Everton are now back at square one and in need of another relaunch
Farhad Moshiri has spent £526M since buying Everton five years ago yet is already looking for his SIXTH manager and after breaking the bank for Carlo Ancelotti… they’re back at square one and in need of ANOTHER relaunch
- Carlo Ancelotti stunned Everton by leaving the club on Tuesday for Real Madrid
- A contract until 2024, on £11m-a-year, still wasn’t enough for the Italian to stay
- Farhad Moshiri has spent over £500m since he took control of the club in 2016
- Big-money signings and various different managers have come and gone
- Now, the Toffees are searching for a new coach to get them back on track
Everton fans won’t like this, but evidence suggesting the club is something of a springboard for recent managers to go on to bigger and better things is only growing.
First there was Roberto Martinez, now in charge of the No 1 ranked international team in Belgium. Then Ronald Koeman, who for now remains at the helm at Barcelona.
And, after Tuesday’s shock quick-paced reunion, Carlo Ancelotti has decided to return to Real Madrid. There’s no doubt it leaves a sour taste at Goodison Park.
Carlo Ancelotti stunned Everton on Tuesday by deciding to leave and re-join Real Madrid
It was not what Farhad Moshiri (R) envisaged when appointing Ancelotti in December 2019
2016 – £77.40m
2017 – £182.88m
2018 – £89.82m
2019 – £108.9m
2020 – £67.38m
TOTAL – £526m
NET SPEND – £256m
Figures according to Transfermarkt
Why? They thought they had one of the modern managerial greats, a winner of league titles in Italy, England, France and Germany, immersed in a long-term project on Merseyside, with a £11m-a-year deal until 2024 an undoubted sweetener.
But after 18 months and an underwhelming 10th-placed finish in the season of the pandemic, a door too good to be true opened for Ancelotti – and he took it.
Where now? Who to turn to next? Frankly, it’s anyone’s guess.
When Farhad Moshiri took over the running of the club in February 2016, Roberto Martinez was in the midst of his third and final season at the club.
At the end of that season, Martinez and the club parted ways after a seventh-placed finish – the Toffees haven’t finished any higher since.
Forget that, they haven’t even matched it. Everton are eager to break into the ‘top-six’, but the likes of Leicester, West Ham and Wolves have all finished higher than them in recent years.
In Moshiri’s defence, he has invested. Big-time.
In that first summer of 2016 – with Ronald Koeman now at the helm – an outlay of £77.4m included the likes of Yannick Bolasie, Morgan Schneiderlin and Ashley Williams for a combined sum of £58m.
Roberto Martinez was the man in charge when Moshiri became owner – but it’s never got better
Ronald Koeman was the boss for two summers and invested big but the points didn’t follow
Ironically, the second-cheapest deal of that summer was signing a young Dominic Calvert-Lewin for £1.62m, who is now arguably their best player after a breakthrough season at No 9. Food for thought perhaps.
Yet Koeman could only finish eighth and after a torrid opening few months of the 2017-18 season, he was dismissed for Sam Allardyce, who successfully steered the club away from any disastrous flirtations with relegation.
And yet that was with the most expensive summer of them all behind them, as £182.88m was spent. While nearly half of that sum was offset by selling Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United, it was nowhere near the season envisaged.
So, a change of tact. Enter Marco Silva, following an impressive few years at Hull.
Yet that did not last long either. 18 months, and he was out the door.
Marco Silva got a similar amount of time as his predecessor – but was no more successful
This time though, it was supposed to be different. Ancelotti’s reputation was – and evidently still is given his suitors this week – stellar across the continent, and it was seen as an absolute coup when Everton snapped him up not less than a week after leaving Napoli.
Of course, since then we have had the pandemic. Yet Everton still paid £67.38m last summer on the likes of Ben Godfrey, Allan, James Rodriguez and Abdoulaye Doucoure.
And at the beginning, it looked like this might actually be the year Everton make inroads. They were top in those first few weeks, after four wins on the bounce, with Calvert-Lewin the Premier League’s leading light.
That was as good as it got though. A draw against Liverpool and three defeats followed, while wins against Chelsea and Arsenal in December did not trigger a change in long-term momentum.
Results such as home losses against bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United were disastrous
There were some particularly disastrous results last season for Ancelotti and his side. Newcastle did the double over them, and home losses against Burnley, Aston Villa and Sheffield United were particularly damaging to their European aspirations.
In total, that’s a five-year expenditure of £526m and a net-spend of £256m. That’s more money spent than, ironically, Real Madrid over the same period. Value for money? Absolutely not.
All in all, a tenth-placed finish was not what Ancelotti signed up for. Was the lure of Real Madrid v.2 too good to turn down? Perhaps. But it still says something for the lack of progress at Goodison Park in recent years.
The problem is in what direction to go in next?
Former boss of 11 years David Moyes has been mooted, but he’s unlikely to leave given his success – and European football next season – at West Ham.
David Moyes (L) and Nuno Espirito Santo (R) are both contenders to now take over at Everton
Nuno Espirito Santo is the favourite following his Wolves resignation, while Graham Potter and Eddie Howe are also in the frame. Antonio Conte too, if Moshiri wants to spend expensively again.
This week’s news has taken the club by storm. By all accounts, the players and the boardroom are as stunned as the fans.
Poisoned chalice? The last five years would make it seem so. Who the man in charge is on the opening-day of the new season on August 14, for another relaunch, is now anyone’s guess.
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