Since Marcel Brands was appointed Director of Football at Everton in the summer of 2018, the Toffees have spent around £267million on transfers - but their highest finish since that point has been 8th.
On Wednesday, Qatari club Al-Rayyan teased on their social media channels that they were signing James Rodriguez from Everton, just one year after he joined from Real Madrid.
Rodriguez is one of several recent examples of poor recruitment and negotiating by the Blues which has had a consequential effect on the club in this summer’s transfer window.
Speaking after signing a contract extension at Goodison Park back in April, Brands said: “Everton is a very special football club and a club with clear and exciting ambitions. We are making good progress and I believe we have everything in place for us to be successful.
“I am delighted to continue to work alongside such supportive and ambitious colleagues on our Board and Executive team and this, together with such a talented manager and supportive owner and Chairman, puts us in a really strong position for the future.”
However, after manager Rafael Benitez had under £2m to spend over the summer, questions have to be raised as to whether the Dutchman is really building Everton into the club they once were?
This summer, the Toffees signed Demarai Gray from Bayern Leverkusen, Andros Townsend from Crystal Palace, Asmir Begovic from Bournemouth, Andy Lonergan from West Brom and Salomon Rondon from Chinese side Dalian Professional.
Of course, Gray and Townsend have hit the ground running and look great acquisitions plus Begovic and Rondon are just cover for first-choice players, but is that the transfer window of a club climbing up the table?
Compared to Crystal Palace, Brentford and West Ham, who all spent decent amounts but in key areas, on paper, those look like the clubs trying to re-establish themselves. The club and fans may be suffering at the hands of prior mistakes.
After Benitez’ side was knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Championship side QPR on Tuesday night, the former Liverpool boss said: “We are talking about a special situation for this club. The financial fair play rules, we have to manage everything in the best way we can."
Where will Everton finish this season? Comment below
The Spaniard, clearly instructed not to expand on the situation behind the scenes, is running to tight margins, and it is no surprise when you look at his club's business before he arrived.
Everton forked out £67m last summer to sign Allan, Ben Godfrey, Abdoulaye Doucoure and James Rodriguez; the latter was a free transfer but his wages would have put a reasonable dent in the budget.
However, it was the 2019/20 transfer window which saw plenty of incomings for very little reward. Alex Iwobi (£27m), Moise Kean (£25m), Andre Gomes (£22.5m), Jean-Phillipe Gbamin (£22.m) all moved to Merseyside, along with a couple of cheaper, young prospects.
Of those big-money transfers, none have justified their price tags, may that be for one reason or another. But putting aside injuries and bad luck, the acquisitions are not of the standard of a club that wants to be top four again.
With three-time Champions League-winning manager Carlo Ancelotti in charge, would he have pushed for all of those signings? Would the man who has won domestic titles all over Europe have called for his side to pay almost £30m for Iwobi, who regularly underperformed at Arsenal? The blame can’t purely lie with the Italian, Brands could be the underlying factor.
Potentially, Brands has got carried away with the success of his 2018/19 window where he signed Richarlison (£35m), Yerry Mina (£27m) and Lucas Digne (£18m). All three have been brilliant servants of the club and if sold, could all potentially be offloaded for profit.
Obviously, there are outgoings to take into consideration – Everton have sold approximately £115million’s worth of players since Brands was appointed, so they have spent almost £150million extra but to no reward.
The Toffees have made a good start to the 2021/22 campaign and are currently sat in 6th place, though it will only take a downturn in form to see fans begin to ask questions on why they aren’t closing the gap on rivals Liverpool, who are title contenders, rather than widening it.
Transfer History according to transfermarkt
21/22 - Demarai Gray - £1.8m
21/22 - Andros Townsend - Free
21/22 - Asmir Begovic - Free
21/22 - Andy Lonergan - Free
21/22 - Salomon Rondon - Free
20/21 - Ben Godfrey - £24.75m
20/21 - Allan - £22.5m
20/21 - Abdoulaye Doucoure - £19.89m
20/21 - Niels Nkounkou - £243,000
20/21 - James Rodriguez - Free
20/21 - Robin Olsen - Loan
20/21 - Joshua King - Unknown
19/20 - Alex Iwobi - £27.36m
19/20 - Moise Keane - £24.75m
19/20 - Andre Gomes - £22.5m
19/20 - Jean-Phillippe Gbamin - £22.5m
19/20 - Fabian Delph - £8.55m
19/20 - Djibril Sidibe - Loan
19/20 - Jarrad Branthwaite - £990,000
19/20 - Jonas Lossl - Free
18/19 - Richarlison - £35.28m
18/19 - Yerry Mina - £27.23m
18/19 - Lucas Digne - £18.18m
18/19 - Kurt Zouma -Loan
18/19 - Andre Gomes - Loan
18/19 - Bernard - Free
