James Garner emerges as Everton's main man after standout display at Tottenham

James Garner, who has made 118 Premier League appearances for Everton, produced an all-action midfield display in Everton's goalless draw at Tottenham on Saturday that drew widespread praise from pundits.

Facing a Tottenham midfield that paired Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes in a near-£200m combination, Garner made several crucial challenges to halt promising home attacks despite having missed a significant part of pre-season after hernia surgery. "Garner today was extremely good," said Match of the Day pundit Thomas Frank. "He is aware; he's talking; he's organising. "In a high-press situation, he does the recovery, and that's just so exceptional and so important when you are playing against a team who are dominating you. "He was running so hard, so that's one side of his game, but also so important is his touches. He is a lot on the ball. It's through him that a lot of things are happening."

Former Everton defender and pundit Ashley Williams added: "He's really impressive. If you're a centre-back behind him, he's the type of midfielder you want." Garner joined Everton from Manchester United in 2022 for an initial fee of only £9m after spending the previous season on loan helping Nottingham Forest get promoted to the Premier League; he did not make a Premier League start for United. He required two seasons to settle at Everton under Frank Lampard and then Sean Dyche.

The 2025-26 campaign proved a watershed for Garner as he featured for virtually the entire Premier League season, playing all but six minutes and helping drive a sustained European push. In December, Everton travelled to Nottingham Forest with a depleted squad and won 2-0 to move within four points of the top four, with Garner scoring Everton's opening goal in that match. Reflecting on his development, manager David Moyes said: "When I came in, I still saw a bit of a boy and I think I now see someone who's turning into a really good leader as well, beginning to take a bit more responsibility and grow up and begin to start to act like a real midfield player."

Statistical measures underlined Garner's influence last season: he ranked top for Everton in a host of metrics, making the most successful passes, tackles and interceptions while also providing the most assists and engineering the most chances. Four of Garner's seven assists came after winger Jack Grealish's season was ended by injury in January. "He's been fantastic since I came in," said Moyes. "I didn't realise probably how good he was. He's been so good."

Garner's form earned him a first England cap in a friendly against Uruguay in March, where he was named man of the match after topping the game for tackles and chances created. England manager Thomas Tuchel commented: "He's our mini Valverde," said Tuchel. "He played very, very good. I was quite sure that he will play good because he has this natural confidence and he's just very physical. He won a lot of balls." Garner missed out on a place in England's World Cup squad.

Further performance data showed Garner covered the most ground of any Premier League player last season — and 6km more than England midfielder Elliot Anderson — while topping overall rankings for tackles and interceptions. He signed a new Everton contract in January that runs until 2030, and Everton rejected a £65m bid from Chelsea on deadline day this summer. The club currently have only 17 fit senior outfield players, with Christian Norgaard and Merlin Rohl sidelined because of injury, and Garner's versatility has seen him deployed at right-back and left-back as well as his usual central midfield role; he also played at right-back when England Under-21s won the European Championship three years ago and, Moyes has said, can operate as a number eight or six after the departure this summer of a player who accounted for 254 Premier League appearances.

If Everton are to push back towards European football this season, Garner may well be their most important asset.