Everton made a big move in the Summer of 2022 when they pulled off a loan move for highly rated forward Jess Park from Manchester City. Park was looking to prove herself as a genuine WSL player worthy of starting regularly for her parent club and Everton were looking for some creativity in the front line.
The move worked out for both parties as the 21 year old wowed fans with her performances and also earned a first England call up, while the Toffees had an impressive WSL season and finished 6th.
A year on though and Park is back at Manchester City and ready to attack the next stage of her career, leaving Everton with a bit of a void on their left wing, especially if Chelsea player Aggie Beever-Jones doesn’t return to the club next season.
This is an area of the pitch that Brian Sørensen’s side will no doubt look to target in this upcoming transfer window. Park led the team in assists and was second in goals scored last season, Everton are going to need someone with a track record of producing goals. Here are three targets, from most attainable to least attainable, who could do that exact thing at Walton Hall Park as the club look to build on last season’s performance.
High attainability - Natalia Wróbel (19, Brøndby)
The reasons for Brøndby’s Natalia Wróbel being an unlikely target for the club are as follows:
1: She’s 19 with one season of experience at a good level.
2: 99% of her football has been played on the right wing, rather than on the left where Park often played last season.
3: She’s just broken into the Poland senior side and probably wouldn’t want to change scenery so soon into her development.
Despite all that, it’s really hard to look past the fact she’s a really talented and intriguing prospect. 9 goals and 3 assists in the Elitedivisonen is a tremendous return for a teenage winger and only two players in the entire league were able to better her 12 direct goal contributions.
What stands out instantly when watching Wróbel is her directness and her lethal left foot. The power she generates on her shots when cutting in on her left foot is outstanding and has produced some remarkable goals this past season.
Wróbel isn’t over reliant on her left foot though, and is equally adept at using her speed and low centre of gravity to get down the line and fire in shots and crosses on her right foot. She clearly favours her left foot but with more development she could easily be a threat on the left wing too, she’s already got a lot of variety to her game.
This speed and ability to shoot from anywhere makes her a huge threat in transition, as soon as Brøndby break forward, the Polish forward is storming down the right wing screaming for the pass. Once she receives the ball in these situations she’s so dangerous because defenders either have to sit off and let her shoot with that marvellous left foot, or push up on her and risk getting left for dead by her quickness.
Going back to her variety in the final third, the 19 year old is both a volume shooter and a volume crosser. This is rare with young players, who usually have one skill they favour and rely on quite heavily while the rest of their game develops. Wróbel’s 2.78 shots p90 would’ve led the Everton side last season and her 4.58 crosses p90 would’ve ranked her second in the side behind fellow Brøndby alumni Nicoline Sørensen.
Like with any young player there are a couple of areas for improvement. As of right now Wróbel is maybe a bit too much of a transitional player. She is elite on the counter attack but can sometimes struggle and get frustrated in settled possession when the space isn’t there to drive at the defence.
There’s also an argument to be made that her goal scoring isn’t sustainable due to her scoring 9 goals from only 5 xG, and while that can sometimes be an issue I don’t think it will be with Wróbel due to her already high level finishing and shooting ability.
There’s definitely some concerns with how she’d fit into a Brian Sørensen Everton team, and she’s definitely not got the creative ability of Jess Park, but I think the talent and upside is worth moving for.
Medium attainability – Olivia Holdt (22, Rosengard)
At first, this move sounds even less likely than the Wróbel one, but it actually makes a lot of sense.
To start with, Holdt hasn’t had a dream start to life at Rosengard. Her last four games have yielded seven goals but before that spell she had played sixteen league games and scored zero.
This isn’t her fault however, Holdt is at her best when she can occupy the left side of the frontline, making out to in runs to get on the end of chances. At Rosengard however, her teammate Olivia Schough occupies the exact same spaces, meaning Holdt has had to change her game.
The cherry on top is that when the Dane was enjoying the best spell of her career at Fortuna Hjørring, her manager was current Everton boss Brian Sørensen.
Sørensen utilised the forward to perfection during his sole season in charge at Hjørring, which led to Holdt scoring 11 league goals and creating 5 assists as she earned a move to Champions League side Rosengard.
In her season under Sørensen, the 22 year old led the entire Elitedivisonen in shots (85), was third in xG (10.63) and 8th in dribbles. She was high usage and the focal point of the Hjorring side, just as Jess Park was for Everton this past season.
Olivia Holdt excels in behind, something Everton lacked a little bit last season other than Aggie Beever-Jones. This off ball movement and running would give the Toffees another dimension as they look to improve in the final third.
Low attainability – Anna Langås Jøsendal (22, Rosenborg)
Pivoting from a Dane to a Norwegian, Anna Jøsendal is destined to reach the very top of the football ladder. Just by watching her play the game you quickly see that she’s a special talent, one who will have a long and successful career.
Already heading to the World Cup this Summer, Jøsendal is the type of player that would take Everton to the next level if they could somehow convince her to trade Norway for Walton Hall Park.
The 22 year old dominates every statistic in the Toppserien in a way that is rarely seen at this level. 8 assists and 6 goals is obscene production for a player so young, but the underlying numbers are even more eye catching.
7.15xG ranks her third in the league from the left wing position.
46 shots ranks her second in the league.
0.95xG+xA p90 is first in the league.
55 crosses is fourth in the league.
63% dribble success rate is eighth in the league.
72 touches in the box is second in the league.
Every single metric you look at, the Rosenborg attacker is right at the top end. This completely matches the eye test too. Any time she is on the pitch the ball is usually at her feet sooner rather than later, whether the ball is played in behind for her to run onto or to her feet for her to create from deeper positions.
Unlike the first two names mentioned, Jøsendal is able to match the creativity of Jess Park. She’s a willing and talented crosser of the ball with both feet, she’s an able passer from central and wide areas and she can create through the dribble for herself and others too.
Her goal scoring is also due a jump. Her off ball movement is great and she underperformed her xG in this past season by 1.15, if she can get up to 9–10 goals a season you’ve already got one of the most productive players in the league if she were to join the WSL.
The only issue would be attainability, especially if the winger has a good showing at the World Cup for Norway. There will already be clubs all over Europe sniffing around, a talent like this doesn’t come around every day and if Everton even have a 1% chance of securing her services, they should do everything in their power to make it a reality.
