This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
After a hectic summer, the transfer window is now officially closed for Premier League clubs.
A number of headline deals went through. Nicolas Pepe moved to Arsenal for £72m, Harry Maguire went to Manchester United for £80m, and Scott Carson somehow ended up at Manchester City.
But anyway, let’s talk about Everton.
The Toffees were officially the busiest side in the market this summer if you include incoming and outgoings, with Marcel Brands overseeing 34 transactions – 17 players left on permanent deals and another 10 were shipped out on loan.
In terms of incomings, the Merseysiders spent the fifth-highest amount of cash this summer with an £110m outlay on new faces, with only Arsenal, Aston Villa and both Manchester clubs spending more.
Brands signed six new players on permanent deals and one on a season-long loan – Andre Gomes, Fabian Delph, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Moise Kean, Alex Iwobi and Jonas Lossl were signed permanently, whilst Djibril Sidibe joined on loan from Monaco.
A lot of key areas were addressed, in fairness to Brands.
A striker was needed after Cenk Tosun and Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored just nine league goals between them last season, and that position was reinforced by the £29m arrival of young starlet Kean from Juventus – the Italy international looks to have an extremely bright future ahead of him and is already fairly prolific having bagged six league goals in just five starts last term.
Coleman wasn’t at his best last season, so 18-cap France international Sidibe adds real pedigree and competition to that department, which was even more necessary after Jonjoe Kenny departed for Schalke.
Idrissa Gueye left – which is a huge blow considering he was the Player of the Season in 2018/19 – but Gbamin was swiftly signed as cover, along with Delph who can provide depth to the left-back role as well.
Signing Gomes on a permanent deal after his impressive campaign on loan last term was key and was also what some fans were desperate for, so that is a real bonus for the Toffees – for a fee of £22m, that deal was a great bit of business by Brands.
Sadly, despite attempts to lure Marcos Rojo to the club on deadline day, Everton didn’t sign a centre-back to help provide cover for Yerry Mina and Michael Keane, leaving those two as the only senior options at the club after Phil Jagielka and Kurt Zouma left – the fact that Mina missed 25 games with injury last term doesn’t help, either.
You won’t believe which of Liverpool’s Champions League winning side of 2005 is still playing in the video below…
Having said that, Gbamin can operate at centre-back if need be, whilst Mason Holgate can also play there despite the 22-year-old not appearing to be a valued figure under Silva after he was loaned out last season – academy prospect Lewis Gibson is also an option.
With all things taken into account, the modern market is an extremely difficult one to manoeuvre in and Everton have done well to address the majority of their issues from last season.
RATING: 8/10
