Idrissa Gana Gueye rejoined Everton from Paris Saint-Germain for an undisclosed fee on the final day of the 2022 summer transfer window, the midfielder signing a two-year contract until the end of June 2024.
The Senegal international returned to Merseyside after spending three years with the Blues from 2016 to 2019, making 108 appearances and forging a reputation as one of the Premier League’s best defensive midfielders.
Gana’s all-action and combative displays saw him become a firm fans’ favourite with Evertonians, leading to him finishing runner-up to Romelu Lukaku in the Club’s Player-of the-Season vote in his maiden campaign, before sharing the Players’ Player honour with Lucas Digne in 2018/19.
During his first stint at Goodison Park, Gana regularly finished among the Premier League’s top tacklers, leading the way in 2016/17 with 135 - seven more than PFA Player of the Year, N’Golo Kante - and registering the second highest in his following two campaigns.
Gana left Goodison Park for Paris Saint-Germain in July 2019 and, during his three years in the French capital, won two league titles, four domestic cups and finished runner-up to Bayern Munich in the 2020 Champions League final.
The energetic tough tackler also has more than 90 caps for Senegal, leading his country to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and playing at both the 2012 Olympic Games and 2018 World Cup.
Born in Dakar, Gana began his professional career in France with Lille, having moved from Senegal's Diambars Academy as a teenager in 2008.
He contributed to the French side's title success in 2011 and established himself as a regular starter over the following four seasons, a period when Lille twice competed in the Champions League.
Gana's move to England in July 2015 brought 38 appearances in all competitions for Aston Villa and, despite the Midlands side’s relegation, only Leicester’s Premier League-winning midfielder Kante made more interceptions and tackles combined across Europe’s top five leagues in 2015/16.
Contracted until: June 2024
