Andy Dunn: Everton receive £10m ‘gift’ after what happened
The sale of Everton winger Demari Gray to Al-Ittihad for £10 million has been described as a “gift” to the Merseyside club by Andy Dunn.
The Toffees sold the Jamaican winger to the Saudi Arabian side on Thursday (7 September) after much speculation over his future, with both Gray and Sean Dyche taking aim at one another over social media and in interviews.
With many claiming the spending of the Saudi Pro League could be a threat to the Premier League, Dunn has instead suggested that the money has been spent buying English football’s “cast-offs”, including Gray.
Writing for Sunday People (10 September, page 69) Dunn said: “Now Demari Gray was not quite a dud – but a £10m fee for the winger is some gift for Everton, who paid only £1.7m for him a couple of years ago.
“Gray has not been terrible, but he has hardly set Goodison Park alight. The Saudis have had to start somewhere and the players they have recruited will clearly improve the standard of their domestic league competition.”
Good return
It is fair to say Gray was by no means a flop while at Everton, proving to be worth the £1.7m forked out by Rafa Benitez, but in truth, it would be hard to call any player who arrives for such a modest fee a genuine failure.
However, for the Toffees to have turned such a huge return on their investment for a player who as Dunn said, never really set the world alight in the Premier League would have not been possible without the new spending power in the Saudi Pro League.
For clubs whose financial future may be slightly unstable, as is the case at Everton currently, the opportunity to sell your “cast-offs” for huge fees that are probably unwarranted can’t be missed as it could help the Toffees in their upcoming financial fair play hearing.
Gray seemingly was not on Dyche’s plans at Goodison Park this season, so for the Toffees to receive such a reasonable fee for a player who openly wanted to leave the club and seemingly had no other options represents a rare excellent piece of business from the Toffees.
In other Everton news, the threat of administration at Goodison Park has been explained