The Inevitable is finally upon us, Richarlison looks set to leave the toffees.
The summer transfer window is kicking in to life, and it looks to have hit EFC in a way that most would never have wanted, but expected. Talisman Richarlison looks set to leave the club with Spurs the favourites to land the Brazilian whilst Chelsea still have interest as they look to shake up their forward line this summer. It’s looking most probable that he’ll be off to Tottenham this summer as talks hot up between clubs & player.
It’s something Everton fans saw coming for more than one reason, Richarlison had suggested a couple years ba
ck that he’d give EFC another season to match his ambitions in football, well 2 years later and the club has continued to plummet on the pitch. It comes as no shock to Everton fans that he has finally had enough and would like to go play his football somewhere else at a level that matches his ability/aims. Other reasoning being the clubs disastrous financial position, up against P&S limitations, Everton have known for a while if they want to reinvest in the squad this window then it would have to be at the expense of one of their valuable assets going out the door to fund it. It’s a sad state of affairs for Everton, many Evertonians would have thought this sort of situation wouldn’t be needed after Farhad Moshiri’s takeover back in 2016, but Everton’s pathetic financial & transfer polices mean they are now at the point were its became necessity this sort of deal happens.
If Richarlison’s move does go through, what are they losing?
As mentioned above they’re essentially losing their star man, Richarlison at times put EFC on his back last season as he played a humongous part in securing Everton’s Premier League survival for another season. The versatile forward bagged 10Goals 5Assists in 30 PL appearances in season 21/22, this made him not only Everton’s top goal scorer for the season, but topped the teams assist charts too. Importantly 6 of those goals came where it mattered most during Everton’s season end run in as they battled hard against Relegation. Obviously his ability will be the biggest thing we miss, but Evertonians are also losing a firm fan favourite. Richarlison took to Everton straight away and has a great connection with the goodison Faithful, to lose that will hurt many, especially as it comes off how badly the club has been managed under current stewardship.
To sum up Richarlison’s time at the club, it has been a successful signing for Everton, and the type of profile Everton should be trying to recruit going forward. Many eyebrows were raised as EFC spent an initial £35million on Richy during the summer window of 2018, Pundits even went as far to label the deal as ‘ruining the transfer market’ (F.A.O Paul Merson) but Richarlison has justified that price tag, scoring 53 & assisting 14 in his 152 Everton appearances in the royal blue. For him personally I think he can see his choice to move to the blues as a successful one, he’s cemented his place in his beloved Brazil national team whilst proving to everyone he’s a very capable Premier League forward, and has got his move to a UCL club off the back of it.
So why exactly do the club need to sell an asset in richarlison to be able to improve the squad?
It’s absolutely no secret at all that Everton are severely hamstrung by the premier leagues profit & sustainability guidelines, for years now Everton have been spending beyond their means, wasting huge amounts on transfer fees of underperforming players & giving them contracts with astronomical wages. The only surprise is it took this long to catch up to Everton, having losses of £100mill+ for consecutive years, Everton as a business has been grossly mismanaged & that falls at the feet of the EFC owner and his boardroom. EFC at this moment in time have to raise the funds before spending it otherwise, face potential punishment/sanctions from the PL themselves.
Of course in an ideal world EFC flog those players that they don’t deem good enough to continue at the club the likes of your Andres Gomes’ & Michael Keanes’, however the market is so small for these players who have flopped massively & are on wages that no other club would be stupid enough to offer them (unlike EFC at the time of signing)
The squad needs that much surgery that a sale of this magnitude was seriously needed, selling one asset to bring in 3 players to improve the squad had to be the option EFC went for in a bid to avoid a relegation fight again next year. The reverse question is losing Richarlison’s quality could throw Everton towards the relegation abyss even further, which could happen in fairness, but with the money received for Richarlison Everton could potentially bring in a RW, Forward & midfielder to help improve the squad as a whole.
It’s a really sad situation to be honest, for Everton to have invested hundreds of millions that badly they have to sell their big players at a knockdown fee just to be able to spend anything? What a mess the current regime has made in running this football club.
What next for EFC? How do they replace Richarlison?
Million dollar question, Frank Lampard & Kevin Thelwell have a humongous task on their hands in doing this.
First of all you have to review what role Richarlison was in this EFC side and try get someone in to at least try replicate that role, a versatile forward who’s comfortable in any of the front 3 positions. I think that’s important, but also a decent little chunk of this in my opinion can be spent on FINALLY getting a genuine threat in to play RW. For years it’s felt like EFC have neglected that RW positon as they stockpiled left sided players. Bringing in a forward to play RW and chip in with goals could go a long way for EFC this summer up there alongside DCL & Left wingers Gray & Gordon.
Potential replacements that have been mentioned in rumour mills are;
- Steven Bergwijn of Tottenham Hotspur
- Keane Lewis-Potter of Hull City
- Emmanuel Dennis of Watford
I just think it’s time for EFC to sign a genuine RW whose most comfortable position is out on that right flank, because what EFC have seemed to do in recent years is sign left wingers and shove them out on the right hand side hoping they’ll be fine. That’s sort of the impression you get again here, especially with Links to KLP who’s of similar standard to Anthony Gordon. I know it’s not a HUGE difference to be playing right or left as wingers, but for example you’d notice a lot of difference in the way a Mohammed Salah would play if you played him on the left instead of his natural right hand side. It’s time for EFC to sign players for genuine positon instead of trying to make thinks fit in these positions, square pegs in round holes springs to mind.
If EFC for example pulled in £60mill for Richarlison, there’s players out there at £20million fee’s that could improve EFC, it’s just down to the recruitment to get it right.
Conclusion
I agree it is sad to an extent that EFC couldn’t match Richarlison’s ambition here, it’s even sadder seeing how much of a mess EFC have got themselves in that this has to be an option. With Talk of new Ownership on the horizon hopefully they have seen what EFC have had to resort to and get things in place to manage the club & its actions better.
It’s a huge ask to replace Richarlison, and understandably Everton fans have very little faith in the club getting it right, however we are under new regime here under Lampard & Thelwell, let’s see what they come up with I guess…
@Danny_efc6
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