Everton transfer news: Sky Sports pundit backs ‘frustrated’ fans as Amadou Onana exit could follow Richarlison to Tottenham sale
We’re delighted to welcome former Everton striker Kevin Campbell as our exclusive columnist. Each week the former Toffees captain will be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Goodison Park…
Kevin Campbell believes that Everton fans know the score when it comes to players leaving but have had enough of putting up with it.
A year after Richarlison was sold to Tottenham for £60million in order to balance the books after he had helped save the Toffees from relegation under Frank Lampard it could be the same scenario again with Amadou Onana under Sean Dyche this summer, with Fabrizio Romano (19 April) classing it “very difficult” for the 21-year-old to be kept on Merseyside.
Former Goodison captain Campbell is realistic about the possibility that the Belgian midfielder might leave for financial reasons but feels the club losing their “best players” because of difficulties off the pitch is a big part of the breakdown between the Everton fans and the board.
The Sky Sports pundit exclusively told Goodison News: “I think the fans know [the situation], they’re not stupid.
“They know that Richarlison stuck around and he’d done well for Everton, to make sure they stayed up and then he left.
“But I just think this is why there’s a problem with the fans and the board because spending all that money and Everton are in a worse position makes no sense.
“That they are having to sell their best players, that’s why the fans are frustrated.
“So the fans understand it, they get it, they’re just not going to accept it any more, which makes sense as well.”
Farhad Moshiri’s money was supposed to push Everton over the hump into the realms where they didn’t automatically lose their star men to the top sides like years gone by.
But for the owner’s hundreds of millions to have instead resulted in a situation where the Toffees have barely clung to the top flight and still have had to jettison key contributors it is clear that matters have gone badly askew.
Onana was committed to the cause in the face of interest from Chelsea and Arsenal in January, but that might not matter if the books need balancing once again.
The expected investment from MSP Sports Capital should trigger a shake up in the boardroom this summer, but the current mess has taken years of compounded errors to create so it will likely take a similarly long time to fix.