Everton have been on the periphery of making something happen at Goodison Park over the past few years, but there has always been a few missing pieces in their jigsaw.

For a while, they had striker problems with the likes of Cenk Tosun and Sandro Ramirez failing to fill the void left by Romelu Lukaku, but Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s emergence seems to have solved that problem.

This summer, it was clear that the midfield needed bolstering, and Carlo Ancelotti made sure that the Toffees had a trio ready to compete at the very top level.

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We could wax-lyrical about James Rodriguez all day, but when you sign a former World Cup Golden Boot winner from Real Madrid you expect that quality, while we all know what Abdoulaye Doucoure is about after his years of Premier League service with Watford.

However, the one rather unknown quantity in this equation was Allan. The 29-year-old was highly coveted once upon a time, but Napoli’s dip over the past 18 months meant that he could have been seen as something of a gamble.

The Merseyside club have needed a competent anchorman ever since Idrissa Gueye was sold to PSG, with Tom Davies and Fabian Delph both tasked with filling that role last season on separate occasions, often being slammed by supporters for their poor showings.

Fortunately, it seems as though Everton have found the perfect Gueye replacement in Allan, and that was undoubtedly on show during the game against West Brom. The Brazilian put in an energetic performance, constantly chasing the ball down, winning five tackles and committing two fouls.

In possession he was fantastic as well, with a pass accuracy of just under 90% and four out of his five long ball attempts finding their mark, Allan seems to be something of a jack of all trades, and that’s exactly what the Toffees have needed in that pivot spot.