Everton defender Niels Nkounkou is ‘showing himself to be more and more effective’ on loan at Saint-Étienne after his arrival in the January transfer window.
That’s according to Le Progres, who say the defender has found an ‘ideal piston role’ at the French club and is now shining as a result.
Nkounkou joined the Ligue 2 side on loan in January from Everton after being recalled from am unsuccessful loan spell at Cardiff City in the Championship.
He’s been a regular for them since then, making six appearances in the league, scoring once and registering three assists.
He’s been a ‘formidable weapon’ according to the newspaper, who are impressed by what he can do going forwards despite a need to progress defensively.
They explained that after being reposition in a ‘piston’ role as part of a 3-5-2, a position which means he often acts as a ‘detonator’ in the team, the defender has started to ‘fill his line of statistics’.
His attacking contribution has been ‘considerable’ and the numbers are showing it, with them likely to improve further before the end of the season.
There are some complaints, of course, with the defender often ‘a bit fiery’ with a tendency to ‘get carried away’, which can lead to avoidable yellow cards and incidents.
He also has ‘plenty of room for improvement defensively’, with manager Laruent Batlles and his team using videos, and a lot of them to boot, to fill ‘some gaps’ in his game.
That’s one negative on what has largely been a very positive loan spell so far, though, something we’re sure Everton will be delighted to hear.
