NEW FORWARD COULD BRING BACK OLD TACTICS FOR MOYES

Statistician says hard-working Thierno Barry is perfect to bring in boss's preferred style of play

- By CHRIS BEESLEY

THIERNO Barry is the kind of hardworking striker who will enable David Moyes to implement his preferred tactics and deploy younger versions of Tim Cahill, Steven Pienaar and Mikel Arteta behind him in a new-look Everton team.

That's the verdict of Everton's official statistician Gavin Buckland, regarding the Villarreal player who has been targeted by the Blues this summer.

Everton hold a genuine interest in the 22-year-old, who scored 19 times last season - 11 of which came in La Liga - and has a release clause of around £34million. A flurry of reports on Wednesday suggested Hill Dickinson Stadium chiefs were continuing to explore a deal, though were looking to negotiate a lower fee for the forward.

Barry, who only moved to Spain from Swiss side Basel on August 21 last year, has been in action for France in the UEFA European Under-21 Championships but his side were knocked out at the semi-final stage by Germany on Wednesday, losing 3-0.