Betis winger identified as Danjuma replacement

He is decent.

Posted this on Danjuma thread this morning:

There's been some whispers of bringing in right winger Luiz Henrique on loan with an obligation to buy to replace Danjuma. Probably no truth in this but interesting if there is and would seem to fit in with our no cash situation.

Henrique was one of Betis' better players last year but dropped off as the season went on. He's just turned 23 so is still pretty young and has pace and skill and decent physicality at 6 ft. He works pretty hard too. Has some similarities to McNiel and could be a good addition if Danjuma is leaving. His shooting needs work.

A loan now with an option or obligation to buy for £15M in 12 months time maybe?

Didn't we pay a loan fee to get Danjuma? Will we have to pay another loan fee for Henrique? Or is he seen as a permanent signing that we just can't afford right now?

Danjuma has been a bit of a disappointment really. Trying too hard, doesn't get his head up, makes bad decisions. You can see why we tried to get the best out of him because there's a player there, but is it why he's been loaned out so often, managers just get tired of him?

Don't know much about Henrique, but the squad could do with a little fresh face or two.

Do we ever sign anyone that scores goals?

Given the finances, it's extremely unlikely we'll get anyone in January who poses a bigger goal threat than Danjuma.

Despite ability and physical attributes, Luiz Henrique has just 4 goals in 62 appearances for Betis. Only 9 assists too.

He might not be a bad replacement for Harrison in June – but he's probably not a good replacement for Danjuma in January.

Unless we are forced to let Danjuma leave, I cannot see why we would want to go through with this deal at this stage. For all his shortcomings, Danjuma is at least familiar with the club, the league and what the manager requires.

Given our position in the league, importing a young player who will almost certainly require a period of months rather than weeks to adjust to the demands of the Premier League, seems like more trouble than it's worth.

Robert @5, it's hard for Danjuma to pose much of a goal threat though when Dyche is so reluctant to play him!

Of those 62 appearances for Henrique, around half are substitute showings. Over his career, he has around 1 goal every 540 minutes, which is not brilliant but it's considerably better than Dwight McNeil (who's mostly played in a stronger league admittedly).

You've done a deeper dive into the stats than me, Sam!

Personally I hope we keep Danjuma to the end of the season – and I hope Dyche gives him more minutes (Beto and Dobbin too).

It'd be exciting to see Luiz Henrique on our right flank though.

Lateral move at best.

Unless he's a clearly better option than Danjuma, leave it and keep Danjuma until the rest of the season.

Danjuma is the potential replacement or back-up to Doucouré.

No one else can do the job Dyche has given to Big D except Danjuma who, imho, is more talented and more of a goal threat given the chance.

Paul #10,

I would have agreed with you until Gomes suddenly scores twice from the same position.

I agree with you Robert @10 on Gomes, and also Paul @9 because I think it would be too hard to find a replica athletic number 10 whose happy to close people down all day and get maybe 2 chances to shoot in a whole match.

I like Gomes in the number 10 position; if he doesn't have the expectation to sprint into players to close them down because it's not his game - we all know this. Yes, tracking back and sprinting to get ahead of players when defending is not his strength. But, but, but... it might not be detrimental if it's on the half way line as a number 10, compared to when he plays in midfield chasing a midfielder running into space.

He does have a lot of attributes a classic 10 has - Rodriguez, Bergkamp, Zola, Cantona etc. A fine pass short, medium or long, ability to hold the ball under pressure, one-twos, cross with both feet, imagination and playing the way they see it without feeling the pressure when closed down, and Gomes can shoot with both feet.

Finally, Gomes is scoring goals so don't let that run stop! Keep it going as long as possible!

Jason @12,

I thought I was Gomes's biggest fan until I read him being compared to Bergkamp and Zola.

He's a fine player… but a luxury player nonetheless. I don't know how you carry a guy like that unless they are James Rodriguez. They're big boots to fill.

It's hard to expect maximum effort from everyone else and tolerate a bloke who saunters around. He literally has to produce goals and assists every week!

Phil, I'm the opposite.

I got to the same point with Gomes as Colin Glassar got to with Iwobi. My heart sank every time I saw him in the side.

But in fairness, he looks a lot fitter than he has for a long time (not just injury free, but actually fit enough to get about the pitch).

He's much better with the likes of Garner and Onana behind him than he is in a two-man midfield where his sauntering gets exposed by opposition runners.

He's elegant but he's miles off where, say, Sigurdsson was in the same position (and shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as Zola – but then neither should Rodriguez) but he's been effective.

To be honest though, whoever we put in the Doucoure position is going to get goals (or at least goal chances) because that's where the space is that Calvert-Lewin creates.

Yes, he's not in the same class as Zola or Bergkamp, absolutely nowhere near compared to their careers. It must have been amusing to read if it looks like I'm saying he's just as good.

I'm just saying he has a lot of the traits and skills shown by some of the top Number 10s to suit playing number 10 plus the excuse is a goal-scoring run.

There's likely no-one else that costs close to the same loan fee as Danjuma that Everton can find for the next few months as a direct replica replacement for Doucoure.

At least free kicks will be miles more exciting if Gomes can get a few more on target.

I know YouTube can make any player look great, but how else can we assess?

This guy seems to have excellent control, and can score from either side (more right tho from clips) with both feet and his head too! I would go for him if it was up to me, but it's not, or any of us for that matter, hope they do consider.

Right age, snip of a fee (these days of crazy ones) should get us off our seats… not the toilet seat either!

Derek, it really is hard to judge these players. But I think there's a few things to take into account:

- strength in the league / quality of defending: could you score the same sorts of goals in the Prem?

- style of play: how would he manage in the rigid defensive structure Dyche requires? Would he score / assist as many?

- stats: how many does he score / assist in a season?

Taking all that into account, he's very unlikely to score more than 2 or 3 goals per season - with a similar number of assists. Judging on his career stats it could be much lower than that too. So unless he finds Dyche's counter attacking style to his liking he is probably just a faster version of Harrison (with possibly less defensive contribution).

Unfortunately that is why he is available - and available at low cost.

He might be a really good value replacement for Harrison at that price though - and someone to develop. So could still be a good buy. But he's not the new Salah

Robert,

I appreciate all that you have posted and you are probably right, but I am a believer in 'horses for courses' – that applies to managers as well as players; however, the dichotomy is, how will we ever know if we don't try?

Look at Brighton (prime example): they get these players that few have ever heard of, then they become a household name, and usually get sold for a massive profit.

Worth a try, if we do let Danjuma go (only a loan with a view to buy anyway) and he hasn't, though he has been limited to many outings, made us think, keep him at all costs.

Watching this Enrique fella the first time vs Barcelona.

Swanning around, no hustle at all. Doesn't look too interested in defending. Not a Dyche-type player (then again, neither is Danjuma to be fair). Seems like a like-for-like swap. Yawn.

Sacha Tavolieri, an occasionally reliable journalist, was saying today that Danjuma's move to Lyon is close to completion.

If true this must surely mean that we have some alternative loan move lined up. Unless Dyche is feeling very confident about Dobbin's development and even then we'd seem short of attackers.

I quite like the look of Henrique. Great ball control, good dribbler, hard worker, good size and still young. A loan with a future obligation for £12M could be a decent move if Dyche likes the look of him.

Sam, I think for that sort of small fee (in crazy fee times) he should be affordable, especially if any other player moves on for a sizable amount, it was mentioned before about his not dropping back/defensive duties. In a couple of those clips, it seems that he was, not only that, he single handedly brought the ball out!

The last Brazilian we had, turned out to be not that shoddy either. I may sound desperate, I think we all are, if the truth be known!

Derek, he'd be a bit of a punt but there's definite potential there. The crucial thing would be whether Dyche feels he can rely on him as that does not seem the case with Danjuma.

Henrique was one of Betis's best players tonight against Barcelona, he got an assist and was involved in other goal too. Might persuade Betis that they need to keep him.