Chris Sutton blasts Everton for not signing a striker during summer transfer window
Chris Sutton has blasted Everton for not signing a striker during the transfer window and claimed that is “not how a big club should act”.
The Toffees fell to a 1-0 defeat on the opening day of the season to Chelsea, where they were forced to play with a makeshift attack with Dominic Calvert-Lewin injured and Salomon Rondon suspended.
But Sutton, writing in the Daily Mail [August 9] doesn’t understand how the club didn’t bring a striker in ahead of the game when everyone could see they were short in attack and now find themselves “scrambling around”.
“If everybody else could see Everton needed a striker, how couldn’t they?” he said. “Richarlison was sold to Tottenham for £60million and, as good as he is, Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s injury record does not scream reliability.
“So it didn’t take a brain surgeon to work out that Frank Lampard might need a goalscorer – someone with a proven record who can guide them away from the bottom three.
“Come the opening game against Chelsea, young Anthony Gordon was leading the line and he was swallowed up.
“Why did Everton not prioritise bringing in a centre forward? I don’t understand how clubs can have all summer then leave themselves scrambling around now that the season has started.
“It’s reactive rather than proactive, and not how a big club should act.”
Shots fired
Sutton is hardly a beacon of knowledge, but it’s hard to disagree with him on this one because it’s absolutely factual.
The club were short on firepower last season and only just managed to get themselves out of relegation trouble, but then lost their best player and top goalscorer.
They added Dwight McNeil to the side, but he got zero goals or assists last season for Burnley and then Calvert-Lewin inevitably got injured again ahead of the season opener.
His fitness record over the last 18 months has been horrendous and the club know they can’t rely on him to be fit and lead the line this season on a regular basis, so a striker is needed even more now than it was back in June.
Yet it’s only become a case for the board when the season has started which shows the level of ineptitude currently running Everton and doesn’t bode well for what is to come for the rest of the season.