Demarai Gray Everton renaissance hands England boss selection headache
Rafa Benitez has previously followed in Carlo Ancelotti's footsteps. Back in 2015, Ancelotti departed Real Madrid and was replaced by Benitez, the Spaniard deemed an underwhelming successor by the Los Blancos faithful considering the Italian's exploits at the Bernabeu. At Everton, though, Benitez has seemed an ideal replacement for Ancelotti at Goodison Park, despite leaving some supporters unhappy at the prospect of a former Liverpool icon taking over the reins.
For all his previous, Ancelotti seemed a vanity appointment at Everton. The 62-year-old is the perfect manager to appease the egos in the squad and has a knack for getting the best out of the very good players at his disposal, whereas Benitez has the hard-working mantra that some may not favour. It's for that reason why he struggled at Real Madrid, but has impressed with Everton.
The Toffees earned a 2-0 win over Norwich at the weekend and after six games, they sit just a point off top spot. This comes despite Everton enduring a sub-par transfer window, at least by comparison to their big-spending Premier League adversaries. Salomon Rondon linked up with Benitez once more, while Asmir Begovic is a solid backup for Jordan Pickford. Andros Townsend arrived on a free transfer from Crystal Palace, but the biggest success story has been the impact of Demarai Gray.
After breaking onto the scene with Birmingham City, Gray earned a high profile move to Leicester in 2016, yet he seemed to struggle with the demands of Premier League football, with a lack of regular game time harming his development. At the turn of the year, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen on an 18-month contract with a view to getting his career back on track, yet even in Germany he started just five of 15 league matches.
After a promising start - he had a direct hand in a goal in each of his opening three league appearances for Bayer Leverkusen, all of which came from the bench - he again faltered, so Everton's capture of Gray did little to inspire confidence. Yet as far as value for money goes, the Toffees have struck gold. The winger set Everton back a reported £1.7m, and has been excellent.
Only Dominic Calvert-Lewin (7.68) and Abdoulaye Doucoure (7.33) have earned a better WhoScored rating than Gray (7.23) of all Everton players in the Premier League this season. The 25-year-old has already scored three league goals in 2021/22. For context, he has only ever scored more than three league goals in a campaign twice in his career, one of which was in his breakthrough Championship season with Birmingham.
Crucially is that Gray joins an Everton side that needed attacking reinforcements over the summer. James Rodriguez featured frequently from the flank under Ancelotti last term, yet isn't a conventional winger in the sense of Gray. You only have to look at Everton's choice of widemen last season to realise just how short on natural wingers they were.
In Gray, Benitez has a player capable of unpredictability that allows him to punch holes in opposition defences when required. He has completed more dribbles (7) than any other Everton player in England's top tier this term, not a huge return admittedly, but Benitez sides often avoid taking huge risks, functioning better as unit than with a series of individuals, noted in that their 39 successful dribbles is the second lowest in the division this season.
So long as every player is pulling in the right direction, then the system works and in this Everton side, this of the utmost importance and Gray, while showing the skillful side to his game more often than any other Toffees player, fits nicely into the setup. We'll often see Benitez sides go through bursts of showing attacking flair, which suits Gray and his style. It means there isn't a huge amount of pressure on the player to constantly trouble opponents and he can instead bide his time and wait for the right moment to strike.
There's also an end product to Gray's game that means when he does spot a chance, he is able to create for his Everton teammates. All seven of his key passes this season have come from open play, no Everton player has more in 2021/22, one of which resulted in an assist for Abdoulaye Doucoure in their 2-0 win over Norwich. For a player who has made 79 key passes from open play in his Premier League career, that 8.9% have come in six Everton appearances speaks volumes of the improvements to his final ball under Benitez.
What's perhaps key, though, is that Gray's consistency has helped Everton to a solid start to 2021/22 and, potentially, come at a good time for England, too. Raheem Sterling is struggling for game time and Jadon Sancho has flattered to deceive for Manchester United this season. With Marcus Rashford also sidelined, there may be a chance for Gray to stake a claim for an England spot. The Everton winger is eligible for Jamaica, an avenue the Reggae Boyz are exploring, but Gareth Southgate is at least aware of Gray's qualities having handed the winger his England U21 debut in March 2016, and he did call the player up for England for a friendly meeting with Switzerland in 2018.
"It was a super debut. He was a threat all night and I think the work he did at the goal was exceptional but he also put a real shift in for the team and did his work off the ball," Southgate said of Gray and his England U21 debut five years ago. With the renowed confidence of playing under a Champions League winning manager in Benitez, this has transferred to a number of notable league outings in the Premier League this season, which has helped Everton make a solid start to 2021/22 and, crucially for Gray, thrust him back into the spotlight.
