View: Everton need to be clever with their signings amid financial issues
Everton will need to change their transfer strategy this summer if they wish to avoid repeating the financial issues they currently face as they eye Championship deals.
Everton’s recruitment has been famously poor in the last few years. Bringing in high-earning high-reputation players who don’t necessarily fit their system or style of play, and players whose main incentive for being at the club is the money on offer.
A number of players including Andre Gomes, Jean-Phillipe Gbamin, Moise Kean, Davy Klassen and Cenk Tosun all arrived at the club for upwards of £20million, without profit being made on a single one.
Players as recently as last season have come through the door at Goodison Park more to the confusion than delight of Everton fans, such as the signing of Neal Maupay, who had only scored 26 goals in his 102 games in the Premier League prior to his arrival, as the main hope to fix their striker woes.
Maupay scored just one goal in 27 games last season and is now being linked to a move away from Goodison Park, with French clubs keen.
Everton should look at the work being done by clubs like Brighton and Brentford, and the early stages of a project at Crystal Palace, where young players are being signed for low prices, with a view to selling for a huge profit when the time comes.
Palace for example signed Marc Guehi for a fee of around £18million in 2021, with the player going on to captain the club, as well as receive multiple England call-ups, and is now being linked to £60million moves elsewhere. This is the type of signing Everton should be gambling on.
Brighton have become the masters of this type of deal – with the likes of Marc Cucurella (£15million) sold for £60million, Moises Caicedo (£4.3million) being linked to £100million moves, and Alexis Mac Allister (£6.8million) sold for around £35million. [All prices according to Transfermarkt]
An insistence by the board to bring in players that are viewed as immediate fixes just papers over the cracks, with no sell-on value or view to the future being considered. Amadou Onana’s transfer from Lille was the right idea – but even his £30million price tag leaves little margin for error.
Everton should follow in the footsteps of other Premier League examples, sign young players who will perform in their time and the club, and sell for profit. This would not only improve the mood at the club, but the financial situation too.
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