Idrissa Gana Gueye is yet to sign a new deal with Everton and despite his age, he continues to be the beating heart of the Blues’ midfield.
The Senegalese has had another standout season where he has appeared in all but one of Everton’s 34 Premier League matches so far this season. He has jumped in for tackles, made ball recoveries, protected the backline, dictated tempo and has fed chances to attackers. At 35, the Senegalese is showing no signs of slowing down.
Ahead of the weekend’s 1-0 loss to Chelsea, Opta data reveals that the 35-year-old has made 119 tackles so far this season, the most for any player across Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues. Manager David Moyes didn’t really see the positive side to it.
“It’s fantastic, but it’s telling me that he’s had to make 119 tackles, which I don’t know if it’s a good thing. It depends which way you look at the stats I suppose,” he said.
Moyes’ arrival has been the major turning point of the season with Everton climbing from just a point above the relegation zone to ensuring safety by a comfortable margin ahead of the much-anticipated move to Bramley-Moore Dock next summer.
However, while the likes of Branthwaite, Beto, Alcaraz, Doucoure, Tarkowski and Moyes himself have been in the headlines, Gueye has been the glue that has held the entire team together.
He was instrumental during Everton’s nine-game unbeaten run where the defence looked impenetrable. In the 2-2 draw with Manchester United at Goodison Park, a match that Moyes’ side should’ve won comfortably before conceding sloppy second-half goals, Gueye was in his element.
He attempted 11 tackles, winning nine, and performed 17 defensive actions, the most on the pitch. Had it not been for him, the Blues would’ve probably had to walk away with the blushes of letting the visitors win the game from 2-0 down at half-time.
“Look, I think Idrissa Gueye has done fantastically well, he really has, he’s surprised me a lot. He’s not a spring chicken, and we’re mindful of that. We’ve tried to rest him on odd occasions, here and there, but he’s done so well, he’s kept playing,” Moyes continued.
“I think he’s very good at breaking the play up and I think his experience is good. There’s a certain group of players here who he’s very helpful to and they see him as a top player and a gentleman as well, they rely on him a lot, but for me, he’s done so well.”
Much like his manager, this is the midfielder’s second stint at the club after he left for Paris Saint-Germain in a £30m move in 2019. Having won multiple league titles with the French outfit and with the experience of playing alongside the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe, Gueye returned to Merseyside just three years later.
Certainly no “spring chicken” anymore, but the Senegalese midfielder has managed to feature in over 85% of Everton’s Premier League games since his return and has helped the club avoid relegation in back-to-back seasons.
Idrissa Gueye has played over 200 matches wearing the Everton badge, and has a special relationship with the club and its fans. He is often the last off a pitch following a positive result and his family regularly appears at matches while his children have attended sessions at the club academy.
“This club means so much to me because it has given me everything. It gave me the opportunity to play at a high level, it gave me friends, the relationship I have with these great supporters. I just love this club,” he told the club’s official website a few months ago.
“When I left for PSG, I still thought about Everton a lot. Now I’m back here and I’m just trying to do everything in my power to help the team in the best way and make us better.”
Which brings us to his current situation. Gueye’s contract with the club is just weeks away from coming to an end. As of now, he is free to negotiate a pre-contract with a foreign club. He is one of 15 members of the squad whose futures at the club are still up in the air because of the financial takeover and because the club needed to ensure that they were staying up mathematically.
Now that the objective has been achieved, there might be light at the end of the tunnel. Football Insider’s transfer correspondent Peter O’Rourke reports that Everton are in talks with Idrissa Gana Gueye over a new deal.
The Toffees are expected to extend the midfielder’s stay at the club but will probably not make a final decision before the end of the current league campaign.
In all fairness, it will be a shame not to see Idrissa Gueye’s love affair with Everton and the fans continuing at Bramley-Moore Dock.
Reader Comments (27)
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Danny O’Neill
1 Posted
30/04/2025 at
17:52:14
Player of the season for me. He will be very difficult to replace. Give him another season whilst we look.
Ian Wilkins
2 Posted
30/04/2025 at
18:00:27
Put some decent players around him and he can still do a job breaking things up, winning the ball back.
One to keep for me.
Mike Allison
3 Posted
30/04/2025 at
18:00:59
Although there’s no doubt we’d miss what he does bring, I wouldn’t be too upset if we all moved on. If it wasn’t for the fact that we need about 10-12 players and renewing a couple of contracts is a sensible way of minimising the disruption, I’d be advocating for targeting a long term replacement for him.
As it is, we desperately need to spend that time, attention and money on 3-4 quality forward players.
Sam Hoare
4 Posted
30/04/2025 at
18:21:14
We’ve got enough holes to fill without replacing him too so I very much hope he signs. The bigger question perhaps is who plays next to him? Iroegbunam is not there yet, Garner is fine for a team fighting relegation but could/should be improved upon and Harrison Armstrong is probably best served by another loan (though he does seem to be finishing the season strongly).
John Raftery
5 Posted
30/04/2025 at
18:21:37
I think your final sentence is the primary reason why we need to keep Gana for next season.
Martin Mason
6 Posted
30/04/2025 at
18:36:47
Weakening now.
Phil Roberts
7 Posted
30/04/2025 at
18:53:51
I wonder if that is how he made so many tackles. Some were by Garner?
Danny O’Neill
8 Posted
30/04/2025 at
18:57:00
Phil, if it wasn’t for the confusion with Garner, I’d call him Gana. That is the name he prefers as it was passed down from his father in respect of his grandfather.
Brian Harrison
9 Posted
30/04/2025 at
18:58:12
The Bobble, who seems to know what’s happening inside the club, is suggesting that Calvert-Lewin will be offered a new contract along with Jack Harrison. I really hope neither the Calvert-Lewin nor Harrison stories are true, we need goal scorers and, whatever he is, Harrison isn’t a goalscorer. Calvert-Lewin was okay under Ancelotti… apart from that, he has been very average.
Paul Hewitt
10 Posted
30/04/2025 at
19:35:01
And that’s probably why we’re in the position we are in.
Derek Knox
11 Posted
30/04/2025 at
20:04:21
Thing is, a replacement for the future has to be sought after, but a very difficult task indeed!
Ryan Holroyd
12 Posted
30/04/2025 at
20:07:09
Hasn’t he got the most interceptions this season?
Martin Berry
13 Posted
30/04/2025 at
20:12:05
I can see Gueye and Doucoure being offered a 12-month contract to keep the numbers of the squad healthy; whether they accept on what I expect will be reduced terms is up to the players.
I suspect Moyes sees Soucek as Gueye’s replacement in midfield, and I think Moyes would want to keep Calvert-Lewin more than any other striker but he is injury-prone and may want out. Harrison and Lindstrom will be shipped and I expect two new wide players brought in to replace them.
I think it’s fascinating as to what is going to happen with players’ contracts and new signings, very exciting times. The older players whose times are coming to an end should be revered and Gueye is a great one. Difficult and perhaps emotional scenarios await, who would be a manager?
Danny O’Neill
14 Posted
30/04/2025 at
20:22:22
There is is going to be a recruitment team in place that will call the shots.
Robert Tressell
15 Posted
30/04/2025 at
20:22:35
I don’t think Gueye is irreplaceable by any stretch but he’s worth another 12 months.
Andrew James
16 Posted
30/04/2025 at
20:22:56
One of the few Steve Walsh signings that worked.
Definitely need to get him on board for another season.
Les Moorcroft
17 Posted
30/04/2025 at
20:31:05
I am with you. I don’t think he will. And I hope not.
Colin Glassar
18 Posted
30/04/2025 at
22:09:21
Keep him at all costs.
Paul Kernot
19 Posted
30/04/2025 at
22:16:40
Agreed Danny #14. He won’t like it if course but the writing is on the wall that Moyes won’t be making hiring decisions. Unfortunate for Moyes but there’s no better time than right now to make that change if the Friedkins are going to do that. Meanwhile, in the perfect world we’d re sign Calvert Lewin then give him to Ipswich in part exchange for Delap.
Jerome Shields
20 Posted
30/04/2025 at
22:17:28
Need to definitely be given a contract.Still would be able to command a move.
Mark Murphy
21 Posted
30/04/2025 at
22:18:24
1. Jordan Pickford
2. Jarrad Branthwaite
3. James Tarkowski
4. Jake OBrien
For me.
Hopefully next season a forward will be in the reckoning!
UTFT
Stuart Sharp
22 Posted
30/04/2025 at
22:32:58
Mark 21
There’s a case for Pickford or Tark, deffo. But Branthwaite to me hasn’t been quite as solid. And O’Brien, however impressive out of position, has only played half a season.
Brendan McLaughlin
23 Posted
30/04/2025 at
22:33:54
It amuses me that some supporters who didn’t for a minute see Moyes coming back… can be so certain as to the limitations TFG will place upon their choice of manager.
Straws and grasping… comes to mind.
Tom Bowers
24 Posted
30/04/2025 at
23:14:26
Gana has performed better than I thought but isn’t getting
any younger like a few others also.
Maybe our new investors will let us sign Yafal from Barca for a few hundred million and wages of two million Euros or more L.O.L. What a player and still only seventeen !
However we had Rooney and blew him off.
Mike Gaynes
25 Posted
30/04/2025 at
23:41:17
Slowing down? My ass. Gana is the leading tackler in Europe by a country mile, now with 123. Will lead us in interceptions this season as well. We could not find anybody better for what he does, and we have nobody else who can do it. I don’t care if he’s 36 or 56, we must keep him for one more season.
Curt Snyder
26 Posted
01/05/2025 at
00:37:04
It may be a good move to extend for two years with the understanding that we will not get in the way of whichever club he wants, a year on. He is a consumate professional and can be trusted. Get an insurance policy though. Player of the season for me.
Curt Snyder
27 Posted
01/05/2025 at
00:55:10
Consummate, sorry.
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