View: Manager delay a problem as Fabrizio Romano says Everton wanted to sign Abdou Diallo from PSG
Everton wanted to sign PSG defender Abdou Diallo in the January transfer window according to Fabrizio Romano, but ran out of time to do a deal.
The month was virtually ruined by the messy divorce from Rafael Benitez and the subsequent debacle in appointing a replacement, with Frank Lampard only being announced in the final days of the window.
And while the new man moved quickly to make moves in the market, the timing of the whole episode caused the club unnecessary issues, including scuppering other potential transfers.
Romano told the Que Golazo YouTube show: “I think Everton did very good thanks to Lampard, because [he] signed the contract and immediately after he called Donny van de Beek. He was going to Crystal Palace.
“They didn’t have time to do other things because they were also thinking of a potential centre-back, for example Diallo at Paris Saint-Germain was a player they wanted to sign but there was no time to do it on deadline day.
“This is why changing the manager during the market in January which is a really fast market… is always a problem”.
Uncomfortable fact
Chelsea legend Lampard has provided a massive lift in the short time he has been in place at Goodison, and Farhad Moshiri has moved out of focus completely.
That is ultimately what everybody around the club will want because the protests and the discontent that preceded the new boss’ appointment was damaging all round.
But the positive feeling cannot fully mask the fact that for all the good Lampard has done so far, he could have done a lot more if he had been in position with more than a day or two to work in the transfer window.
The planning, or lack thereof, that surrounded the sudden sacking of Rafael Benitez after he had been backed for so long lead to a protracted manager pursuit where the first priority, Roberto Martinez, was not landed.
The club has not kept a clean sheet in close to three months now, suggesting the defence needs help.
Maybe Nathan Patterson and Vitaliy Mykolenko can be that but losing Lucas Digne is certainly not a net positive.
We will never know if PSG’s Senegalese centre back Diallo would have made a difference at Goodison for the crucial second half of the season thanks to the lack of time to manoeuvre at the end of the window.
But a man who cost a reported €32million when he moved to Paris (Goal) and has just helped his national team to the Africa Cup of Nations final, scoring in the semi-final victory, certainly seems like he would have been useful.
In other Everton news, Mark Lawrenson has made his prediction for the weekend clash.