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Ramiro Funes Mori signed for Everton in a fee in the region of £9.5 million from River Plate in September. The Argentina international has slotted into the Toffees’ back-four with real aplomb, and is starting to enjoy his life in Merseyside.

In truth, despite earning five caps for the Argentine national side, Funes Mori was somewhat of an unknown entity when he first arrived in the Premier League. However, after a solid six months at Goodison Park, the 25-year-old is starting to look like a shrewd bit of business by Roberto Martinez and co.

Mori has already stacked up 22 Premier League appearances for the club, as well as featuring in the Capital One Cup and the FA Cup. The former River Plate man has formed a formidable defensive partnership with the likes of skipper Phil Jagielka and young prodigy John Stones.

 

Real eye for goal

Not only has Funes Mori sparkled with his familiar defensive duties, he’s also shown a real eye for goal. The Everton No. 25 has netted four times for the Toffees already this season – against Bournemouth, Chelsea and Aston Villa in the league and Manchester City in the League Cup – and is always a threat from set pieces.

As for the club as a whole, it’s been another very indifferent season so far for Martinez’s side. It seems to be a case of one step forward, two steps back for the Merseysiders this term.

After securing back-to-back wins recently – in the FA Cup and Premier League respectively – the Toffees were brought back down to earth with a bang after losing at home to West Ham United on the weekend. 10-man Everton were 2-0 up after 79 minutes, only for the Hammers to turn the game completely on its head and remarkably return to east London with a 3-2 victory.

As a consequence, Everton now sit 12th in the Premier League table, two points adrift of the top half. Obviously, for a club the size of the Toffees, who have seen much dizzier heights even in recent times, that just simply isn’t good enough.

 

Quality

Still, the calibre of player is undoubtedly there. With the likes of young England international’s Stones and Ross Barkley at the forefront of the team, the future is bright on the pitch. The recent news of the huge investment coming into the club from former Arsenal stakeholder Farhad Moshiri should signal good times off the pitch, too.

Next up for Ramiro Funes Mori and Everton is an FA Cup quarter-final against fellow Premier League side Chelsea. Being at home, the Toffees will fancy their chances of progressing to the Wembley semi-final, even if they are the slight underdogs with the bookies. Everton have taken four points off the west Londoners in the league this term.

Whatever happens from now until the end of the season, the Everton hierarchy have certainly found a gem in Funes Mori. For a player who’s only been at the club for a few months, he’s definitely made the right kind of impact the Goodison Park faithful were hoping for thus far.

The Everton fans will be hoping he can continue his fine form for the rest of the season.

 

Written by Gareth Hinton

Follow Gareth on Twitter @Galccfc

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