Everton face an uphill battle ahead of the second half of the campaign, having been dragged down to 19th place in the Premier League for breaching Financial Fair Play regulations. This misery was piled on by a 3-0 defeat at home to Manchester United on Sunday which has left the side five points adrift of safety.
However, Sean Dyche and his recruitment team have been hard at work identifying players that could be brought to Goodison Park to help in the club's pursuit of top-flight survival.
The Toffees have been linked with one player, in particular, this week who could do an excellent job in the middle of the park.
Everton transfer news – Leander Dendoncker
According to Football Insider, Everton will dip into the January transfer market for a defensive-minded player and have set their sights on signing Aston Villa's out-of-favour midfield general Leander Dendoncker.
The 28-year-old's services are no longer required at Villa Park and the Midlands club were reportedly set to sanction a last-minute sale of the player to Turkish Super Lig side Fenerbahce before the transfer deadline, but a move fell through in the end.
The Belgian hasn't started a single Premier League game for Villa under Unai Emery this season, playing just seven minutes of top-flight football, but could be handed a career lifeline by Dyche and Everton sporting director Kevin Thelwell, who signed him during his time in charge at Wolves.
How Leander Dendoncker compares to Idrissa Gueye
Despite picking up £90k-per-week for his troubles, Dendoncker has played merely 119 minutes in total in all competitions this term, earning himself two starts. In the two games Dendoncker was named in the first XI, he was replaced at half-time against Zrinjski Mostar in the Europa Conference League and Everton, ironically, in the EFL Cup.
The Belgium international moved to Villa at the start of the 2022/23 campaign for £12.9m when Steven Gerrard was in charge of the team. However, the midfielder struggled to have any real impact at all, featuring just 21 times for the Villans in all competitions, 13 of which were substitute appearances.
In one of Dendoncker's rare starts for Villa, which came in a 1-1 draw away at Brentford, The Athletic journalist Gregg Evans hailed the Belgian as "superb", but these opportunities have come few and far between for the player.
However, Dendoncker was a key player at Molineux with Wolves under both Nuno Espirito Santo and Bruno Lage. In fact, his stats in his final season with the Old Gold were better than Everton's energetic, 34-year-old midfielder Idrissa Gueye this term.
Goals
0.12
0.11
Expected Goals
0.1
0.09
Progressive Passes
2.95
3.88
Key Passes
0.51
0.82
Assists
0.16
0
Blocks
0.71
0.82
Clearances
1.75
0.94
Tackles
1.01
0.82
Defensive 1/3 Tackles
1.15
0.82
Aerial Duels Won %
47.6
12.5
Stats via FBref
As shown above, Dendoncker's attacking stats aren't much better than Gueye but they are still a slight improvement, although it is defensively where the Belgian particularly shines. Additionally, the Villa want-away is six years younger than his counterpart and could essentially be the Senegal international's long-term replacement in the team.
The Villa "goal machine" – as once described by journalist Tim Spiers – may even be available for as little as £3m, as per CIES Football Observatory.
The former Wolves man is also quite a versatile player which could suit Dyche as he is able to cover at centre-back, having played in this position 65 times in his career so far, including 27 in the Premier League. This would benefit Everton if any injuries arose to the likes of James Tarkowski and Jarrard Branthwaite.
Dendoncker may be a little rusty at first, given his lack of game-time over the past two seasons, but if Dyche can reignite his form at Wolves, there is certainly a good player in there.