By OkayGoal
Christian Nørgaard transfer to Everton is a genuinely smart bit of business, and once you understand why, it’s hard to see it any other way.
This is a Christian Nørgaard scouting report that looks at the crucial skill he brings, the problem he solves, and exactly how he’s likely to fit into David Moyes‘ plans.
It’s pretty obvious what’s going on here. Nørgaard is coming in to replace Idrissa Gueye, and with Everton’s midfield already under review this summer and Tim Iroegbunam’s long-term future not entirely settled either, a proper defensive midfielder was never optional this window, it was a must.
The 32-year-old didn’t play a huge amount for Arsenal in the league last season, he did get a few games in the Champions League here and there and was a regular in the FA Cup for the Gunners but if we jump to his season before with Brentford, it tells you everything you need to know about the player Everton have signed.
The stats that explain the Christian Nørgaard signing
His numbers at Brentford were properly impressive for a holding midfielder. He was in top 21% across Europe for progressive passes while also standing out for winning the ball back and playing forward whenever it landed at his feet. Stack his radar up against Tim Iroegbunam’s and the gap is stark. Iroegbunam wins his duels, no question, but everywhere else the two just aren’t in the same conversation.
Christian Norgaard vs Iroegbunam
Compare Christian Nørgaard to Idrissa Gueye instead and the picture flips a bit, Gueye actually comes out on top in more areas. But there’s a reason for that, and it’s not really a problem at all, it’s about what each of them was actually being asked to do.
Understanding his role at Everton: the deepest man in a counter-attacking side
To get Christian Nørgaard as a player you need to picture him in Brentford’s 4-3-3 under Thomas Frank which morphed into a 4-4-2 without the ball with Nørgaard as one of the key men shielding the back four. Brentford loved a counter, so their forwards would often camp high, targeting the space in behind, and the two central midfielders either side of Nørgaard, Vitaly Janelt and Mikkel Damsgaard, would push up and join that attacking line too. This left Nørgaard (more often than not) completely on his own.
That’s the whole point of having him, really. His job was to take the ball off the centre-backs or the goalkeeper and get it moving forward as fast as possible.
He would drop between Brentford’s two centre-backs to receive and it’s clever for two reasons. He drops just far enough to get the ball but not so far that opponent’s press can actually close the gap in time. And rather than risk playing short into pressure, he just goes long, trusting Bryan Mbeumo to be the outlet on the far side and the accuracy on that pass is no fluke, it’s exactly what he’s trying to do.
It works just as well against teams who sit in rather than press. Against a deep block, none of his Brentford teammates even bothered running to support him, they trusted him enough to stand between the lines themselves. He gets the ball, takes a touch out of his feet, scans, and finds Mbeumo with a perfectly weighted pass, and suddenly Brentford have bodies inside the box because the players who were previously stuck in front of Newcastle’s defence are now free and close to goal.
Even under pressure at an awkward height following opponent’s long goal kick, he doesn’t panic. He plays a quick one around the corner and takes the danger away from his own box entirely.
What Christian Nørgaard offers in the final third
It’s not just about circulating the ball from deep either.
At Arsenal, he floated a lovely ball through the middle to send Gabriel Jesus through on goal, the kind of pass you barely see anymore. Even on a shocking pitch against Mansfield, he scanned before the ball arrived, knew the press was coming, dropped a shoulder, beat his man, and slid in Eberechi Eze for a ridiculous goal. Eze could afford to stay high up the pitch precisely because he knew Nørgaard would find the pass before the pass.
That’s the value of having him, he’s never going to be the one skinning a man in the box and finishing top corner, but he’s the reason others get to try.
His speed of thought is what really sets him apart.
Against Kairat in the Champions League, Arsenal won the ball high and Nørgaard was one of the furthest forward players but rather than chase the box himself, he stayed available to trigger the next pass. He does this without the ball needing to sit still first, first time, no hesitation, because he’s already seen it before the defenders have even started to react.
The defensive side of Nørgaard that people underrate
Losing a player like Gueye means Everton are losing a huge amount of defensive output and Nørgaard doesn’t replace that in the same way. He’s not the one covering every blade of grass hunting the ball down like Gueye used to do.
The thing is the former Arsenal man is smarter than that. Mikel Arteta (as well as Frank) often left him alone as the only true holding midfielder in front of the back four, trusting him to shuffle across, block the passing lane into the striker, and hoover up the loose ball which then freed the rest of the midfield to push higher even without possession.
His concentration never seems to drop either.
Arsenal were 4-1 up against Aston Villa deep into stoppage time and there was a situation where Villa broke forward. And given the scoreline, every Arsenal player was watching the ball, bar one. Nørgaard had already clocked Donyell Malen’s diagonal run and despite having none of Malen’s raw pace, he got himself into position early enough to put the shot off target anyway.
He did the same thing for the Gunners against Crystal Palace and again against Slavia Prague. The Gunners getting caught out of shape and then relying on Nørgaard to read the danger and cutting off the passing lane before it becomes a real problem.
How Christian Nørgaard fits into David Moyes’ system at Everton
At both Brentford and Arsenal he operated as a lone pivot, so the question is what Everton do with him.
Slot him in as that single holding man in front of Tarkowski and Branthwaite, and it frees up James Garner (when he is back fit) and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to push higher than usual. Garner attacking from a more advanced left-sided position isn’t something we’ve seen a huge amount of but his crossing from the half-space, aimed at someone like Barry, could be lethal.
Dewsbury-Hall impressed plenty of people last season getting into those same half-spaces (and he scored from similar space vs Crystal Palace).
With Nørgaard covering that much ground and controlling the tempo from deep, it also frees up a full-back like Vitaliy Mykolenko to get forward more than he’s used to. Whether that’s Mykolenko, or Iliman Ndiaye/Tyrique George combining down the same side, remains to be seen.
Whoever ends up in those positions, the principle stays the same, Nørgaard is the reliable one. He is the man who us going to break up counters and switch the play with real accuracy, letting everyone in front of him stay higher and more dangerous.
Summer arrival Hayden Hackney is probably the biggest beneficiary of all. He loves receiving in those pockets and turning to attack the opposition’s back line, but that only works if someone else is doing the unglamorous job of collecting it from deep and getting it forward through a mid or low block.
Nørgaard can punch the ball through with real pace which matters given how often Tarkowski and Michael Keane struggled to find the next pass last season, too often ending up going backwards to Jordan Pickford, who’d try to pump it long to Jake O’Brien, who himself was filling in at right-back and going up against aerial duels he wasn’t really built to win.
Nørgaard is smart business at £7m
For all those reasons, this is a properly smart signing. £7 million for a 32 years old everyone knows exactly what Everton are getting. He will give you two or three good seasons that won’t get in the way of Hayden Hackney or Harrison Armstrong being brought through in their own time.
Christian Nørgaard is exactly the sort of player young midfielders learn from just by being in the building.