Dwight McNeil: Does he improve the Toffees?

Everton have completed a £20 million move for Burnley winger Dwight McNeil this week, but what does he bring to Frank Lampard’s team?

The 22-year-old may have been part of a relegated side last season, but his stats actually make quite impressive reading.

This article breaks down his defensive, playmaking and attacking stats from the 2020-21 season, to show the best and worst of the Englishman’s game.

 

Defending

McNeil is a versatile player. In his time at Turf Moor, his main position has been as a left winger, but he has also played as a left back, as a right winger, a number 10 and a second striker. This ability to play anywhere on the pitch will have undoubtedly been in Lampard’s mind before considering bringing the 22-year-old to Everton. But something that has gone under the radar is McNeil’s defensive ability.

In his 38 matches for Burnley last season, he made an average of 2.1 tackles per game. This works out as 78 successful challenges across the 2021-22 campaign: the highest in the Claret’s entire squad. He also made 0.9 interceptions, 0.6 clearances and 0.3 blocks per game. These stats put him in the top one percent for defensive contributions from all attacking players in the league.

Any Evertonian will tell you that they want to see their players put in the work off the ball, as well as with it, so these excellent defensive attributes could help get the fans on board with McNeil.

Burnley managed to keep nine clean sheets last season, which in fairness is a decent amount for a relegated team. Given his defensive stats and that he played every league game, McNeil was key to this. Everton, on the other hand, kept eight clean sheets but conceded 13 more goals than the Clarets, so the 22-year-old should help turn the Toffees into a more solid defensive unit.

Played: 38

Tackles per game: 2.1

Interceptions per game: 0.9

Clearances per game: 0.6

Blocks per game: 0.3

Clean sheets: 9

 

Playmaking

Perhaps the most impressive part of McNeil’s game though is his playmaking ability.

In terms of his involvement in games, he only made an average of 24.7 passes per match last season, which is relatively low. But you do have to remember that in most of Burnley’s matches, they did not have a lot of possession, so this isn’t really his fault.

When McNeil did get the ball though, he was often effective and created a lot of chances for his teammates. He also rarely gave the ball away, with a 77.7% pass success rate.

McNeil averaged 1.2 key passes per game and created 47 chances in total for his teammates in 2021-22. This puts him in the top 25 most prolific chance creators in the Premier League. Also, he created more chances than any Everton player last season.

Evidently, creativity has been an area the Blues have struggled with since losing Lucas Digne and James Rodriguez, so McNeil could be a huge asset for Lampard if he can continue his good form in this area.

However, despite creating so many chances for the Clarets, he only registered one assist for them in 2021-22. Can you blame this on McNeil? Probably not. Burnley struggled to convert chances in general, with their three main strikers Ashley Barnes, Jay Rodriguez and Matej Vydra scoring a combination of just five goals across the campaign.

McNeil will be hoping Dominic Calvert-Lewin can convert much more of the chances he creates.

Average passes per game: 24.7

Key passes per game: 1.2

Pass success rate: 77.7%

Chances created in season: 47

Assists: 1

 

Attacking

Although, one downside to McNeil is that he is certainly not a goalscorer. Since 2017 the Englishman has scored only seven goals for Burnley, which is incredibly low given he has played 148 matches in that time, mostly in an attacking role.

Last season, he took 1.4 shots on goal per game, but scored zero, suggesting his finishing needs a lot of improvement. But I suppose you do have to give him some credit, as at least he’s not afraid to try and score.

Where the 22-year-old is effective though is in his ability to run down the wing and get crosses into the box. In that sense, he is more comfortable playing as a traditional winger. Based on his defensive stats, he could be an effective wing back option for Lampard too.

McNeil made an average of 2.4 successful dribbles per game last season, second only to Newcastle’s Allan Saint-Maximin in the league overall. As for crossing, he made an average of 1.1 successful crosses per game and made 257 over the course of the 2021-22 campaign, making him the fifth most prolific crosser in the Premier League last season.

If he can continue to do this for Everton and consistently pick out Dominic Calvert-Lewin, in theory, they could be a big threat when playing together next season, given DCL’s excellent aerial ability.

Will this be a good signing for the Blues? Time will tell. Looking at his chance creation stats and his work rate off the ball, if he has a good start to the season, McNeil has potential to become a fan favourite at Goodison Park. Given his lack of goals though, he is definitely not a replacement for

Richarlison, who was the Toffees’ top scorer in 2021-22; so, Lampard still has some work to do in the transfer market in that sense.

Successful dribbles per game: 2.4

Fouls won per game: 0.9

Shots per game: 1.4

Successful crosses per game: 1.1

Goals: 0