There were fewer than 15 minutes remaining in Everton's Premier League opening-game win over Crystal Palace when supporters had one final reason to rise to their feet. The stadium announcer at Hill Dickinson Stadium had just revealed that match-winner Thierno Barry would be leaving the field to be replaced by Beto. As he made his way off the pitch, the 23-year-old Frenchman took a moment to soak up the acclaim from the blue half of Merseyside after delivering a performance of huge significance.
When he connected with Iliman Ndiaye's cross early in the second half to double Everton's lead - and all but end any hope of a Palace comeback - Barry was all smiles as he celebrated to cheers from the home support. It was quite the contrast to the feeling towards him at the end of last year, when he endured a 14-game goal drought after arriving from Villarreal for £27m. "Look, strikers will probably be judged on their goals, so he can walk away and be really happy with it," said boss David Moyes in his post-match press conference.
"I thought it would be wrong not to mention the quality of the cross from Ndiaye. Thierno getting in the right spot was huge and scoring with a header was really big for us because it was an important time in the game." After a year of adapting to life at Everton, Barry now looks ready to establish himself as the team's main talisman up front. When Barry joined Everton last summer, he arrived at a club building for a brighter future.
In the years before his arrival, the Toffees had gone through a succession of managers, all of whom had faced relegation battles. Everton had also been hit with a points deduction for breaching the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR). All of those factors meant that when Moyes and his recruitment staff drew up plans to sign a new striker, they knew they would not have the financial muscle or pulling power to attract someone who was the finished article.
It meant that when Barry arrived on Merseyside, fresh from an 11-goal campaign in La Liga, there was an acceptance his development would take time. But by the midway point of the season, that patience was growing thin among some supporters, with the Frenchman having scored only once in 18 Premier League appearances. In January, however, Barry's season burst into life and, by his standards, he produced an impressive return in his debut campaign, finishing with eight goals in 38 Premier League appearances.
It was a return enhanced by the fact half of the forward's goals came after Everton's creator-in-chief, Jack Grealish, suffered a season-ending injury in January. Barry's form peaked at the business end of the season, while some of his team-mates saw theirs dip as they pushed to help Everton secure a European place. At the end of the campaign Barry's eight-goal tally came from an xG of 8.1 and he recorded a shot conversion rate of 21.1% - just shy of Erling Haaland's 21.4%.
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