The English club Everton announced on Wednesday that it had activated a clause allowing it to extend the contract of its Franco-Malian midfielder Abdoulaye Doucouré by one year, which expired this summer. ‘The Blues have moved to add 12 months to the midfielder’s current contract before the deadline’explained in their press release the Toffees, who are struggling to maintain.
Currently 17th and first non-relegation before the last day, the other club Liverpool will be sure to stay if they beat Bournemouth, 15th and already certain to stay in the Premier League, at Goodison Park on Sunday. In the event of a draw or a fortiori defeat, he would be at the mercy of a victory for Leicester or Leeds, respectively 18th and 19th by two points, who respectively receive West Ham and Tottenham. If Everton is in a strong position before this last day, it owes a lot to the 30-year-old former Rennais, who arrived at the club in September 2020 from Watford, who had just been relegated.
Everton was then a very ambitious club headed by Carlo Ancelotti and who had also recruited the Colombian James Rodriguez and the Brazilian Allan to form a formidable trio in the middle. But after the departure of the Italian to Real Madrid, the results deteriorated significantly under the orders of Rafael Benitez then Frank Lampard, sacked at the end of January to be replaced by Sean Dyche.
Since the arrival of Dyche, Doucouré has again become decisive. Scorer against Nottingham Forest (2-2), decisive per against Brentford (1-0), then goalscorer and decisive per against Chelsea in March (2-2), he helped his club take five points from these three games and also scored twice in a 5-1 win at Brighton earlier this month.