Everton’s signing of defender Djibril Sidibe is potentially their most understated bit of business conducted this summer.
The Toffees brought seven new first-team players to the club, spending large swathes of cash to strengthen Marco Silva’s squad ahead of the new campaign.
Among them was Sidibe, a France international full-back who joined on a loan deal from Monaco with the option to buy for around £12.9million at the end of the season, whose signing was made necessary by Jonjoe Kenny’s loan exit to Schalke in Germany.
While Sidibe was generally regarded as a potisitve signing by the Everton fan base, talk about the player online and his potential impact this season has been considerably lower than the majority of Everton’s other summer signings, including Moise Kean, JP Gbamin and Alex Iwobi.
To find about more about the versatile right-back, we spoke to writer, podcaster and expert on French football, Jeremy Smith.
What surprises me most about Everton’s deal for Djibril Sidibe is how low the fee involved to make the move permanent is. For a World Cup winner, why is the price tag so low?
It is a little surprising that the fee is so low, but I don’t think there is any reason to read too much into it. I think it’s a culmination of factors.
Firstly, there is an element of recognition that Sidibe has been a good servant to Monaco, has stayed longer than most of the great team of 2016/17 and didn’t kick up a fuss when his move to Atletico Madrid fell through last summer (for financial reasons). So to an extent it is Monaco doing their bit to keep to a gentleman’s agreement to allow him to go.
Monaco are also in a bit of a mess at the moment, having had a terrible last season, trying to sort it out with some strange knee-jerk decisions (such as sacking Vadim Vasilyev, who had overseen their previous success, and bringing back former coach Leonardo Jardim), and still not rectifying many of the underlying problems. So there could well simply be an element of their trying to have a fire-sale of some of the longer-standing players in order to start again, without really having a plan.
The other element, which could be a concern for Everton, is that the knee injury that developed in the spring of 2018, which kept Sidibe out until late in the year, and his shaky form since then, means that no one is sure if he can get back to his best, and the low fee reflects that to some extent.
Do you expect Sidibe to immediately replace Seamus Coleman as first choice right-back when he is deemed fit and ready to play?
No. I think the fact that Coleman has been made club captain suggests that he’ll be the starting right back unless something dramatic happens.
Sidibe needs to earn his way into the starting line-up by proving his fitness and ability. After his last year or so, he needs to get back to speed in terms of managing his knee and competitive football.
What are Sidibe’s strengths? What are his weaknesses?
For me, he is a classic modern full back in that he is at his strongest going forward.
He has a good engine and can cover the whole flank, supporting the attack, developing a good relationship with the wide player in front of him (he and Bernardo Silva combined brilliantly in Monaco’s title-winning season), overlapping and providing crosses for the attack (he provided 14 assists in the two seasons from 16/17-17/18).
He can finish too and has a reasonable goal return for a full back. He is also versatile – he can play in either full back position and can fill in at centre back and further up the wing if needed. And he of course has great experience, having won Ligue 1 and the World Cup and played with world-class players and for great coaches.
He should also be very hungry, having lost his place in the France squad, and should be motivated to make a return to Deschamps’ plans.
As to weaknesses, my personal opinion is that he is not a brilliant defender. He can be caught out of position, can sometimes lose concentration and be clumsy in the tackle (although if Diego Simeone wanted him at Atletico he can’t be that bad). And, the knee is a concern: can it still hold up to a full season?
The Premier League is usually considered to be a difficult league to adapt to. Do you think Sidibe has the right application to succeed in England?
Yes I do. He’s hard working, he’s serious and never been any kind of trouble-maker. He has all the physical and mental attributes to succeed, as long as the knee holds up, and he’s proven that he can play at the highest level and under pressure.
I think that either covering or job-sharing with Coleman will work well for him as he won’t have the physical strain of two matches a week, and it will allow him to get back to his best and hopefully make a valuable contribution to Everton
