Thus far, Everton have been an unlikely leader in terms of transfer business in Premier League this summer.
The Toffees seem intent to make themselves count among the big boys of Premier League ever since businessman Farhad Moshiri bought a stake in the club last year. And it has been obvious from their eagerness to procure talents this summer.
In the first full-season under the ownership of Moshiri, the Toffees appointed Ronald Koeman as their manager and made signings like Morgan Schneiderlin, Yannick Bolasie, Ashley Williams, Ademola Lookman and Idrissa Gueye.
This summer, Koeman and Director of Football Steve Walsh have wasted no time and have been among the busiest folks in the early days of the new Premier League transfer window, and bigfreebet.com among others predict this to be the case until the window closes.
The Merseyside club made waves in the market when they signed Jordan Pickford for a record fee from Sunderland. Soon after, they followed up with the signing of Dutch midfielder Davey Klaassen from Ajax. Pickford is considered as one of the most promising English goalkeepers while Klaassen was a key member of the Ajax side that reached the Europa League final last season.
On the flip side, the Toffees are set to lose arguably their best player Romelu Lukaku this summer, but they have already moved to strengthen their options by signing two up and coming forward talents.
The Merseysiders have signed one of the best upcoming Spanish talents in Sandro Ramirez from Malaga. The former Barcelona youth product scored 14 goals in 30 La Liga appearances last season. Meanwhile, Henry Onyekuru has signed from Belgian club Eupen. However, the 20-year- old, joint- top scorer in Belgian league with 22 goals last season, was immediately sent on loan to Anderlecht.
Wayne Rooney has also returned to his boyhood club and has plenty to offer even at the age of 31, and newer reports indicate that the Toffees are further looking to sign a proven goalscorer and have identified Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud and Bournemouth’s Josh King as possible targets.
Koeman has also boosted his defensive options by signing Michael Keane from Burnley in a £25m deal. The 24-year- old was the standout player for Sean Dyche’s side last season and also earned a debut call-up to England national team.
One could argue that the Toffees will most of their outlay by selling Lukaku. However, a look at the names that have arrived at the club would tell you that Koeman aims to build a team that would be challenging the top clubs in Premier League in the coming years.
Is the period of austerity at Goodison Park over? Judging by what they’ve done this summer, the answer is a resounding yes.