Everton manager Ronald Koeman has warned Gerard Deulofeu that he will have to improve his all-round game – even in his new calling as a striker.
The former Barcelona prodigy led the line during the Blues’ opening day draw with Tottenham in the absence of an injured Romelu Lukaku.
But despite being deployed in the role throughout pre-season, Koeman insists that Deulofeu still has to fine-tune the non-attacking aspects of his game in line with Everton’s new high-pressing approach.
He said: “First of all he showed the whole pre-season that he can play out of that no.9 position.
“Sometimes, like Gerard and Kevin [Mirallas], I like the players but they need to run more, they need to do more.
“They need to press more and that’s all about work rate of the player.
“Sometimes it’s difficult because that kind of creative player sometimes is a little bit more sloppy in that aspect but we will work on it. You saw Ross [Barkley] in the second half, working hard for the team.
“The question is not how good is his technique or how good is his first touch on the ball. He needs to take more responsibility to the team and to do all the jobs, also defending.
“That makes the team stronger and he will learn that, no problem.”