da realbet： According to reports from Mirror Football, Everton and West Ham are both interested in signing Sunderland defender Lamine Kone during the January transfer window.
da supremo： The Ivory Coast international was one of the better defenders in the Premier League during the second half of last season, producing a series of dominant displays to aid the Black Cats’ successful bid for survival, while popping up with two vital goals.
With David Moyes’ boys now rock bottom of the Premier League table, it appears the Toffees and the Hammers are looking to capitalise by prising the 27-year-old away from the Stadium of Light in the new year.
But we at FootballFanCast aren’t quite so convinced by the idea of a mid-season swoop for the powerful centre-half – in fact, we reckon he could quickly prove to be an epic transfer gaffe.
That may seem a bold claim, but there’s certainly some logic behind it.
Potential transfer fee
No doubt, transfer fees have gone absolutely crazy in the Premier League, with the summer window seeing the English top flight break the collective £1billion spend barrier. But even in the context of exponential inflation, some of the price-tags mooted for Kone – who the Black Cats signed for just £5million a mere matter of months ago – bordered upon ridiculous.
Indeed, according to The Northern Echo, Sunderland rejected a £22million offer from Everton – which would have made him the third-most expensive signing in Goodison Park history. Likewise, if West Ham paid that sum in January, Kone would be their new record signing.
It really doesn’t seem worth it for a centre-back who is currently part of the second-worst defence in the division (only Hull City have conceded more goals this term) and after signing a five-year contract at the end of the summer window, Sunderland’s valuation of Kone has likely further increased.
Stifling development
You can understand why Ronald Koeman and Slaven Bilic might want to add an experienced centre-half to their respective squads in January, with currently just three to choose from – Ashley Williams, Phil Jagielka and Ramiro Funes Mori, alongside Winston Reid, Angelo Ogbonna and James Collins. Both managers have experimented with three-man defences this season but they’ll need more cover to use such systems on a more permanent basis.
That being said, Everton and West Ham both boast some of the most exciting young defenders in the country in the form of Mason Holgate and Reece Oxford. Both are already receiving admiring glances from the Premier League’s top clubs, both are regulars for England at youth level and both have already made top flight debuts aged 20 or younger.
Bringing in Kone would inevitably limit their chances of first team football this season and consequentially stifle their development. Considering the Ivory Coast international’s potential transfer fee, they’re much better off giving opportunities to their young defensive gems.
Doesn’t improve on what they already have
Granted, the 27-year-old would instantly boost the depth of the squads at Goodison Park and the London Stadium, giving Koeman and Bilic the kind of selection dilemmas managers tend to crave. But would Kone actually improve upon Everton and West Ham’s current first choices at the heart of defence? We’re not quite so convinced.
Indeed, Jagielka and Williams have gelled with the ease you’d expect of two Premier League veterans since being partnered by Ronald Koeman during the summer and resultantly, Everton now boast the second-best goals conceded record in the Premier League.
Similarly, although West Ham have been far less solid at the back, Winston Reid is surely one of the first names on the team-sheet, whilst Angelo Ogbonna’s pedigree as a former Serie A winner with Juventus is undoubted, even if the Italy international struggles for consistency.
Overall, it’s hard to see Kone leapfrogging any of them into either starting line-up – so is he really worth a £20million+ investment? Stats courtesy of Squawka.
Attitude problems
Of course, players respond differently to varying situations and it’s much more acceptable to act like a bit of a prima-donna nowadays. At the same time, you can certainly understand why Kone’s motivation appears to be continually waning, with Sunderland yet to win in the Premier League, shipping goals every week and David Moyes hardly providing the positivity required to turn things around.
But Kone’s attitude this season has been nothing short of shocking, something which Jamie Carragher felt compelled to highlight on this week’s episode of Monday Night Football after an abysmal performance against Arsenal – a game you’d expect the 27-year-old to be particularly pumped up for. As quoted by Sky Sports, he said;
“There’s one player on the pitch whose attitude has been nowhere near acceptable and that’s Kone at the back. He was a man mountain last season, him and Jermain Defoe virtually kept them up. Defoe at one end and Kone at the other, but he’s nowhere near where he needs to be. He’s causing Sunderland a massive problem.
“The players around him are nowhere near good enough. He is good enough and he showed it last season but his attitude now is becoming a major problem for Moyes. Looking at the stats, in every area he’s down and let’s not forget Sunderland are worse than last season. You’d imagine he would be doing more defending. He should be making more clearances and more tackles because he’s not involved going forward as he was last season.”
Regardless of Sunderland’s league standing, Kone’s lackadaisical mindset is incredibly disturbing. Do Everton and West Ham really want to invest in a player who firstly, appears to give up when things get tough and secondly, could damage spirit in the dressing room with negativity?