In a summer spending spree that saw arrivals of renowned players such as James Rodriguez, Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure, Everton’s new £25million centre half Ben Godfrey may have been the best business of them all after another dazzling display.

After making his Everton debut back in December in the infamous 2-2 draw in the Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park, Ben Godfrey has gone from strength to strength and earned the plaudits from fans and pundits alike.

Godfrey made a £25million summer deadline day switch from relegated Norwich City to the Toffees that might have left a number of fans baffled by such a high fee for player who was part of a inexperienced Norwich City defence.

Everton were handed blanks when enquiring for the loan services of young Chelsea centre-half Fikayo Tomori and with numerous first team and substitute defensive names on the side-lines with injury, manager Carlo Ancelotti and director of football Marcel Brands had to take a risk to bring a much needed addition to the Everton backline.

Godfrey hit the ground-running almost instantly with a solid display at fullback in the entertaining draw against bitter rivals Liverpool back in October.

While defeats to Southampton, Newcastle United and Manchester United might have derailed some momentum, Godfrey soon hit back with a strong showing against Fulham and would go on to impress in games against Chelsea, Leicester City and in particular against Arsenal from which the Toffee’s only conceded one goal across all three fixtures.

Ancelotti made it clear that he wanted his Everton team to amass more clean sheets in the league as prior to Godfrey’s inclusion in the Everton side against Chelsea, Everton had only kept one clean sheet all season with that being their 1-0 opening day away win against Tottenham Hotspur.

Since the turn of the year, Godfrey has become a integral part of the Everton backline and has proven that he is more than capable of playing across numerous defensive positions which have included exemplary performances at left-back, which has seen Everton’s elite attacking fullback Lucas Digne move further into the midfield for a more advanced role on the left.

Arguable Godfrey’s finest display was in Everton’s 2-1 away victory against Leeds United at Elland Road, with the youngster latching onto a cross from a Gylfi Sigurdsson corner, nodding the ball on to talisman Dominic Calvert-Lewin who was on hand to slot the ball into the back of the net.

After another magnificent Derby Day performance in Everton’s long-awaited 2-0 victory at Anfield, Ben Godfrey is quickly providing an almost unmatched traction on the pitch and a wide scale of support and liking from the Everton fanbase.

While it maybe too soon to say that Godfrey could be in the England squad that will proceed to play in the Euros later this year, he certainly has all the making of potential future England first team centre-half.

Electric speed, power and a commanding tackling ability, Ben Godfrey is only going to further improve with the vast amount of experience he is getting week-in, week-out.

At just 23 years of age, the sky is most certainly the limit for the young defender and with an abundance of fruitful influencers such the experience of Carlo Ancelotti and long-time Everton servant Seamus Coleman, to name a few, Evertonian’s will be hoping that the best is yet to come from arguably their best-kept secret.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR