'There's a real player' - Alan Myers excited as Everton may have secret weapon

Nkounkou arrived at Goodison Park back in the summer of 2020 on a free transfer but the 21-year-old has only lined out seven times for the club. 

He spent last season on loan at Standard Liege making 25 appearances in all competitions but the left-back is back on Merseyside and is part of the 32-man squad for the pre-season tour of the USA.

Despite just 81 minutes of Premier League action to his name, Myers does feel that there is a ‘real player’ within the Frenchman and that we may see his true potential as early as this season.

Taking to Twitter he posted:

I think there’s a real player in Niels Nkounkou, thought so from the first few games I watched him, hopefully this could be a big and breakthrough season for him ?

— Alan Myers (@ALANMYERSMEDIA) July 15, 2022

The former France underage international will return to the Blues with some much-needed experience at senior level having never played for Marseille’s first team prior to his move but perhaps with a season under his belt in Belgium he can force his way into Frank Lampard’s thinking.

Ukrainian left-back Vitaliy Mykolenko has emerged as Frank Lampard’s first-choice option in that department but with Jonjoe Kenny turning down the chance to re-sign with the Toffees, it has left a lack of depth on the left-hand side of the defence and it is perhaps something Nkounkou will benefit from.

Should Mykolenko suffer from injury it will be interesting to see whether Lampard thinks highly enough of the £1.98m-rated youngster or whether he reverts to a back five with a more advanced player slotting in at wing-back.

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