Jamie Carragher praises Everton recruitment
Liverpool legend and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher has been impressed with Everton’s recruitment from lower leagues in the past few years.
Everton’s failure to beat Brighton meant they didn’t close the gap on the top six and are now outsiders to qualify for European football next season.
It’s fair to say that Carragher wasn’t impressed with the performance on the night, but gave the Toffees credit about some things they have got right in the last few years.
Speaking after full-time on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Carragher said, “I think things that are special about Everton is their youth academy, bringing players through.
“Liverpool as a city is a hotbed, but it’s easier to go in through at Everton than Liverpool, for obvious reasons.
“I think what Everton are the best at is buying in the lower leagues – you go back to David Moyes’ time you think of Jagielka, Baines, Cahill, Stones.”
Partly correct
While JCarragher is spot on about the players he name-dropped, our recruitment in the last few years has been nothing short of a disaster.
We’ve wasted millions on players in the same position while not addressing key areas.
However, under Carlo Ancelotti, partly due to his pull and partly down to the changes behind the scenes, we recruited wisely in the summer and that’s seen us put up a realistic fight for Europe this season.
Even if we don’t finish higher than eighth, it’s important we keep faith in the process as we’ve improved remarkably under the Italian.
Previously we wouldn’t have even had a realistic chance of signing Champions League regulars like James Rodriguez or Allan, but now they’ve become part of the system, and are thriving for the Toffees.
If we manage to sign Kalidou Koulibaly in the summer, it’ll be the coup needed to take us to the next level.
His defensive prowess coupled with his leadership and understanding of the game will help improve everyone around him.
It remains to be seen what the future holds for us, but we must take the next eight games seriously and try finishing in the top six for the first time since the 2013/14 season under Roberto Martinez.
In other Everton news, Club offer new contract to ‘immense’ defender who Unsworth called ‘class apart’