With Everton’s lack of ruthlessness costing them dear – and potentially even costing them their place in the Premier League – the stellar form of a couple of former Toffees is doing little to ease the frustration around Goodison Park.
No player in England’s top four tiers has been quite as prolific as Ellis Simms in 2024. With 17 goals in all competitions now – and with two hat-tricks since the turn of the year too – Simms may be plying his trade in the second tier for Coventry City but it’s not beyond the realms of imagination to suggest that the Finch Farm graduate would have gobbled up a few of the chances squandered by Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Beto and co in recent months.
Over in Greece, meanwhile, a now-31-year-old Bernard has scored as many goals this season (eight) as he managed in three campaigns combined at Goodison Park. Yes, like with Simms, this is a classic case of a player boosting his numbers in a lesser league. Bernard, after a spell in the United Arab Emirates, is at Panathinaikos these days.
But while Everton’s frontline remains bafflingly messy, Bernard’s form has one Panathinaikos team-mate drawing comparisons with, well, Messi.
“You’re forcing me to tell you just one favourite teammate and you’re embarrassing me!” Fotis Ioannidis, Panathinaikos’ 21-goal striker, tells Esquire with a laugh. “You’re starting a big conversation now and I’m afraid I might offend some people. If I had to choose one and only one, I will say Bernard.
“He is a wizard. Apart from the way he handles the ball, I am impressed by the way he perceives what is happening around him on the pitch in a long radius, how he checks the spaces at a non-stop pace.
“His brain works like Messi’s, without exaggeration. Before he gets the ball, he knows what he is going to do. He has clarity and amazing accuracy in his passes. And I think this is a skill that, the more you develop, the better player you become.”
Bernard has eight goals and nine assists this season. As such, this is the former Brazil international’s most prolific campaign since his final one at Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk, prior to his arrival at Everton in 2018.
The diminutive forward represented The Toffees until 2021, when he joined Sharjah in the Middle East as part of the club’s extensive cost-cutting, wage-slicing exercise.
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