Oumar Niasse, What to Expect

He may not have played a competitive game in over 12 months or scored a league goal in 30 months, but if Huddersfield can get Niasse up to speed they may have a may have pulled off a masterstroke by signing him.

Harsh Treatment from Ronald Koeman

Ultimately, the stats will show him as being a poor signing for Everton, but they definitely do not show the whole picture. Oumar signed for the Toffees on the 1st February 2016 on a 4.5 year deal from Spartak Moscow for £13.5 million, but Niasse only managed 5 appearances before the end of the season on Merseyside. The appointment of now Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman a the start of the 2016/17 brought down a curtain on his first team chances at Everton. It was humiliating for the Senegalese international, his shirt number was withdrawn, sent to train with the U23s and his locker at the club's training ground was removed. By the following January he was on loan at Premier League side Hull City, where he scored 4 goals and 1 assist in 17 games, but he powerless to stop Hull's relegation to the Championship.

Proving Koeman wrong!

At the start of the 2017/18 season, Ronald Koeman was under increasing pressure as he failed to recruit a replacement for Romelu Lukaku and recalled Niasse to the first team picture for gameweek 6, with Niasse being subbed on with 35 minutes to go and the Blues 1-0 down. Oumar ended up scoring a quickfire double, securing Everton's second win of the season. Koeman departed 3 games later, but Niasse would go onto make 22 appearances (1080 minutes) for Everton that season, scoring 8 goals, 3 assists and averaging a goal involvement every 98 minutes.

What type of striker is he?

Town had been linked with a tall hold-up player to play as an alternative to Fraizer Campbell but I would say Niasse is a very similar player to Town's current striker. He is slightly taller than Campbell standing at 6 foot while also liking to drop into the overall build-up play. Where Niasse starts to differentiate himself from Campbell is his positional sense. When he wins the ball back he running straight for the box and getting into a position to score. Watch him in his game winning brace against Bournemouth, you can see him winning the ball back for the first goal, while the second showed him being in the right place at the right time, but he had to match that with an outstanding finish as it was not an easy chance.
Niasse is an accomplished header of the ball, likes to tackle, is strong on the ball and makes some brilliant runs in behind. The only potential caveat is that to get the most out of the 9 time Senagalese forward, is that Niasse will only be effective if we are looking to play the ball upfield quickly. If we allow our centre backs to be on the half way line with the ball and all the opposition be in their half, we will not get the most out of Niasse and will suffer the same issues that we currently have with Campbell.
I think Niasse could potentially displace Campbell in the starting lineup, but even if he doesn't he will provide much needed cover for Campbell and be a potential option off the bench. West Brom was interested in Niasse in January, with Oumar himself saying he would be interested in playing again under Sam Allardyce who allowed him to thrive in that Everton side in 2017/18. I think Niasse could impact the squad immediately and I would not be against his arrival. Still aged 30 and with Town desperately in need of a forward, a deal until the end of the season would make sense and I believe that is what Town will offer him, like they Richard Keogh.
I was disappointed that Town did not manage to sign anyone on deadline day, but out of all the players we were linked, none of them come close to Niasse's pedigree and while Adebayo would have been a good future prospect, he isn't at the level that Town needs currently.

Be sure to keep up to date with all the other incoming and outgoing deals at Town on the Transfer Page.