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Everton owner Farhad Moshiri is reportedly keen to make a statement signing this summer, and he has Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa in his sights.
According to the Daily Mail, he has ordered the club to look into the feasibility of signing Costa.
And you can certainly see why Moshiri would want to bring the Spain international to Goodison Park.
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The 30-year-old has 10 goals in 24 appearances for his country, and has 174 goals in 437 career games in total.
Costa is also a two-time Premier League champion, whilst also winning La Liga, the League Cup, the Europa League and the Copa del Rey. When collating his achievements together it is difficult to dispute the former Chelsea goal machines’s pedigree.
However, his form dwindled last season and tangible signs that he is past his best are beginning to emerge.
Given his notable decline and the steady progress being made by Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Moshiri might be wise to cool his interest in signing a player based purely on the basis of his reputation.
The England Under-21 star is eight years younger than Costa, and enjoyed an impressive 2018/19 campaign last term in which he emerged as Marco Silva’s first-choice striker, albeit arguably by virtue of a dearth of alternative options.
The 6 foot 2 forward scored three times the amount of goals that Costa did last season, though he did play 19 more games than the Spaniard.
It’s worth noting that Costa was banned for eight games after insulting an official and that prolonged absence seemed to disrupt his rhythm last season.
Everton tend to play with a lone striker, meaning that hold-up play is paramount to the success of the attacking unit and, arguably, it needs to be their main focus.
Having a good first touch, being a dominant presence in the air and shielding the ball are qualities that define any good hold-up player, and statistics from last season suggest that the Sheffield United academy graduate is better than Costa in that regard.
Calvert-Lewin won 3.2 aerial duels per game last term, compared to the Spaniard’s weak 0.8, whilst the former was also dispossessed just 1.2 times per game in comparison to Costa’s average of 1.6.
Additionally, the former Sheffield United man bettered Costa in the ‘unsuccessful touches’ department – Calvert-Lewin’s touch let him down just 1.9 times on average, whereas the Atletico Madrid forward had a poor touch 2.5 times per game.
Marcel Brands has outlined the intention to bring young players into the club, and Calvert-Lewin fits well into that profile as a player who boasts a potentially lucrative future sell-on value and huge scope for improvement under Silva.
In Costa’s case, his struggle last season suggests that he could be on the decline and that’s a factor that simply cannot be overlooked for the sake of a making vanity statement signing. Just because Costa is a household name in the Premier League does not suggest his return will induce further improvement from the Toffees next season.
The statistical evidence is there to suggest Everton should stand by Calvert-Lewin instead of replacing him with Costa this summer.
Take note, Moshiri.