Thierno Barry has had a mixed campaign for Everton thus far, showing clear signs of improvement but also massively concerning signs in front of goal.

Despite notching up six goals already this season, Duncan Ferguson views Thierno Barry as hit or miss, as he misses far more chances than he takes, and if he were to improve this, then Everton would have won a great deal more games.

Barry has been Everton’s only recognised senior striker this season though, placing an unfair burden on him with heavy expectations and a heavier workload, which has begun to creep in.

This season, Barry has been Everton’s most divisive player, with it impossible to really nail down whether he is a success or not. However, there are reasons to suggest he is on his way to becoming elite.

Thierno Barry is one of the worst finishers in the Premier League right now

At just 24 years old, Barry is still really young in his career and is only getting better, as his three goals in the first six games of the Premier League season showcased, prior to the defeats against Arsenal and Chelsea.

Barry has established himself as one of the most physically threatening strikers in the league, aerially, and also in terms of how fast he is. But the one problem with his game is a failure to take his chances.

Using UnderStat’s player comparison tool, we can see that Barry ranks second in the league to Erling Haaland for expected goals with 6.44. This is less than Haaland on 7.04, but he is clearly second ahead of Alexander Isak, who has 4.70 expected goals this season.

For Barry to be in between arguably the two best strikers in the league speaks volumes about the levels he could reach, but also how huge an impact he could have by scoring more of his chances.

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Everton fans should be patient with Thierno Barry

Despite a decent start to the season, fans have quickly grown tired of Barry missing lots of chances and ultimately costing Everton a lot of points that could have seen a decent start to the season painted instead as a great one.

But faith and patience in the Frenchman will be rewarded. Barry is doing a really difficult job this season as Everton’s sole number nine, with all the weight on him alone when there was supposed to be Folarin Balogun there to back him up and share the load.

Despite this, Barry has still done well, contributes a lot, and has already notched up a handful of goals, while finishing should really only continue to get better as he grows into life as a Premier League number nine.

There is every indication that Barry can reach the next level and score double-digit goals this season and maybe even more. But turning on him won’t benefit anyone.