Richarlison ranked as the best Premier League signing of the season

The world’s biggest football magazine, FourFourTwo have named two Everton players in their top 10 2018/19 Premier League signings of the season.

Richarlison was ranked as the best Premier League signing of the season, with his Brazilian counterpart just making the rankings.

FourFourTwo: “Much was made of the hefty transfer fee commanded by Richarlison when he followed Marco Silva from Watford to Everton, but the Toffees’ outlay of £40m (potentially rising to £50m) would have turned fewer heads had it come in January rather than July.

“In 2017/18, Richarlison was superb up to December, when Watford were destabilised by Everton’s pursuit of Silva and Richarlison’s own magic touch eluded him. Incredibly, he contributed nary a goal nor assist after December 12, having netted five and set up four before then, and when he left Watford it was after failing to score with any of his final 53 shots for the club.

“But his underlying numbers had remained impressive throughout the season, his first outside Brazil. A total xG of 12 is very encouraging for a winger who was just 20 at the time; in scoring only five goals, he was let down by his finishing and the occasional bit of bad luck, yet he was nonetheless getting into excellent positions. He excelled in that rare combination of skills: dribbling and heading. And he was the most-fouled player in the Premier League, which is handy when fellow £40m+ man Gylfi Sigurdsson is available to take free-kicks.

“With all that in mind, perhaps it shouldn’t have been surprising to see Silva turn his former Watford charge into a striker at Everton. Richarlison has embraced the challenge, turning his xG differential on its head by scoring six goals in his first 10 games from a total xG of only 3.4. His brace against Brighton comprised a fine first-time finish to conclude a glorious counter-attack, then a ruthlessly composed exploitation of a defensive error.

“Now he must continue that form. This season, you wouldn’t bet against him doing it.”

Check out the full rankings here;