By Alex Beard

15th Jan, 2020 | 10:52am

Allardyce criticises Everton spending

Former Everton manager Sam Allardyce has never been shy in criticising his former club, perhaps still bitter about his departure from the Blues.

In a way he’s right to feel annoyed, because he did an underrated job at Goodison Park. However, it’s left him only too eager to fire off at the club’s decision-makers.

So it came as no surprise to hear him being outspoken about what has gone on with the Toffees this season.

They’ve struggled, of course, and on Wednesday the team’s transfer business came under fire from ‘Big Sam’.

“I think that a lot of the players that have been brought into the club have been at a price where you’re taking the chance on whether they’d be top-drawer or whether they wouldn’t or would,” he said on talkSPORT.

“I’d have wanted big money on big players. Instead of buying six I’d have wanted to buy three. Three top quality players if you could find them, and then build from there.

“Gylfi Sigurdsson ended up at £45million! In all fairness to Gylfi, he’s a good player, it wasn’t that value.”

Is Allardyce right in what he’s saying?

Honestly? Yes.

It does seem like the Toffees have been shopping just below the top tier, yet spending top tier money. That was the case with Sigurdsson, as mentioned, but also with the likes of Alex Iwobi and Michael Keane.

They’ve not got value from those signings, and they’ve ended up getting quantity over quality. Ultimately that’s harmed them in trying to push into the Premier League’s upper echelon.

Would Allardyce have done a better job? Maybe, maybe not. But he likely wouldn’t have wasted some of the cash that his predecessors and successors have.

In other Everton news, a former England international has pushed for Carlo Ancelotti to take a chance on an academy starlet.