Sean Dyche and Kevin Thelwell rejected multiple Everton signings amid financial mess
Sean Dyche and Kevin Thelwell rejected the chance to make multiple Everton signings on January deadline day last season, according to the Daily Mail.
The paper reported via their website on 5 April, amid the Toffees boss’ insistence that the financial nightmare at Goodison Park “would not have happened on my watch, trust me”, that he and the club’s director of football have both been personally cautious in the market.
Dyche arrived late in the 2023 January window and while the club were linked to numerous attacking additions on deadline day that month nobody came in.
It previously emerged that then-Reading striker Lucas Joao had been rejected by Everton, but he is reportedly one of multiple options that Dyche himself and Thelwell pushed back on during that window, lending weight to the former Burnley boss’ claims that the current situation wouldn’t have developed had he been at the club previously.
He said: “I would have been saying, ‘no, no, no’ because the health of the club is important to me. Having played my part in building one (at Burnley), I wouldn’t be throwing the club under the bus by saying, ‘I am the manager, I need £250m’. I would be going, ‘No, how can that work for this club? We cannot afford it’.”
Everton boss forced to operate amid financial uncertainty
Dyche has a growing number of detractors with regards to his management on the pitch amid a miserable run of form that has seen the Toffees go without a Premier League win since 16 December, against former side Burnley.
But in the context of the off-field issues the club arguably has the right man for what is currently quite an unwelcoming job if he himself has been turning down signings.
He has benefited from far less investment in the transfer market than even predecessor Frank Lampard but has matched the former Chelsea midfielder’s achievements in surviving a relegation battle and, the current run notwithstanding, would be relatively comfortable in 14th were it not for the points deduction imposed on his side this season.
That sanction of six, down from 10 on appeal, is a measure of the situation he inherited at Goodison Park, and there appears to be a strong likelihood of a second deduction arriving imminently.
Everton have sold far more than they have brought in for some time now, with Beto and Youssef Chermiti the only two players any money has been spent on since Dyche arrived, to leave him with a thin squad that is currently struggling to dig itself out of a rut.
And if the most recent accounts are anything to go by he may see his options weakened further by departures in the summer.
But while there is increasing frustration at his tactics and team selections it may be that he is the ideal manager for a far from ideal situation given his acceptance of the financial picture.
In other Everton news, Farhad Moshiri has issued a direct assurance on 777 Partners amid the delayed takeover saga.
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