Everton could have saved £15m+ if they chose Victor Boniface over Beto
Everton could have saved £15.4million by opting to sign Nigerian international Victor Boniface rather than Beto in the summer transfer window after the former has enjoyed a flying start to the season.
Boniface was linked with a move to Everton by Football Rover [18 July], who claimed the Toffees were in the running for the striker’s signature while he was at Union Saint-Gilloise, with a price tag of £10.3million before he ultimately moved to Bayer Leverkusen.
His fast start to his Leverkusen career has shown Everton exactly why they should have jumped ahead of the queue for his signature before they opted to sign Beto for £25.75million [Sky Sports, 29 August].
Boniface has featured for the German outfit in three different competitions so far this season: the Bundesliga, Europa League and DFB Pokal – and he has scored in them all.
In fact, the Nigerian has nine goals and three assists in his first ten appearances for Die Werkself and has shown Everton exactly what they missed out on in the summer transfer window. Beto, meanwhile, has found the net once for his new side, in the Carabao Cup against Doncaster Rovers.
Boniface also ranks in the 99th percentile of players in the top 5 European leagues for total shots, successful take-ons and non-penalty goals while he is in the 97th for assists, 95th for progressive carries and 88th for progressive passes [FBref].
For comparison’s sake, Beto ranks in the 50th percentile for total shots, the 48th for non-penalty goals, the 34th for progressive carries, and the 34th for progressive passes. He does rank highly for successful take-ons, though, in the 89th percentile.
The new Everton man has found it difficult to adapt to the Premier League so far and has been outshone by Dominic Calvert-Lewin upon his dramatic return from injury, perhaps suggesting Everton should have saved some money and made an effort to win the race for Boniface.
Hopefully, this wasn’t a big mistake.
In other Everton news, the club did get something right in the transfer market after recent injury news.