A report claims that Everton are working on a transfer to sign Botafogo right winger Luis Henrique
Everton have been linked with a move for the most-expensive signing in Brazilian football history. But just what might Luiz Henrique potentially offer the Blues?
Although compatriot Neymar’s €222million (£198m) switch from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 still remains the costliest transfer in football history, Henrique’s €20m (approximately £16.68m) move back to his homeland, joining Botafogo from Real Betis in January 2024, is the biggest fee ever paid by a club in Brazil.
Curiously, it was Botafogo owner John Textor, who earlier this month claimed he was 24 hours away from obtaining Everton from Farhad Moshiri before the Friedkin Group came back in, who splashed out the fee.
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This being of course the same would-be Blues owner who got a rap on the knuckles from current Goodison Park top brass for discussing Sean Dyche’s potential appetite for managing South American players following an interview with Sky Sports about his potential plans if he acquired the club.
A report from Football Insider claims Everton are working on a deal to sign Henrique as Dyche “would like to improve his options out wide.” However, the article cautions that with Botafogo riding high at the top of the Brazilian Serie A table, a January move could be difficult to pull off.
The season in Brazil ends next month though and with two matches each to go, Botafogo enjoy a three-point lead over defending champions Palmeiras. Understandably, the Rio de Janeiro-based outfit – who also take on domestic rivals Atletico Mineiro in the final of the Copa Libertadores (South America’s equivalent of the Champions League) in Buenos Aires on Saturday – aren’t keen on losing Henrique, who has scored seven goals in 33 outings this term, just yet and have supposedly slapped a £25million price tag on his head in an attempt to dissuade potential suitors such as the Blues.
Comparisonator’s Team Finder tool which uses artificial intelligence to calculate how readily a player’s style would fit into a side’s tactics, reckons that Everton are one of eight Premier League outfits who would benefit from adding Henrique to their ranks. With an AI Suitability Weight of 220.29, the man from Petropolis is deemed a better fit than either Jack Harrison (136.34) and Jesper Lindstrom (122.53), who have been battling it out for the right-wing berth in Dyche’s team this season.
Other Premier League right-wingers with lower suitability scores than Henrique are Anthony Elanga of Nottingham Forest (202.13); Alejandro Garnacho of Manchester United (201.71); Jean-Ricner Bellegarde of Wolverhampton Wanderers (180.83); John McGinn and Leon Bailey of Aston Villa (152.93 and 124.84); Jacob Murphy of Newcastle United (126.28); Tyler Dibling of Southampton (115.86) and Wes Burns of Ipswich Town (78.39).
We can also use Comparisonator’s Virtual Transfer tool to correlate Henrique’s statistics from Brazil’s current Serie A season against those already turning out in the Premier League in his position. His 3.83 successful dribbles per 90 minutes would place him seventh between Yankuba Minteh of Brighton & Hove Albion (3.86) and Adama Traore of Fulham (3.8) in a category topped by West Ham United’s Mohammed Kudus (6.33) and is a huge increase on Everton’s incumbent players in his position, Harrison (1.8) and Lindstrom (0.88).
The 23-year-old’s silk is also supplemented by steel though and he shows a willingness to work hard and retrieve the ball back out of possession with an average of 2.8 interceptions per 90 minutes, a figure that only Facundo Buonanotte of Leicester City (4) and Fulham’s former Blues man Alex Iwobi (3) can top. Again, Harrison (1.7) and Lindstrom (1.63) are considerably further down.
As reported in the ECHO last week, the South American market is an area of huge potential growth for Everton and the club are increasingly being linked with players from that region. So far, all the Blues’ recruits from that continent each had prior experience in European football before coming to Goodison Park.
That would also be the case with Henrique given his previous 18-month spell in Andalusia, providing him with a taste of La Liga. With the Friedkin Group aiming to have a takeover completed by mid-December, there may well be additional funds for Everton to use in the January transfer market, but in the meantime, curious Blues can take the opportunity to potentially watch Henrique in action when BBC Three broadcast the Copa Libertadores final from El Monumental Stadium on Saturday – if they can convince others in their household to forgo Strictly Come Dancing!
*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.
