Things are changing quick and fast at Everton after the completion of the last season. After his three disappointing years at Goodison Park, Roberto Martinez was finally shown the exit door from the club and Ronald Koeman took the helm. With the sync of the experience of Koeman and the financial power of owner Farhad Moshiri, Everton were expected to be one of the most active clubs in the transfer window. The lack of quality in the squad Koeman inherited from Martinez was evident but did the Dutch gaffer do enough in the transfer market? Let us make a quick review of how Everton had fared in this record-breaking transfer window.
Ins
Yannick Bolasie – Crystal Palace, £28m
Ashley Williams – Swansea, £12m
Enner Valencia – West Ham, loan
Maarten Stekelenburg – Fulham, undisclosed
Bassala Sambou – Coventry, compensation
Chris Renshaw – Oldham, undisclosed
Idrissa Gueye – Aston Villa, £7.1m
Dominic Calvert-Lewin – Sheffield United, £1m
Fees quoted from Sky Sports
Outs
Leon Osman, released
Tony Hibbert, released
Tim Howard – Colorado Rapids, free
Steven Pienaar – Sunderland, free
Jordan Thorniley – Sheffield Wednesday, undisclosed
Jindrich Stanek – released
Felipe Mattioni – released
Conor Grant – Ipswich, loan
John Stones – Manchester City, £47.5m
Luke Garbutt – Wigan, loan
Brendan Galloway – West Brom, loan
Ryan Ledson – Oxford Utd, undisclosed
Russell Griffiths – Cheltenham, loan
Shani Tarashaj – Eintracht Frankfurt, loan
Fees quoted from Sky Sports
What Everton managed to bring in
Overall, it was a good window for Everton but things could have been much better. First, let us look at the good deals they have done. Getting a quality defender rich with Premier League experience in Ashley Williams for just £12m is a major coup even though he is not the youngest of players. Maarten Stekelenburg, captured from Fulham for a paltry sum was another good move. On the other hand, Idrissa Gueye had shown his quality last season in the Premier League even though Aston Villa faced a drop. The industry and defensive ability of the tenacious midfielder is a massive addition to Everton and the Toffees did not have to spend too much for it.
Making Manchester City pay £47.5m for John Stones proves the resilience of the Merseyside club. However, paying £28m for a player like Bolasie does not make much sense. Everton could have got a much better player for that much fee.
What they still miss
Everton did a decent job this summer but the squad still looks far from complete. There are a few missing links in the team and Koeman will probably react to those in January. The Toffees were looking for Moussa Sissoko until the deadline day and missed on the Frenchman. Everton needed a central midfielder badly who can replace Gareth Barry in the long run but failed to bring it. While Gueye can do the defensive duty, he won’t be able to replicate Barry’s impeccable distribution. A new right-back and probably another central defender should have been on their wishlist but surprisingly they never moved for either of them.
Remarks
As for the summer transfer window, we give Everton six out of ten.
