Why Hamburg will prove Everton need Alistair Johnston deal ASAP despite Celtic price reveal

Everton can't sit on a move for Alistair Johnston any longer.

The 27-year-old is being strongly linked with a transfer to Hill Dickinson Stadium this summer.

Right-back is Everton's big problem position, and David Moyes knows he needs to come out of this summer's transfer window with that no longer being the case.

Since signing for Celtic in January 2023, Johnston has played 122 times for the Scottish giants, winning four Scottish Premiership titles, three Scottish Cups and two League Cups respectively.

Despite being touted with a Toffees switch, no concrete offer is understood to be on the table to bring the Canadian international to Merseyside.

Hamburg will prove why that needs to change when they take on Everton in a pre-season friendly on Saturday afternoon.

Why Hamburg's style of play will expose Everton's right-back weakness

Goodison News has covered Daily Record reporter Michael Gannon's claim that Celtic could want up to £25million for Johnston, with Everton said to value him at potentially half of that.

If this is indeed the case, then something will have to give if a deal is to be done, and that will surely have to come from Everton's side given Johnston has a contract in Glasgow through until the summer of 2029.

So far this pre-season, Merlin Rohl has been tasked with playing right-back, which shows how dire the situation is here given he's a winger by trade.

Should he indeed start there again on Saturday, then Hamburg could make it a very long night for him, and a revealing one in terms of the Toffees' need to get a deal done for Johnston.

Merlin Polzin sets his team up in an attacking system, exclusively deploying a back three with wing-backs, and often alternating between 3-4-3, 3-4-1-2, 3-1-4-2 and 3-5-2 formations.

As per FotMob, despite finishing 13th in the Bundesliga last season in their first campaign back at the level, their 4.6 shots on target per game was more than seventh-placed Freiburg and 10th-placed Mainz's 4.2 and better than 11th-placed Union Berlin's 3.9.

Indeed, Borussia Dortmund - who finished second in the Bundesliga last year - only registered 4.8 shots on target per game, which shows you how dangerous Hamburg are.

They also ranked seventh in the German top flight for accurate long balls per game with 23.9, and so Everton's defenders can expect to be doing plenty of backtracking on Saturday evening.

All of this adds up to show a Hamburg side who will give Everton's defence a real stern test on Saturday, and it just so happens that one of their prime threats will be matched up with the Toffees' right-back position.

Albert Gronbaek: The Hamburg star set to run Everton's right-back ragged

Hamburg will know that Everton's right-back spot is a part of the pitch they can exploit, and that task will likely be down to Albert Gronbaek.

The 25-year-old left winger, who now operates more at wing-back, joined Hamburg on an initial loan deal in January this year, before making his move permanent this summer.

From his seven Bundesliga appearances for them last term, the Denmark international scored once and provided two assists.

Per FotMob, he ranked in the top 4.9 percentile of players in his position in the Bundesliga last season for his 0.36 assists per 90 minutes average.

Meanwhile, he also placed in the leading 7.3 per cent for his 0.73 shots on target per game, and was amongst the top 12.2 per cent for averaging 0.36 big chances created per 90.

Gronbaek would also rank amongst the top-performing players in his position per 90 minutes for chances created (1.45), successful dribbles (0.91), duels won (60.9 per cent), interceptions (2.00) and tackles (2.73).

So, should he indeed start against Everton this weekend, expect him to feel highly confident of getting the better of Rohl, or indeed whoever Moyes deploys at right-back.

Everton can't afford to keep asking players who aren't right-backs by trade to play there, and so even if Johnston might cost more than they'd ideally like to pay, they've got the money to do so and quite simply have to get a transfer sorted.