Everton release Jean-Phillipe Gbamin despite £20m+ loss in another Farhad Moshiri failure
Everton made the decision to cut their losses over Jean-Phillipe Gbamin after it was announced on 1 September that the club had terminated his contract with immediate effect.
Gbamin spent four years on the books at Goodison Park, after arriving from German outfit Mainz for £25million in August 2019, but will now leave the club for nothing after making just eight appearances in England.
The Ivorian has become the latest expensive flop the leave the club under Farhad Moshiri’s ownership, in another sign of the poor decision-making by those running the club.
Ultimately, the story of Gbamin at Goodison Park is one of what could have been. He arrived at the club under the rule of Marco Silva, alongside other names who proved to be unsuccessful at the club including Andre Gomes and Moise Kean in what was viewed at the time as a positive transfer window.
His Everton career was thrown off the rails by multiple serious injury issues: first missing 229 games with a hamstring injury he sustained not long after he arrived at the club in August 2019. His next injury came in May 2020, not quite a full year on, as he ruptured his achilles tendon which ruled him out for 309 days [Transfermarkt].
After this injury, he was never quite the same player. As has been seen with so many other players in football, an achilles rupture can change the course of a career, with Gbamin another victim of an incredibly difficult injury.
Upon his return from this injury, he then suffered a medial collateral ligament injury which kept him out for another 81 days, all but sealing his long-term future away from the club.
Everton may have made the right call to cut their losses, regardless of the financial deficit. Any chance of a return to the team was dashed after his unsuccessful loan spells in significantly weaker leagues.
This deal, though, is yet another sign of poor decision-making by Moshiri and the board, with a £20million-plus loss suffered after overspending yet again.
Just one day before his contract was terminated, BBC journalist Shamoon Hafez shared an update that Everton had placed a £5million price tag on him, but the club ultimately decided to cut their losses and agree to end his contract.
When will Moshiri and the club learn?
In other Everton news, an injury update has emerged as Dyche plans for a secret game during the break.