Allan Marques Loureiro 6

By the end of his first half-season in charge at Everton, the scale of the job he had inherited had fully dawned on Carlo Ancelotti and he and Marcel Brands were under no illusions about which part of the team needed the most urgent attention: midfield. It was no surprise, then, that the Italian turned to one of his most trusted lieutenants from his time at Napoli, Allan.

The Brazilian became the Toffees' first signing of the 2020 close season after months of being linked with a move to Goodison Park and Brands working to negotiate the fee down from as high as £35m, the amount at which the Serie A club is reported to have initially valued him when talks began.

The price was also more than half of what Paris Saint-Germain were said to be willing to offer Napoli for the 29-year-old last year before that proposed deal collapsed and since then it had been Allan's desire to link back up with his former boss.

Allan signed a three-year contract in early September 2020 and joined compatriots Richarlison and Bernard on Merseyside, taking the number 6 jersey.

Allan, who has dual Brazilian and Portuguese citizenship, promised to add strength to central midfield as well as more of a box-to-box presence than anyone currently at the club at the time. While not a prolific goalscorer — he scored 16 times in 212 appearances in all competitions for Napoli — he is able to get forward, has a good turn of pace, and offers both strength and technique on the ball.

He moved to Italy in 2012 after three years with Vasco da Gama in his native Brazil when he signed for Udinese and operated mostly as a defensive midfielder, helping that club to qualify for the Europa League in his first season there.

It was Allan's performances in 2014-15 that caught the attention of some of Europe's bigger clubs but it was Napoli who landed him in an €11.5m deal in 2015 and he would become a mainstay in the Partenopei's team.

He forced his way into his country's senior setup in 2018, making his international debut in London in a friendly against Uruguay and then played in the Copa America in June 2019, coming on a substitute in the dying minutes of the final against Peru after Richarlison had scored the goal that killed the match off at 3-1 from the penalty spot.

Regarded by many as one of the finest midfielders in Serie A before Ancelotti left Stadio San Paolo, Allan's form dipped under Gennario Gattuso but he was, nevertheless, a reported target of Juventus this summer. However, it was the pull of his ex-boss that drew him to Everton where he would become a central figure alongside André Gomes in the Blues' midfield.

But as the season wore on, Allan's contribution seemed to decline as injuries limited him to around half of the season's games, along with Ancelotti's ability to conjure decent performances from the wayward bunch of players he had largely inherited.

FactFile