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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...

According to France Football (via Sport Witness), Everton have identified Celta Vigo midfielder Stanislav Lobotka as a potential replacement for Idrissa Gueye, whilst Mainz's Jean-Philippe Gbamin is also on their list of candidates.

The Toffees are reportedly looking to sign four or five players before the deadline on August 8, with Marcel Brands set to be a busy man as a right-back, winger and striker are targeted whilst the pursuit of Kurt Zouma goes on.

Amongst those four or five players being targeted by the Merseysiders is a replacement for Gueye, who joined Paris Saint-Germain in a deal worth £30m on Tuesday, and it seems as if Lobotka and Gbamin are the two names on the shortlist.

Whilst Gbamin seems like a fairly decent option to replace the Senegal international, Lobotka simply cannot be considered as a replacement for Gueye as his statistics are nowhere near that of the PSG new boy's.

For a start, Gueye recorded 4.3 tackles per game and 2.2 interceptions per game across his 33 starts in the Premier League last term, as well as 1.3 clearances per game.

Lobotka is being considered as his replacement and is naturally a defensive midfielder, but his stats are quite simply nowhere near Gueye's.

The Slovakian averaged just one tackle per game in La Liga last season, along with 0.8 interceptions and 0.5 clearances across 31 league appearances.

Check out some amazing tekkers in the video below...

It doesn't take a genius to realise that those numbers are substantially worse than Gueye's from a defensive viewpoint, and that if Everton seriously view him as a potential replacement, they should probably give their heads a bit of a wobble.

Admittedly, Gueye was an excellent player in his position and few players got near his numbers - he recorded more tackles on average than any other player in the Premier League last term.

But having said that, there must be better options out there for Everton instead of the far inferior 24-year-old.

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