkowski and Bayer Leverkusen’s Willian Pacho has emerged as a contender.
UK news outlet TEAMtalk reported on 18 October that the Toffees are tracking the progress of the extremely gifted Ecuadorian centre-back as they look to strengthen their centre-back options.
The publication also reported on its website that Premier League rivals Crystal Palace and West Ham are also showing an interest in the defender who only joined the Bundesliga outfit over the summer.
“A trio of English clubs are tracking Willian Pacho of Eintracht Frankfurt to see whether he lives up to the hype as one of the Bundesliga’s next breakout stars.
“At this early stage of his career in Germany it is understood Crystal Palace, Everton and West Ham have an eye on his big breakthrough.
“While Frankfurt will be in no mood to let Pacho leave soon, there is already talk that a player signed for £8million from Royal Antwerp holds a value closer to £35million.”
The Toffees are indeed strapped for quality in the centre-back department with Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite their only reliable and trusted pairing right now. Doubts remain over the qualities of Michael Keane and Ben Godfrey, who could both leave in the near future.
Everton certainly need to be planning ahead for the future in that department, and another young, fresh, exuberant and gifted profile will be high on their agenda and Pacho certainly fits the bill, despite only playing at the top level for a few months.
However, his defensive metrics already make him one of the best at what he does.
The first thing that many note when observing Pacho is his physicality. The player is physically imposing and very committed to his role at the back for his club. What’s really striking however is Pacho’s ability to use his physicality to make tackles and intercept opposition play without committing many fouls.
So far this season, the Ecuadorian has recorded just 0.9 fouls per game [SofaScore] marking him out as an incredibly clean defender, assured in dominating his opponents with ease and cutting edge. This is further backed up by his 1.9 interceptions, 2.9 tackles, 8.1 balls recovered, 3.8 clearances per game and successfully winning an impressive 76% of his ground duels.
He ranks seventh in the Bundesliga for tackles won, eighth for interceptions, tenth for dribbles tackled and fourth for total tackles [FBRef]. Within a matter of months, Pacho is already one of the best defenders in the Bundesliga and one of the best-emerging stars in Europe.
More crucially, left-footed defenders are a unique commodity in the game right now because of the angles of passing they provide teams when building and progressing the ball from the back, as shown already in Branthwaite.
Pacho fits in that category and there is no doubt that the 22-year-old will attract interest from elsewhere if he continues on this exciting trajectory.
For now, however, he is very much a Frankfurt player, with Pacho part of a very talented defence that boasts the best goals conceded record in the current Bundesliga season.
It remains to be seen whether the Toffees will firm up their interest in the near future but their plans are already clear, experienced head Tarkowski may not be a regular in the Everton fold for much longer.
In other Everton news, early team news has emerged ahead of Sunday’s must-win clash at West Ham with two stars “ruled out” and two others at 25% fitness.