Big Beto upgrade: Everton have already sold "the new Lukaku"
Everton blanked against Aston Villa at the weekend, but David Moyes must be pleased with his side’s start to the 2025/26 campaign.
An exodus was needed this summer, but the dramatic upheaval on the blue side of the River Mersey emphasised the need for accuracy in the transfer market.
Seven points from four Premier League games and a three-match unbeaten run have given the Toffees a platform, but it could have been three wins from three save for some shoddy finishing against the struggling Villa.
Beto was the culprit.
Beto misfires against Aston Villa
He’s come on leaps and bounds under Moyes’ wing, has Beto, but there’s no doubt that the Bissau Guinean striker has flaws within his game, and is prone to ghosting on different occasions across the campaign.
The 6 foot 4 forward fits Moyes’ mould: he is a tower of a talisman and commands the skies well; he has scored twice across five games in all competitions this season, three of which came from the starting whistle.
But Beto has only one goal in the Premier League, and could maybe have tripled his tally against Aston Villa, horribly scuffing a chance into a yawning net when played through by Iliman Ndiaye.
Thierno Barry was signed in the summer to add competition at number nine, but the 22-year-old is raw and not yet settled within the harsh climes of the Premier League.
It’s at moments like these that some fans might wish for another goalscoring option.
Everton will regret selling Beto upgrade
It’s a shame that Moise Kean didn’t prove to be a talismanic figure in Toffee blue.
Kean initially started his professional career with a weight of expectation, such a prodigy he was billed. Things got a little stagnant, though, it’s got to be said, with his £25m move from Juventus to Everton aged 19 doing little to further his career.
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Under Farhad Moshiri’s ownership, Everton signed Kean in 2019, but it’s not unfair to stress that the Italian failed to bring it together, scoring twice in the Premier League across 32 fixtures, picking up a red card too. The criticism lacing Moshiri’s dysfunctional reign is thick, but a move for Kean spoke of ambition, for sure.
But it didn’t work out, and after a spin of loan spells, Kean found himself back in Turin for a similar figure that Everton first paid for him. Thus, financially, it wasn’t a shocking blow, but the player’s struggles certainly suggest it was a poor signing.
Perhaps viewed as the successor to Romelu Lukaku’s former place in Everton’s team, Kean was one of many misfires in the transfer market during that long and interminable period of struggle, and his recent exploits back in Italy highlight what might have been in England.
Because Kean struggled even after leaving, peripheral at Juventus. But a move to Fiorentina has resurrected his career and then some, having scored 25 goals and supplied three assists across all competitions at La Viola last season.
It’s clear that Kean needed that return to his home country to develop into the player he is today, but Everton saw something and failed to make it work.
Powerful and clinical and with a “scary” physicality, as has been noted by reporter Carlo Garganese, Kean very much might have been Everton’s next version of Lukaku. Indeed, two years after the Belgian’s mammoth sale to Manchester United, it’s not improbable that Lukaku’s name was brought up during internal discussions ahead of the successful bid for the teenager.
His dribbling has come on so much. Data from FBref reveals Kean ranks among the top 14% of strikers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for goals scored, but also the top 8% for successful take-ons per 90, demonstrating an athleticism that Lukaku used to project with such strength on his opponents.
It’s something Moyes might have made good use of in this current Everton setting. The Merseysiders and their boss have pulled away from pragmatic perceptions and have shaped into a modern hybrid form.
Premier League 25/26 – xG Leaders
Team
Goals
xG
Man United
4
7.9
Chelsea
9
7.7
Man City
5
7.6
Brighton
4
6.6
Everton
5
6.3
Data via FBref
Fifth Everton sit in the xG (expected goals) rankings for the Premier League campaign so far. Early days, of course, but evidence of growth and newfound attacking impetus.
The caveat being they have only scored five goals, highlighting room for improvement in the ball-striking department. It’s not an egregious deficit by any means, but a striker of Kean’s ability could add that difference to stretch Everton even higher up the table.
Lukaku, in his Everton form, would surely be riding the crest of a wave right now, and Kean could be too. The Azzurri star, after all, was named ‘the new Lukaku’ upon his big move to Goodison Park.
So Moyes and Everton have Beto, and that’s not all that bad. The 26-year-old is a strong and sturdy striker; he commands the box well, tussling with defenders and knocking headers down to his teammates. He is a better player for Moyes’ appointment.
Only, Kean is clearly a cut above, and while it’s hopeless to rue missed opportunities to develop stars who weren’t shining at the time, it must be a frustration for the new board.
Whether Barry comes good is another question, and the Frenchman certainly has the potential to overtake Beto and set his marker as Everton’s starring striker, but he’s not there yet, and Kean could have been a difference-maker this season.
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