Yannick Bolasie is a perfectionist in the mould of Cristiano Ronaldo – he's constantly working on his technique and the various aspects of the game, constantly striving for improvement. In this pursuit of his, he's started working with a 'speed mechanic' as looks to develop an edge over his peers in the League.
It's when he's explaining how he studies Olympic sprinters, and how much he gains by having personal trainers at his side that he said he once had the World's Fastest Man in a race
“I've played football with him. We played a game at pitch somewhere in Chelsea, just a little muck around. I know his mates and the people who manage him. He was knocking around in London and wanted a game of football, so they invited me along. I brought my brothers with me and we got two teams together.”
“It was around about this time last year. Is he any good? He’s all right, to be fair! I had him a race! There are some videos of it somewhere, it was good fun. I need to try and get hold of it. But the game? Obviously, my team won!”
Quite naturally then no one in the Premier League seems to be comfortable handling the Congolese speed-merchant – when the nine-time Olympic champion can't beat him, who can eh?
Bolasie laughed at the idea, but his speed has been very evidently affecting Everton's performances positively this season. The maverick who can switch between being unplayable at his best to invisible at his worst very quickly is hoping to find the consistency with Ronald Koeman at Goodison Park that will enable him to go to the next level.
He had lept at the chance to play under Koeman, despite the love and affection he clearly held for Alan Pardew and Crystal Palace – who had provided his first big breakthrough – and he admits it was hard for him to say goodbye.
He's built a great friendship already with Everton's star striker Romelu Lukaku, and if the opening few games are anything to go by, the duo are all set to take the Premier League by storm.
The talented winger has already provided 2 assists in 3 games – the leading assist provider in the team and has provided an element of much needed directness to the Toffees - providing more key passes per game (2.3) than anyone else in the team, taking on more dribbles per game (2.8) than everyone barring Lukaku and the flying right-back Seamus Coleman
