How Everton could line with linked Real Madrid duo

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 19 May 2021 11:24 BST
• 3 min read

This week Everton have again been linked with summer transfer window moves for Real Madrid pair Isco and Lucas Vazquez.

Isco could be available for a nominal fee after drastically falling out of favour with Zinedine Zidane at the Santiago Bernabeu, while Vazquez is available on a free transfer as his contract expires in June, with no sign of an extended deal being agreed upon for the moment.

With both players looking likely to leave, Everton have stepped up their efforts to sign the pair, with Carlo Ancelotti keen to reunite with two players he worked with while he was head coach at Real Madrid.

According to Defensa Central, the acquisitions of Isco and Vazquez would go a long way to convincing James Rodriguez to remain at the club, as he is allegedly considering his future at Goodison Park after struggling to settle since his move from Spain last summer.

Everton XI with Isco and Vazquez

Should the pair actually make the move, it would give Ancelotti plenty of options not just in attack, but in defence, too.

Two of the club’s captains, Seamus Coleman and Gylfi Sigurdsson, could see their places in the starting XI impacted by the arrival of Vazquez and Isco.

Vazquez is traditionally a winger, but has been used as a right-back more and more at Real Madrid due to the injury concerns they have had in that role.

Not only has he been deployed there, but he has flourished, as his runs on the overlap down the right flank provide the perfect foil for someone like Marco Asensio, or in the case of Everton, James.

Coleman provides that width at the moment but whenever he is unavailable, Everton lack a natural successor to come in, so even if Ancelotti uses both players, it does give him extra options.

As for Sigurdsson, he has come into a bit of form in the second half of the season, but at 31-years-old he isn’t getting any younger, too, while an in-form Isco would undoubtedly be an upgrade on the Iceland international.

At the moment, Everton have a fairly strong starting XI, but it is when these players start to drop out that they become weaker.

The likes of Alex Iwobi and Bernard have their moments, but they aren’t players who are going to fire a team into the Champions League spots, which is what Everton aspire to.

Since Roberto Martinez left the club, they have struggled to create a slick, fast-paced tempo in attacking areas, but a front four of Richarlison, Isco, James, and Calvert-Lewin would be enough to strike fear into most other teams in the league.