Iliman Ndiaye is attracting attention from a plethora of Premier League clubs. His Everton exit is looking increasingly likely in the summer.
The Senegal international has proven himself in England since joining the Toffees back in 2024, signing from Marseille for around £15million.
With Ndiaye turning 26 in March, he will be thinking about his next move as he enters the prime of his career. It could be the career-defining move.
In this article, we’ll cover
Time at Everton
Ndiaye has played 58 games for Everton so far, scoring 15 goals and providing two assists.
During the 2024-25 season, the Senegalese winger quickly established himself as the “X factor” in that Everton side. Being fixed on the left wing, Ndiaye had the freedom to express himself everytime he got on the ball.
The dynamics of his role have slightly changed this season. Jack Grealish was brought to the club on loan, taking that spot on the left. So Ndiaye’s position shifted slightly.
Fifteen of Ndiaye’s league appearances have come on the right, with three on the left and one through the middle. While he has the talent to operate in any of these roles, Ndiaye’s best comes when he is platformed in a way to get him in his best zones. That’s often on the left side of the pitch.
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Ndiaye’s happy feet
One of the standout qualities of Ndiaye is his ability to carry the ball and manipulate the ball in tight spaces. So many times, we’ve seen him weaving his magic and dancing out of sticky situations.
Ndiaye blends his quality to keep the ball under close control, with his understanding of manipulating the defenders behaviours. It gives him a huge advantage in one-on-one or even one-on-two situations.
One of his main focus points when looking to dribble at defenders is how he can fix them, stand them up by decelerating, before exploding into the space he wants to take.
Ndiaye also utilises his body well when looking to beat defenders. He keeps his body between the ball and opponent, effectively shielding using his frame and then having the agility to get away through a quick change of direction.
The next step for Ndiaye would be creating more chances for his teammates off the dribble, once bursting away from his man.
Eye for goal
With only two assists since arriving at Everton, Ndiaye’s unique selling points has been that dribbling quality. But instead of being a creative winger, he’s fallen more towards the category of a flair-based wide man with an eye for goal.
Ndiaye has scored 15 goals since arriving at Everton, with a number of those coming from the penalty spot.
However, you can see from Ndiaye’s shot map since the start of last season, the majority of his efforts come from just inside the box. He often drives inside from wide areas before looking to get his shot away.
A higher volume of those shots are coming from the left of the box. This is no surprise due to his favoured side being the left, being able to cut inside on his stronger right foot.
But this season, Ndiaye has added goals arriving at the back post to finish off chances, with Grealish picking him out earlier in the season for a back post tap in against Brighton and Hove Albion, showing he can also score goals by arriving in the right place at the right time.
Defensive bite
But when assessing attacking players, many top Premier League sides will also be looking at their application off the ball, their pressing ability and attitude towards that side of the game.
With the current landscape of the Premier League being more and more focused on solid defensive schemes, having each player within the squad willing to fight and win duels off the ball is becoming increasingly important.
Ndiaye has massively developed this over his career, playing for the likes of Sheffield United and Everton in English football, working hard off the ball and being tactically astute to carry out a variety of out of possession duties.
The 25-year-old is currently averaging 6.2 ball recoveries per 90 minutes, also making 2.56 tackles per 90, putting him right up there among the most active defending forwards in the Premier League.
All of these attributes mentioned are reasons top clubs are circling like sharks to acquire Ndiaye in the summer, as teams look to add more Premier League proven talent to their squad, in order to minimise the risk of each transfer.