Jean-Philippe Gbamin 25

Everton tied up the £23m transfer of Jean-Philippe Gbamin as something of a coup near the end of the 2019 summer transfer window when they struck a deal with FSV Mainz 05 for the Ivorian who signed a five-year contract.

Gbamin, 23, broke into the Lens first-team in 2013 after spells with Aire-sur-la-Lys and US Saint-Quentin Blessy's youth setups. Mainz brought him to the Bundesliga in 2016 as a promising France U21 international but he switched his international allegiance to Ivory Coast, the country of his birth, shortly afterwards and he had been capped 11 times at the time he arrived at Goodison Park.

Gbamin was ostensibly been brought in to replace Idrissa Gueye, who left to join Paris Saint-Germain a few days previously, but he can also operate as a centre-half if needed. He will wear the No 25 jersey.

“It's a big moment with a lot of emotion and now it's on me to prove on the pitch why they bought me,” Gbamin said.

“I'm excited because Everton is a great club here in England with a big history and ambition so I didn't think for more than a moment — I wanted to come here.”   

Gbamin was thrust into debut action for the Blues on the first day of the 2019-20 season when Andre Gomes suffered an injury shortly before half-time in the game at Crystal Palace. The Ivorian was preferred to Tom Davies in central midfield alongside Morgan Schneiderlin – the young Englishman would come on later after Schneiderlin was sent off for a second bookable offence – and had some nice early touches but ultimately was given a few lessons in the speed and intensity of the Premier League when he got caught in possession a few times during the goalless draw.

He would get his first start a week later as Schneiderlin served a one-match ban and had already shown signs that he could quickly adapt to his new league. Unfortuately, he would suffer an early setback in his Blues career when he suffered a thigh injury during training the following week.

FactFile