Everton will be determined to bolster their squad this summer after experiencing an incredibly underwhelming 2021/22 campaign in the Premier League.

The Toffees had to wait until the penultimate game of the season to guarantee their safety.

With the transfer window now open for top-flight sides, Everton have unsurprisingly been linked with moves for a number of players.

One of the individuals who is seemingly on the verge of finalising a move to Goodison Park is Burnley defender James Tarkowski.

According to journalist Fabrizio Romano, the defender has already completed a medical at Everton and has reached a full agreement over personal terms.

Set to join the Toffees on a free transfer, Tarkowski will be determined to help the club achieve a relative amount of success next season.

Here, we have decided to take a look at whether this could turn out to be a good move by Everton whilst we also assess Tarkowski's chances of starting for the club and offer an insight into what he will offer in terms of his style of play.

Is it a good potential move?

When you consider that Everton will not have to pay Burnley a transfer fee due to the fact that Tarkowski's contract at Turf Moor is set to expire at the end of June, this could turn out to be a great bit of business by the club.

The 29-year-old knows exactly what it takes to compete at the highest level as he has made 194 appearances in the top-flight during his career.

Although he was unable to prevent Burnley from suffering relegation to the Championship last month, the defender still produced some assured performances for the club in the Premier League.

By maintaining his fitness over the course of the 2022/23 campaign, Tarkowski could potentially establish himself as a key player for Everton.

Would he start?

Given that Everton conceded 66 goals in the Premier League last season, they desperately improve defensively in the upcoming term.

Frank Lampard is currently able to turn to the likes of Michael Keane, Ben Godfrey, Mason Holgate and Yerry Mina for inspiration in Tarkowski's centre-back position.

 

 

Tarkowski managed to average a higher WhoScored match rating (6.97) in the top-flight during the previous campaign than all of these aforementioned players and thus it wouldn't be at all surprising if he does go on to start in the majority of Everton's fixtures.

What does he offer?

Tarkowski is particularly strong when it comes to aerial duels as he won an average of 4.4 per fixture last season.

The defender also made 5.2 clearances per game for Burnley in the 2021/22 campaign.

Capable of reading the game in a defensive sense, the defender made 1.4 interceptions and 1.8 tackles per league fixture.

One of the areas that Tarkowski may need to improve upon is his ability to retain possession as he only registered a pass success rate of 68.8% in the top-flight for Burnley.