Everton Football Club: perennially caught in a chasm of unfulfilled ambition.
There is no one size fits all, textbook path to the top but, generally speaking, the spending of Premier League owners alludes to one basic theory: investment leads to progression.
That, however, is just a theory. Everton and West Ham’s collective struggle to spend their way into the top six in recent years has failed to produce the desired effect.
The appointment of Carlo Ancelotti in December 2019 could be the piece of the jigsaw that the Toffees need to elevate onto the elusive higher platform.
With the Toffees safe from the threat of relegation, a threat which was a realistic possibility before the turn of the year, the Italian manager will likely be using the final months of the season to assess his squad and make conclusive decisions regarding who he believes can help him end the pattern of mediocrity on the blue half of Merseyside.
Financially speaking, Everton have not been the most cunning outfit in the transfer market in recent years and that has left them with a hefty wage bill.
Marcel Brands’ recruitment has been scrutinised but his ability to offload players this summer will be equally deserving of the same level of scrutiny.
After all, the club could save a significant sum of money and bolster their muscle in the transfer market.
With that said, here’s how Everton’s director of football could save the club a whopping £26.68m this summer…
Players who aren’t warranting their wage
Everton certainly don’t have a shortage of overpaid players. Gylfi Sigurdsson, for example, is earning a whopping £100k-per-week, per Spotrac, which equates to £5.2m per year.
In the 2018/19 season he was one of the club’s outstanding talents, but he has fallen into the abyss this season and looks a shadow of the creative technician who once graced the Goodison Park turf with swagger and authority. On that salary Everton can expect much more bang for their buck.
Quite incredibly, Theo Walcott and Morgan Schneiderlin are both pocketing the same salary. Walcott may have enjoyed something resembling a mini revival of late but that alone cannot mask more than a decade of false prophecy.
The £300k-per-week trio appear to be a tribute band masquerading as the real thing, fooling nobody but reaping the financial rewards nonetheless. It’s time for Brands to be ruthless and offload them.
Finally, although Ancelotti has admitted he wants to keep Leighton Baines, at 34 years old it would be wise to offload the club veteran and free up another £3.38m per year.
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Players who look destined to leave
This part should be a little more straightforward. Cuco Martina and Oumar Niasse, two players who embody the notion of “stealing a living”, are set to become free agents when their contracts expire in the summer. Earning £1.82m and £2.86 per year respectively, consider it job done.
However, the case of Cenk Tosun, who earns £3.12m per year, is a little less seamless. That he was sent on loan to Crystal Palace in January suggests he has little future under Ancelotti, but the club will need to find an appropriate suitor to take him off their hands. Current circumstances suggest he is likely to leave but there’s clearly work to be done yet.
Results of Everton’s summer sale
If Brands is able to remove the aforementioned seven players from the wage bill, Everton would have an extra £26.68m per year to invest.
Logically speaking, this should bolster the club’s position on the negotiating table with potential new recruits while allowing the Toffees to reward Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin with bumper new contracts.