Everton: Investing faith in James McCarthy works either way
Everton reportedly withdrew their bid for Moussa Sissoko out of loyalty to James McCarthy. True or not, McCarthy can use it.
James McCarthy just wasn’t himself last year for Everton. He didn’t look motivated and, like many of his team mates at Everton (and the team as a whole), the mantra of not living up to expectations weighed heavily on their shoulders.
However, with the change in management came a change in philosophy and a brand new dosage of hope. This new brand that Koeman has brought is aimed at maximizing the incredibly raw resources that Everton already possess. Namely Ross Barkley.
But there are other resources that were underused last year too. James McCarthy was one of them.
Clearly lacking in the passion department (who wasn’t?), the defensive midfielder has now had the full faith of the club invested back into him, supposedly. According to Everton owner Farhad Moshiri, the Toffees withdrew from their bid to land Moussa Sissoko because they preferred their own man McCarthy.
“We don’t turn our backs on our own. Keeping James McCarthy was a priority and ultimately we could not proceed with a deal that would jeopardize his place at Everton,” Moshiri said in a statement, as quoted by Sky Sports.
Some, including my co-editor here, do not buy into the statement and claim that it was just a PR stunt. That may be true, it seems very likely. But whatever the case, it can still have an effect on McCarthy.
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Last year, McCarthy probably wouldn’t have given a single, solitary hoot if he was sold off in the summer. You can love the club, but when that club continuously shows that they can’t perform as well as they should, even that love you feel can deaden a bit and McCarthy embodied that.
Everton is off to a great start to the year, winning two and drawing one despite having three different formations. They will likely revert back to the 4-2-3-1 that they used in their last match against Stoke, with a center back pairing of Ashley Williams and Phil Jagielka (that in and of itself is fearsome).
It’s in the two holding roles that McCarthy needs to make his claim. Gareth Barry was supposed to be the odd man out with the shrewd purchase of Idrissa Gueye, but McCarthy’s continual lackluster performances have forced him out of the starting XI.
It may have been nothing more than a publicity stunt or it may have been the truth. Whatever the case, the ball is in McCarthy’s court. He needs to repay the faith that Everton is investing in him, fabricated or not.
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