Ranked: Everton’s five best Premier League midfielders as Dewsbury-Hall heads in
Everton are on the verge of signing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall from Chelsea in an effort to bolster their midfield.
David Moyes is short of options through the middle after Abdoulaye Doucoure’s contract expired and Orel Mangala’s loan ended.
But despite being limited to just 259 Premier League minutes last season, Dewsbury-Hall played a major role in Chelsea’s Uefa Conference League and Fifa Club World Cup campaigns — registering five goals and four assists in 36 appearances across all competitions.
Football Insider reported in February that Chelsea would consider selling Dewsbury-Hall for a reduced fee after they failed to move him on in the January window.
The former Leicester man has the potential to seriously level up Everton‘s midfield, and fans are certainly excited by the prospect.
That got us thinking about the best central midfielders to wear the royal blue jersey in the Premier League era, so here’s our top five.
5. Gareth Barry
This may be a slightly controversial way to start the ranking, given that Gareth Barry was only at Goodison Park for four seasons. However, he achieved a hell of a lot during that time.
The 53-time England international seemed on the wane during his final year at Man City, but held down a starting spot for Everton for almost his entire time at the club.
Barry was a metronomic passer and sniffed out danger like a police dog, constantly shutting down opposition attacks across his 155 appearances.
In his first season (2013/14), he played a key role in Everton finishing fifth with 72 points — their Premier League-era record and chronically unlucky not to secure Champions League qualification.
Barry also helped the Toffees reach two domestic cup semi-finals two seasons later and seven in 2016/17 — 15 points clear of eighth and securing Europa League football in the process.
All of that, and Barry didn’t cost Everton a penny, initially joining on loan before completing a free transfer.
4 – Joe Parkinson
A combative midfielder signed just after the departure of the unpopular Mike Walker, there was little fanfare around Joe Parkinson’s arrival at Everton — especially given the club were in a downturn and the player had only experienced lower league football to that point.
However, he quickly established himself as a fan favourite.
One of the Dogs of War unleashed by Joe Royle to keep Everton safe, then beat Manchester United in the 1995 FA Cup final — the club’s last major trophy and securing Uefa Cup qualification — Parkinson was a key figure in the Toffees’ short-lived success in this period.
Parkinson bears a striking resemblance to Bruce Willis and, indeed, his all-action approach is certainly befitting of that.
Linked with tangible success and always giving 110%, often to the detriment of his own body, Parkinson is an Everton cult hero.
3 – Gary Speed
A boyhood blue, it remains one of the biggest regrets among Evertonians that they only had Gary Speed for two years.
However, it was a wonderful two years, with the late Wales international notching 18 goals in 63 appearances for the Toffees.
His seven goals in 21 Premier League appearances in the 1997/98 campaign were particularly important, accounting for 17% of Everton’s goals scored as they avoided relegation on goal difference with a final-day 1-1 draw against Coventry City.
Without Speed, Everton may have plummeted out of the top-flight, and the club did at least recoup a £5.5million fee for the midfielder from Newcastle — which to this day, keeps him 33rd on Everton’s list of biggest all-time sales (Transfermarkt).
A genuine top-class performer at a time when Everton were in the doldrums.
2 – Mikel Arteta
This is one that might wind a few Toffees up, given how he pushed through his move to Arsenal, but Mikel Arteta‘s class is in absolutely no doubt.
Whether through the middle or on the wing, Arteta brought a level of refinement to peak Moyes Everton that few others could.
‘The best little Spaniard we know’ registered 35 goals and 35 assists in 209 games for the Toffees, played in an FA Cup final, and is joint-fourth on their list of all-time European goalscorers — that strike in the Europa League quarter-final against Fiorentina at the Glwadys Street will forever remain in folklore.
Despite his exit to Arsenal, Arteta will always be looked back on fondly for his goal in a 2-0 Merseyside derby win in 2010. He was just pure class.
1 – Tim Cahill
At least in the Premier League era, nobody in a royal blue shirt has really come close to achieving what Tim Cahill has — at least in the midfield department.
The Australian was signed from Millwall for a modest fee in the summer of 2004, following the departure of Wayne Rooney to Manchester United.
Everton had just lost their star man and finished 17th the season prior, so optimism wasn’t exactly sky high.
But Cahill went on a rampage, with his well-timed runs and ridiculous leap — he was only 5ft 10″ — helping him net 12 goals in 38 appearances in 2004/05, including 11 in 33 Premier League outings as Everton finished above Liverpool in fourth and qualified for the Champions League against all the odds.
| Everton stats | Tim Cahill |
| Appearances | 278 |
| Goals | 68 |
| Assists | 29 |
Cahill never let up and by the time he left Goodison Park in 2012, he’d notched 68 goals and 29 assists in 278 appearances from midfield.
Only Romelu Lukaku, Duncan Ferguson and Dominic Calvert-Lewin have scored more Premier League goals for Everton than Cahill, who was even nominated for a Ballon d’Or award for his 2004/05 exploits — one of just five to receive a nomination for the accolade while being an active Everton player.
Honourable mentions: Lee Carsley, Thomas Gravesen, Marouane Fellaini, Peter Beardsley, Leon Osman, Idrissa Gana Gueye, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Don Hutchison, Ross Barkley, James McCarthy, John Ebbrell