Everton embarrassed by Ellis Simms to Coventry blunder as Sean Dyche reveals new transfer plans
Sean Dyche has said that he and director of football Kevin Thelwell have attempted to start planning for the summer transfer window at Everton despite it being like “juggling sand” at Goodison Park.
The Toffees boss revealed tentative activity ahead of the season’s end [Guardian, 26 April] but he the key director need to have learned some important lessons over Ellis Simms if they are to avoid wasting what little transfer activity might be possible.
The 23-year-old was sold to Coventry City last summer, in a deal which initially banked just £3.5million but could be worth up to £8m, as they gave up the future to fund a striker signing, with teenage full-back Ishe Samuels-Smith also leaving for Chelsea for £4m [i News, 8 July].
After a pair of encouraging loans at Hearts and then Sunderland it appeared Simms had proven his worth, with seven goals for each in a half-season in at Tynecastle and the Stadium of Light respectively, before making something of a first-team breakthrough under Dyche last term, where he started away games at Liverpool and Manchester United and scored his first for the club at Chelsea.
Ellis Simms sold to fund Beto to Everton deal
And yet his development was thrown out of the window in the summer for what felt even then like a minimal fee for an English striker showing a lot of potential, when there was no transfer budget to speak of and suitable back-up for the oft-injured Dominic Calvert-Lewin was needed.
After a series of disappointments Thelwell eventually manoeuvred a deal to sign Beto from Udinese for £26m without any money to be paid up front [Guardian, 29 August], but not before the more surprising decision was made to sign Youssef Chermiti for £15m a similar arrangement from Sporting [BBC Sport, 11 August].
The teenager is four years younger than Simms and had just four goals to his name when sales of young talent who had already been in house at Finch Farm suggested the last thing Everton needed was to spend what little money they could muster on a long-term development project.
Simms has gone on to embarrass his former Toffees bosses over that decision with 19 goals and four assists for Coventry so far, including six strikes in his past three outings in the FA Cup, with two goals and an assist against Wolves in the quarter final, and one of each against Manchester United at Wembley in the semi last week.
His scoring form in the Championship has also shot up down the stretch, with nine in his past 12 league games, and he led all of English football in 2024 [OptaJoe, 29 March] during a period when Dyche’s Everton side were struggling for goals from any source.
Youssef Chermiti yet to establish himself at Everton
Obviously the second tier is not the Premier League, but seeing Simms in action at Wembley against United made him look exactly like the sort of striker that the Toffees have needed, and might now be considering a move for if they hadn’t already let him leave.
Calvert-Lewin has three in his past four games, including the second in a cathartic 2-0 home victory over Liverpool which leaves the club virtually safe from relegation once more, but he has struggled for goals this term with just seven in all competitions.
Beto made a lot of sense as the profile of forward to fill in should the number nine had been struck down by regular injuries, especially after Frank Lampard signed Neal Maupay who never fit that role.
But the Portuguese only has five Everton goals, albeit in far fewer opportunities than might have been expected given Calvert-Lewin’s injury record, even though he has shown some positive signs, while Chermiti may turn into an excellent player at some point down the line but has barely featured and hasn’t found the net for the first team.
Five goals for £41m spent, when Sean Dyche’s thin squad has at times looked so lacking elsewhere and the Premier League has been upset by the transfer spending done at Goodison Park [Liverpool Echo, 17 November] as multiple points deductions have been handed down, is clearly a scant return whatever the merits of Beto and Chermiti.
And even if Everton bank the full £8m from the Simms deal Coventry still appear to have fleeced the Toffees, who seemingly dispensed with a talent who could have been key this season for a knockdown price and wasted all of the work put in on his development, only to then spend double the return on a player they possibly didn’t need.
With the threat of a third profit and sustainability breach lingering for next season already, and major sales potentially necessary just to keep the lights on as the 777 takeover delay stretches on into the future, Dyche and Thelwell need to make doubly sure any money they do spend isn’t wasted, and neither is useful talent they can already lay claim to.
In other Everton news, a surprise new Toffees transfer has been mocked up by an unlikely famous figure.
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