West Bromwich Albion winger Tom Fellows has again been linked with a potential transfer to Everton
Everton have again been linked with a move for Tom Fellows but what might the West Bromwich Albion winger potentially offer Sean Dyche’s side?
Speculation claiming the Blues have been monitoring the youngster’s progress goes back over a year with Fabrizio Romano claiming he was on their radar as far back as October 2023 and now Alan Nixon writes on his Patreon page: “Everton are checking on West Brom’s young winger Tom Fellows as the Toffees wait for a cash injection. The Toffees sent a delegation to look at the England Under-21 cap Fellows who is one of the best players coming through in the Championship.”
The initial interest cited Everton as looking to come in when the Solihull-born prospect’s contract at the Hawthorns was due to expire in the summer but back in January he penned a new three-and-a-half year deal which ties him down with the Baggies until the end of the 2026/27 season. Fellows has been at West Brom since under-10s level and having made his senior debut in a 6-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Arsenal on August 25, 2021, he made his league bow as a substitute in a 1-0 victory over Reading in the Championship on December 11 the same year.
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In order to get some more senior experience, he was loaned out to League Two Crawley Town for the 2022/23 season and made 40 appearances for the Sussex outfit before returning to the West Midlands where he has established himself as a regular for Carlos Corberan’s side and at the time of writing he has played 47 matches for West Brom and scored five goals.
Although he’s been more of a creator than a prolific scorer himself so far during his fledgling career, having made his England Under-21 debut as a late substitute in a goalless draw against Northern Ireland at Ballymena Showgrounds on September 6 this year, Fellows netted on his first start for the young Lions three days later as they defeated their Austria counterparts 4-1 at Luton Town’s Kenilworth Road.
The Team Finder section when using Comparisonator’s Virtual Transfer tool suggests that Everton are indeed one of half a dozen Premier League clubs where Fellows could be a good fit.
The calculations are used with Artificial Intelligence looking at statistical parameters between Fellows and the incumbent players in his position (right wing) at respective clubs and he is given a higher A.I. Suitability Weight than his opposite numbers at Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Southampton, Ipswich Town, Crystal Palace and Everton with his score of 174.26 topping that of Jack Harrison on 147.74.
The Virtual Transfer tool also enables us to correlate Fellows’ statistics from the Championship this term against his Premier League peers. Although he is obviously operating at a lower level, one division below, the 21-year-old’s 0.45 assists per 90 minutes can only be bettered by two top flight players in his position, Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka (0.88) and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (0.56).
Fellows would be ranked fourth for expected assists on 0.27 behind Anthony Gordon of Newcastle United (0.4); Saka (0.38) and Jarrod Bowen of West Ham United (0.31) while his figure of 0.82 for playing in scoring attacks would put him sixth in a category topped by Saka on 1.63. He looks decent at retaining possession with 6.55 ball losses ranking him eighth behind section leader Chiedozie Ogbene on 4 while having a 60% rate for successful dribbles would rank him ninth in a category topped by Fulham’s former Everton man Alex Iwobi on 79%.
A supply line from out wide is also part of his armoury as Fellows’ 1.64 successful crosses per 90 minutes would place him fifth in a section where Mohammed Kudus of West Ham United leads the way on 2.17 and when it comes to successful crosses percentage, he moves up to third with 53% behind Manchester United pair Alejandro Garnacho and Amad Diallo (both on 56%).
Only summer Blues target Yankuba Minteh (100%), who would instead swap Newcastle United for Brighton & Hove Albion, can top Fellows’ 96% score for successful progressive passes while his 84% score for successful passes would rank him fifth behind leader Diallo (88%) and he comes in seventh with 0.82 for key passes in a category topped by Saka on 1.25.
Over the summer, Everton director of football Kevin Thelwell made clear that a sustainable football model has to be built on astute trading, in and out of the club. While the hope is that a takeover deal from the Friedkin Group will help improve the Blues’ financial position, the ability to pick out hungry, young prospects who can be developed remains an important factor for the squad going forward into the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock and potential diamonds in the rough who can be polished up into Premier League performers, like Fellows, present tantalising options if they’re capable of successfully making the step up.
*Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising over 100 different parameters. Click here for more details.
