Jim White shares emphatic Everton transfer update amid search for new manager
Everton will not sign any more new players this month due to them not having a permanent manager, according to Jim White.
Duncan Ferguson has been placed in caretaker charge after Rafa Benitez was sacked by the board at the weekend following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Norwich.
Everton have already signed Vitaly Mykolenko, Nathan Patterson and Anwar El Ghazi this month and sold Lucas Digne to Aston Villa.
And now, with Benitez gone and no director of football hired since Marcel Brands’ departure over a month ago, talkSPORT host White says that no new deals are expected to happen in the January transfer window as he asked co-host Simon Jordan if there’ll be a boost at Goodison simply due to Benitez’s exit.
“The fact is they’re not going to bring in any new players, Simon,” said White on talkSPORT on Wednesday [19 January, 11:14am]. “There’s going to be no new faces, alright, so no bounce out of that.
“But is it also not the case that the fact that Benitez has gone, gives them a bounce as well? He’s out there, and everything that went with him.”
Ex-Palace owner Jordan replied to say: “You would think so.
“There are certain players who would not like that.
“Andros Townsend was in here telling us he was the best thing since sliced bread.
“That’s a player who’s been quite influential for Everton this season that may now no longer be as influential as he might be slightly marginalised by a different manager.”
Stopped dead in our tracks
Everton’s business this month started promising before it descended to a ridiculous new low.
Mykolenko had a horrific debut against Norwich but we’re not going to write off the Ukrainian left-back just yet – that would be extremely unfair. And Patterson is also someone who we’re really excited to see progress over the coming years based on the rave reviews about him from Scotland.
But then El Ghazi was pointlessly signed from Aston Villa and Lucas Digne was sold to Steven Gerrard’s club.
Digne was sold amid a falling out with Benitez, who’s now gone.
Could the club have not waited until later in the window to sell Digne to see if they wanted to get rid of Benitez first? Or is it just that bad behind the scenes that Digne wanted to go regardless of whether Rafa stayed or not?
Everton’s squad is appalling for all the money that’s been spent on it and while players are still to come back from injuries, there’s a long way to go towards building a side capable of a top-eight finish.
In other Everton news, contact has been made with the agent of a manager who “ticks all the boxes” for the Toffees.
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