Scouting Report: Could Carles Gil Take Everton to the Next Level?

Everton will trigger the £6 million buyout clause in the contract of Valencia's Elche loanee Carles Gil, per Paul Gorst at the Mirror, so here is a scouting report on the 21-year-old Spanish youth international. 

Positives

Gil is an adventurous, inventive, 5'7" two-footed right attacking midfielder, who can also play as a deep-lying forward behind the No. 9.

Source: Marca

By constantly zipping past opposing players in confined spaces, Gil creates the optical illusion that the ball is stuck to his feet.

He swivels drastically in a variety of directions and his unpredictability throws off many opposing markers.

In Elche's 1-0 win over Celta Vigo, central midfielder Andreu Fontas, a former Barcelona player, thought he had successfully shepherded Gil to the sidelines.

Though, Gil suddenly veered in the opposite direction and accelerated away from Fontas.

Source: LigaBBVA.com

In another instance, Gil cut inside so swiftly that Celta central midfielder Rafinha (on loan from Barca) was caught off balance.

Gil then hit a right-footed shot past Celta goalkeeper Yoel to score what turned out to be the winning goal.

Source: LigaBBVA.com

Gil has completed 49 dribbles in league play, which is more prolific than Everton right attacking midfielder Kevin Mirallas (40).

By having such a rapid first step, Gil consistently wins free-kicks for Elche (58 in 24 La Liga games). 

When he does release the ball, he aims to create a goal, like in a 2-0 win over Rayo Vallecano, when he swung in a low cross for Elche left attacking midfielder Aaron Niguez, who denied Gil an assist with a dreadful first touch. 

Source: LigaBBVA.com

Gil has registered 27 key passes (a pass that leads to a shot), though only has one assist, which can be attributed to Elche not having an elite goalscorer. 

Even though Gil is Elche's most lively threat, he is also the club's most accurate passer (84.3 percent completion percentage), so that fact would heavily appeal to Everton manager Roberto Martinez. 

Negatives

Gil has no end product; he is raw, unpolished and Everton cannot make a statistical argument to justify spending £6 million on a player who has scored one goal and registered one assist in 24 La Liga games.

When Gil does get in front of the goal, he has a tendency to fluff his lines, hence why he has failed to convert 94.4 percent of goalscoring chances, per Squawka. 

Source: LigaBBVA.com

Everton management would be basing their transfer valuation of Gil on potential, just like signing Bryan Oviedo from FC Copenhagen for £5 million, per Phil McNulty at BBC Sport. 

Jan Kruger/Getty Images

Gil would be a permanent replacement for Barca loanee Gerard Deulofeu, who prefers a return to the Catalan club, rather than extending his loan with Everton, per Catalunya Radio (h/t Francisco Acedo at Sky Sports). 

Deulofeu has been second choice to Mirallas, who has scored and created a combined 10 goals (five goals, five assists) in the Premier League this season. 

Gil would be competing with Aiden McGeady to be Mirallas' back-up, which is in line with the competitive culture Martinez is trying to instill at the club. Per Matthew Gamble at Everton's official website: "There's massive competition for places in the dressing room."

Bottom Line

Granted Mirallas was playing in the Greek Superleague, which is incomparable to La Liga, he scored 20 goals in his last season for Olympiacos, before moving to Everton for £6 million, per McNulty at BBC Sport. 

It seems so economically inefficient for Everton to spend £6 million on Gil, who has only scored one goal in 1,996 minutes of La Liga football this season, per LFP.es. 

"Carles Gil is ours and he will play in the [Valencia] first team next season," Valencia president Amadeo Salvo said, per Superdeporte (h/t Dermot Corrigan at ESPN FC). "It is a good sign that he is wanted, it would be bad if nobody was interested."

Valencia management believe Gil's career will skyrocket like David Silva, who spent two loan spells at Eibar and Celta.

If that projection is correct, it would explain the mindset of Martinez and Everton management in pursuing Gil, whose numbers are inexplicably bad, but he does conjure up individual brilliance you cannot ignore. 

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