Iliman Ndiaye primed to become unlikely secret weapon for Dream Team bosses in coming weeks
MOST Dream Team managers would flinch at the mere suggestion of relying on an Everton player for points.
The Toffees have endured a largely joyless campaign thus far having won just four of their 21 Premier League games to this point.
At the time of writing, only the three promoted teams and Wolves are below Everton in the table with relegation-bound Southampton being the only side to have scored fewer goals.
Despite all this, Iliman Ndiaye (£3.9m) might be an effective secret weapon for gaffers in the near future.
The 24 year-old winger features in just 0.3% of teams right now, due to the aforementioned negatives, but he boasts an impressive average of 5.9 points-per-game.
For context, Dejan Kulusevski (£4.3m), Morgan Rogers (£3.7m), Kevin De Bruyne (£5.7m) and many other notable midfielders rank below Ndiaye in the same metric.
The Senegal international has scored six goals this season and supplements his returns with plenty of bonus points, 31 to be exact.
MOST BONUS POINTS THIS SEASON:
- 35 - Ryan Gravenberch
- 34 - James Maddison
- 32 - Youri Tielemans
- 31 - Iliman Ndiaye
- 30 - Eberechi Eze
- 30 - Declan Rice
- 29 - Anthony Gordon
- 29 - Antonee Robinson
- 29 - Savinho
- 27 - Bruno Guimaraes
The Goodison Park faithful won't be surprised to learn that their No10's dribbling ability is the main reason he ranks so highly for bonus points.
Ndiaye has already completed 60 successful dribbles in 2024/25.
Only Morgan Rogers (£3.7m) has registered more at this stage and that's mainly because the Aston Villa midfielder has played four more games.
Ndiaye earned three well deserved bonus points to go alongside his goal against Tottenham on Sunday for a return of 13 points - his best haul of the campaign to date.
It's all well and good being a rare shining light in an otherwise struggling team but it takes more than a few mazy dribbles to convince Dream Team bosses a player is worthy of a place in a competitive XI.
Aside from their poor form, one of the things limiting Everton's viability in Dream Team is their comparatively restricted schedule (no European or Carabao Cup commitments).
However, there appears to be a short window in which the balance shifts favour of the Merseyside outfit.
David Moyes' side are due to face hapless Leicester in Gameweek 22 before a rare double header against Bournemouth and Liverpool in Gameweek 23.
The rearranged Merseyside derby means Everton have three fixtures to fulfil across two Gameweeks when 15 other top flight clubs will play twice (or just once in the case of West Ham and Brentford).
This means Ndiaye will be on the right side of a fixture imbalance for once, with a favourable match-up against the Foxes sweetening the deal.
It should go without saying that Liverpool assets are the top priority for Gameweeks 22 and 23, when Arne Slot's troops will be action FOUR times.