Around about Christmas, it finally seemed as though it had clicked for Thierno Barry.
A striker who had not managed to have a shot on target in a Premier League game until early December had been given patience by most fans and time in the team to develop.
Sure, he had his doubters, but at 22, just turning 23, Barry was always going to take a little while to fully adapt to his new club, in a new league, in a new country.
And after scoring his first Everton goal on December 6, when he put the Toffees 2-0 up against Nottingham Forest, he looked as though he would prove the doubters wrong.
Another goal against Nottingham Forest followed to close out 2025, before Barry scored against Brentford, Aston Villa (a lovely, dinked finish over a sprawling Emiliano Martinez) and Leeds United in January.
Yet by the end of February, Barry had been moved back to the bench. There was nothing wrong with this, really.
His performances, as would be expected for a young player, had dipped a tad, and Beto — who had snatched a last-gasp leveller against Brighton at the end of January, was ready for a run.
Beto went into the January window at risk. Everton would almost certainly have sold the 28-year-old had they been able to get an adequate striker in. They wanted Tammy Abraham, but the former Chelsea forward preferred a return to Aston Villa.
Yet by the end of February, the starting striker position was Beto’s to lose. Barry squandered two golden chances in what could prove to be an extremely costly home loss to Bournemouth on February 10.
He was then largely ineffective against Manchester United almost two weeks later, and a tough trip to St. James’ Park saw David Moyes plump for Beto. Since then, Beto has not looked back.
He scored in that game and generally ran Newcastle’s defence ragged, though it’s worth noting it was Barry who came on to grab Everton’s late winner.
A decent showing against Burnley followed for Beto, and then came the Arsenal match — an event which may well be looked back on as the turning point in Barry’s fledgling Everton career.
Beto started but Barry was brought on in the second half with the game tied at 0-0. Through no fault of Barry’s, Everton lost 2-0, but in the aftermath, the Frenchman naively took to social media to seemingly complain about his friends and family being attacked in the away end.
I wrote a piece on this a few weeks ago and don’t want to go into any more detail on it, but the gist of that feature was that Barry — whether he feels wronged or not — must now get his head down and look to build bridges. He was jeered by some Everton fans against Chelsea, and that has clearly not helped.
However, ultimately, his last few performances have instead suggested this is a young man who is simply not ready to shoulder such maturity.
Beto is far from perfect, but he has scored four goals in his last three games. He has missed chances — a woeful finish when one-on-one with Liverpool’s goalkeeper stands out — but his overall performances have been excellent.
The effort and workrate to stretch defences, hassle centre-backs and generally just cause havoc has been excellent to see. That is Beto at his best; that is what he has to offer. When he does those basics, the goals tend to come.
He has now netted eight league goals this season and you would not bet against him getting into double figures for the campaign.
In fact, such was Beto’s level in the derby on Sunday, that one could point to the moment he had to go off with an apparent head injury as the stage that the game actually swung in Liverpool’s favour.
Beto had given Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk a tough time. Sure, it was all blood and thunder, and plenty of heart, but Liverpool’s centre-backs knew they were in a battle.