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…
£450m is the figure Everton have spent since Farhad Moshiri walked through the doors of Goodison Park with his beefy cheque book.
£4m of that was spent on paying Watford compensation for the services of Marco Silva. Has it been worth it? One would argue not.
The Toffees currently sit 16th in the Premier League, just four points above the relegation zone. If that’s the norm for a club who have spent that amount of money, it paints a worrying picture about not only Everton, but also the division itself.
The Merseyside club have got a number of things wrong in recent years. Their transfer policy has been confusing while they’ve been through unsuccessful managers like they’re going out of fashion.
In the summer of 2017, they seemed intent on signing attacking midfielders. In came Davy Klaassen, Wayne Rooney and Gylfi Sigurdsson while last summer saw bizarre sums of money spent on players like Alex Iwobi. The very fact a failing winger from Arsenal cost £34m seems barbaric.
But the situation revolving around the managers is even more puzzling. Spending the amounts of money on players as they have done since Moshiri has arrived has only piled the pressure on those in charge and quite possibly, Silva is now feeling the effects.
His job has never been more insecure as talks of three possible new faces arriving ramp up. Mikel Arteta has been linked with the job, as have David Moyes and Eddie Howe.
To get Arteta in they may have to act quickly given Arsenal’s interest, but Moshiri’s reluctance to sack Silva on the spot and immediately bring in a new manager is sensible in some ways.
The Mirror reported this week that Silva was set to take training on Tuesday, but only because the ownership couldn’t decide on a new replacement. Indecisiveness could be costly but being too reactive hasn’t paid dividends for Moshiri in the past.
For once, the owner is proving sensible and it looks as though he’s finally learning his lessons. Since investing into the club he hasn’t done a whole lot right, particularly when it’s come to hiring managers.
Rather typically, his first act was to sack Roberto Martinez in May 2016, an act that’s become rather synonymous of his time at the club.
But since then, things haven’t gone to plan. Ronald Koeman was given his marching orders just nine games into the 2017/18 campaign with Everton sitting in the relegation zone. A rather uninspired appointment of Sam Allardyce followed and Silva has hardly done wonders after succeeding him.
Everton aren’t in the relegation zone now but they’re incredibly close to falling into those positions. If Moshiri sacked Koeman with the club lingering in a similar place, it suggests that not moving on Silva so quickly is a lesson learnt.
Parting company with your head coach isn’t always the answer and in this case, the owners must make sure they have the right successor lined up.
Moshiri has commented in the past that he has desires of bringing Champions League football to Goodison Park.
However, that won’t be achieved if he gets yet another appointment wrong. He is right to bide his time on this occasion.
Meanwhile, check out how Everton fans responded to reports linking them with a return for David Moyes…
