Micah Richards has called out Everton’s transfer business over recent years and questioned director of football Marcel Brands’ role at the club.
In the summer new manager Rafa Benitez was limited to spending £1.7m on Demarai Gray and bringing in Andros Townsend, Salomon Rondon, Asmir Begovic and Andy Lonergan as free agents due to financial fair play restrictions.
After a bright start, inspired by Gray and Townsend, the Blues are in a poor run of form, having only picked up one point from their last six games ahead of the Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park on Wednesday.
Although Richards admitted that Everton 'was always going to be a difficult job' for Benitez, given his previous Liverpool connections, he suggested that the club's issues are more long-term.
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Discussing the Toffees’ fortunes on BBC 5 Live’s Monday Night Club , the ex-Manchester City defender said of Brands: “That is a problem, you don’t know what he does?
“So you’ve got someone at your football club and you don’t know what they do? That is a question in itself.”
The Blues started the season strongly under Benitez but injuries to several key players, including Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Yerry Mina, have seen the team falter in recent weeks.
Abdoulaye Doucoure returned to the starting line-up for the first time in more than a month on Sunday but could not prevent a 1-0 defeat to Brentford.
However, Richards took issue with the club’s recruitment under owner Farhad Moshiri , with Everton still reliant on a handful of star performers.
The 33-year-old pundit did not dismiss Moshiri’s willingness to invest but raised question marks over several big-money moves, which have left the club with limited room to manoeuvre in the transfer market.
“I just want to read out some of the players and the numbers: Iwobi, £35m; Bolasie was a little bit unlucky because he got a bad knee injury but he was still £30m,” Richards said. “Walcott they paid £20m for; Klassen, £24m.
“ Pickford has done well, £30m, he’s worth it. Keane has done okay in patches. He’ll have a really good six months and then a couple of dodgy months.
“Tosun, £20m; Gomes was really unlucky when he broke his leg as well; Moise Kean was sent on loan to PSG and then Juventus.
“These players are good players but were they going to take Everton to the next level?”
