In keeping Romelu Lukaku around and convincing Yannick Bolasie to come to Goodison Park, Everton walked right into a secret advantage.
With apologies to Ross Barkley, Lukaku and Bolasie are the club’s most dangerous weapons. And they are made a bit more mysterious by a common bond few defenses can understand.
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That bond is the Congolese dialect of Lingala, a Bantu language.
The Liverpool Echo’s Phil Kirkbride has the story of how Lukaku and Bolasie use that little spoken -- at least in England -- dialect to help outfox defenders.“It really helps when we talk in our language, Lingala, and I know his cousin, who plays with me for DR Congo.
“There aren’t too many defenders in the league who speak it, so that gives us a little bit of an advantage.
“It’s particularly useful because it’s quick.”
That’s a cool little quirk -- not to boil a language down to a quirk -- for Bolasie and Lukaku.