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This article is part of Football FanCast's In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets...

Marco Silva wants him.

Loads of Everton fans want him.

Kurt Zouma is quite rightly wanted at Goodison Park on a permanent basis after starring for the club on loan last season. The France international made 29 starts for the Toffees in 2018/19 whilst on loan from Chelsea, and definitely struck up an impressive partnership alongside Michael Keane.

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However, after Chelsea were hit with a transfer ban, it may prove to be difficult to prise the 24-year-old away from Stamford Bridge, as the Blues will have no hope of bringing in a replacement.

It's not all bad news though. The Merseysiders are reportedly in talks with Lille centre-back Adama Soumaoro, and he looks every bit as good as Zouma, if not a tiny bit better judging by the stats below.

As you can see, the 6 foot 2 Malian defender recorded better numbers in almost every department compared to Zouma last term.

Soumaoro had a higher pass success rate, which is made even more impressive by the fact that he actually completed more passes than Zouma per game, whilst his defensive figures are substantially better.

The Lille star - who helped the French side qualify for the Champions League last term - averages a whopping 0.6 more clearances per game in comparison to the former St Etienne defender.

Soumaoro also makes 0.5 more blocks per game - the only area where Zouma comes out on top is the tackling department, where he averages 0.3 more than the 27-year-old Malian.

The Everton faithful will know all about how good Zouma is having watched him throughout the entirety of last season, but you simply cannot ignore Soumaoro's qualities - especially seeing as negotiations are reportedly taking place over a deal worth in the region of €12m-€15m (£10.8m-£13.5m).

This is definitely a deal worth pursuing for the Toffees as Chelsea look set to demand roughly double that figure - the Blues have asked for £30m from Everton if they want Zouma's signature.

It would save them a lot of money, and they would appear to be getting a player who is better than Zouma anyway.