Everton face £85m transfer problem after overspending review
Everton have spent £85million more than they should have done in transfer over the past 10 years, according to CIES Football Observatory.
The football research group have conducted a thorough investigation into how much each club has spent on transfer since July 2012 and the actual value of those players at the time.
17 of the 20 Premier League teams have spent more than they should have but the Toffees are very high on the list having paid £85million more than they should have.
It could be worse for Everton though with Manchester United £208million in the red and Aston Villa next up with £130million but it is nowhere near the best in the division.
Wolverhampton Wanderers lead the way having spent £18million less than they perhaps should have with Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton and Hove Albion also in the black.
Change required
There is no secret that this kind of wasteful spending is not sustainable and a lot of the damage will have been done before the current regime of Kevin Thelwell and Frank Lampard took the reins.
But they are the two tasked with bringing that absurd number much further down and see the Toffees drop down this table in the meantime.
Signing players like James Tarkowski on a free and Conor Coady on loan have already started to undo some of the damage done previously but they need to strike the right balance.
There is still a very prominent need to spend money in the transfer market to keep the side competitive in the Premier League because poor performances will see values plummet even further.
Value in the market has never been as important as it is right now but they may have to fight for it with the vast majority of their competitors in the same boat.