Forget Thierno Barry, £17m star was by far Everton’s worst player in Sunderland draw

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Everton drew 1-1 at Sunderland on Monday evening to continue their slightly underwhelming run of form in the Premier League. And despite Thierno Barry’s shocking performance, there was another Toffees star who really didn’t cover himself in glory on a cold night in the North East.

Everton travelled to Sunderland on the back of two straight defeats and just one win in their previous six Premier League games, coming via a last-minute winner over Crystal Palace a month ago.

That looked to potentially be changing when Iliman Ndiaye’s outstanding solo effort put the Toffees 1-0 up after 15 minutes, but some missed chances for Thierno Barry came back to haunt them as Granit Xhaka’s equaliser in the opening moments of the second half drew them level.

However, despite the Frenchman’s failures in front of goal, he still wasn’t Everton’s worst player on the night, with Vitaliy Mykolenko really struggling out at left-back against Bertrand Traore.

Vitaliy Mykolenko hasn’t shown he can be an established Premier League left-back for Everton

Barry missed his golden opportunity from a Jack Grealish cross, and was later booked in retaliation for a foul on Sunderland midfielder Noah Sadiki. But despite the striker being hooked for Beto on the hour, Vitaliy Mykolenko was still Everton’s worst player on the day.

The Ukrainian came up against Bertrand Traore, the former Aston Villa and Chelsea star who doesn’t have the best output in the Premier League historically.

And, although the Burkina Faso star didn’t manage to break down the Everton defence, he did force Mykolenko onto the back foot a lot.

Former Dynamo Kyiv star Mykolenko cost Everton £17million, though the move hasn’t gone to plan as such. He wasn’t great on the ball, completing just two long balls from six attempts, as well as losing possession in his own half three times in just 11 passes.

58 touches on the ball resulted in him giving the ball away 11 times, and in terms of defending, he only won half of his ground duels, as well as being dribbled past twice.

It wasn’t good enough against a newly-promoted side, despite Sunderland’s solid start to the campaign, and changes must be made if Everton are to challenge properly for the top half.

A young left-back star is waiting in Everton’s wings and David Moyes must utilise him

For a side who have typically always had strong full-backs – notably Leighton Baines, but also Lucas Digne, Seamus Coleman, Phil Neville and more in the 21st century, Mykolenko is a downgrade in that regard.

David Moyes utilised Baines well in his first spell as boss and he’ll be looking at Mykolenko’s performances, knowing Everton should be better in that department.

The same also rings true on the right-hand side. Jake O’Brien has done a stellar job at right-back under the Scottish boss, but he’s naturally a centre-back and sometimes, any creative spark is missing.

Mykolenko went 26 Premier League games without a goal involvement until an assist for O’Brien at Brentford in late February last season.

Adam Aznou was a summer signing from Bayern Munich to rival Mykolenko for minutes, and if Moyes can get him firing, the German-Moroccan could make that position his own – despite failing to feature for the Toffees so far.

Most impressively, Aznou registered four goal involvements in last season’s UEFA Youth League for Bayern, starring at left-back and acting as captain along the way.

There is potential there and that could bring Mykolenko’s starting tenure to an end at Everton.