Everton midfielder has sign new contract

Abdoulaye Doucoure, a midfielder for Everton, has signed a new deal that will keep him at Goodison Park through 2025, the club announced today.

The 30-year-old former Watford player, who was reportedly on previous boss Marco Silva’s wish list as early as 2018, joined the Blues three years ago after being persistently linked to a transfer to Merseyside.

Doucoure, a Mali international, joined for Everton during Carlo Ancelotti’s tenure. He has subsequently played for Rafa Benitez, Frank Lampard, and Sean Dyche.

Under all of those managers—quite the group—Doucoure was essentially a constant until Lampard benched him during the previous campaign, and the former Chelsea player was ultimately fired in January.

After Dyche replaced him, he reinstated the

With Dominic Calvert-Lewin still out of the picture, Dyche was deploying many forwards as his lone front man at this point.

As Dyche tried to find a way to replace the goals and presence up front of the former England internationals, temporary attackers Neal Maupay, Ellis Simms (for a limited period of time), and then predominantly Demarai Gray were used.

I recommended early on that Dyche look at utilizing Doucoure, as David Moyes had done in the past when he had been without a designated center-forward, as a type of backup striker to assist whoever was playing up front.

Given that the French-born player had frequently scored a sizable amount of goals, notably when playing for Watford, it appeared like a clever approach.

Maybe he can score tomorrow afternoon at Everton’s match against Brighton at the Grand Old Lady to commemorate his new deal.