Leeds United loanee gives Sean Dyche clear Everton choice for Newcastle United

Sean Dyche has more options now than at any point during his Everton career, but one position is still in flux.

Having signed a bunch of different types of players in attack this summer, Iliman Ndiaye has been the standout - capable of inserting himself into the starting line-up and immediately becoming a key figure. Jesper Lindstrom, less so.

He started the last two games in the league against Leicester City and Crystal Palace only to be removed after the hour mark and at half-time in both. His replacement Jack Harrison, another summer signing as he re-signed on loan for a second successive season, is more tried-and-tested figure that is pushing to start again.

The frustrating element for Dyche is that there is potentially more dynamism in Lindstrom’s armoury when he is in full flow; he displayed that for Frankfurt from 2021-2023 before leaving for Napoli. However, it failed to materialise in Italy. Now he finds himself in a new league struggling to come to terms in a league where results are the currency.

Harrison has just been ranked in the top 15 attackers in the league across the first six games, according to the CIES Observatory, which tells us that it may be an easier decision that first thought for Dyche this weekend when Newcastle United come into town. The report showed the top 15 attackers from the Premier League, which was calculated on a scale of 100 by adding the frequency of passes leading to a goal or a clear chance, passes made to the assistman (second assist), as well as passes breaking the opposition's defensive line received by a teammate (Wyscout).

The Leeds United loanee was 14th (out of 15) with a score of 75.9 in a list that was topped by Bukayo Saka, Mohamed Salah and led by Cole Palmer. Interestingly, from the players on that list, Harrison had played the least minutes of any player and deserves a chance to continue finding his feet to translate this form into some real output.

Speaking on Harrison at the end of last season, the Everton boss was complimentary to the loanee who started 25 times in the league last season. “He has done very well. His tactical understanding is excellent, in two roles really, wide or in the number-10 spot. His work ethic is excellent, too. I still think there is more with his talent because he is very talented - we see it in training and I have spoken to him about unlocking that. Over the season I think he has done very well for us and been a consistent performer.

“We will wait and see [if Everton can sign Harrison]. The first thing was making sure we were safe, then once we were safe we could re-evaluate the internal truth with the financial side of what we can do, so that will be an ongoing process.”