The Everton Script has been flipped for Beto and Barry

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.

It was a stark contrast to the reverse fixture back in September, when a lacklustre Beto showed no such desire or fight and was replaced at half-time, with Barry coming on and offering Everton a platform from which to build from.

This time was a complete flip of the script.

When Beto went off, Barry came on. There weren’t any jeers this time, but this was a performance definitely worthy of criticism.

Barry won two of four aerial duels and made three accurate passes. That was his ‘impact’.

Of course, that is not all on him. The service has to be there. But Barry’s movement was lackadaisical. He was not prepared for the fight — it almost looked like he would rather have been anywhere else.

At one point, Dwight McNeil got in down the left and dinked a decent cross to the vacant back post. Barry was in the box, and was unmarked, yet did not make a run to either post, instead electing to hang back.

There is just something missing from his game — and I’m not sure it will ever really come if it has not already.

I do not think Barry is a lazy player, but this recent string of showings is not helping his case. A positive impact in the derby would have helped get fans back on side. Sure, you don’t have to score, but put yourself about, cram 90 minutes of effort into a 25-minute cameo.

Instead, Barry offered nothing. Everton could not build up and Liverpool began to take a measure of control. Beto had prevented that for most of the game, even if his performance had tailed off towards the end of the first half, too.

Everton will need to buy a striker this summer. A good one. One who is ready for the rigours of the Premier League and who has the quality to boot.

But they also, potentially, have a decision to make between the two current options.

Barry is clearly seen as a long-term project, but right now, it would be fair to question whether he is really showing he wants to be an Everton player beyond the end of this season.

Beto, on the other hand, clearly does want to be an Everton player. He has made that extremely clear from the moment he joined in 2023 — the issue for him has always been his quality; it has never been a question of attitude or application.

But Beto’s contract runs out at the end of next season. Everton need to make a call: Either sell him, or offer him a new deal.

Barry has time on his side and years to develop, but if he is not showing desire, he is not going to improve and I can’t escape the feeling that he just doesn’t really “get” what it means to play for a club of Everton’s stature and in front of a fanbase that demands certain non-negotiables.

It has been an unexpected flip of the ideas of how this campaign may play out for both of these players, and while Beto is proving himself as indispensable for the run-in, Barry now needs to make the most of any chances to redeem himself.

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