Frank Lampard had been bouncing on the roof of an executive box about half an hour earlier. Indeed, the tannoy announcer at Goodison Park piped up to warn against the dangers of it, without saying that one of those jumping in joy at Everton’s escape from relegation was their manager.
Lampard did not crash through the ceiling and into the posh seats, but there was a way of swiftly bringing him down to earth. Having retreated to the press lounge, he was soon was asked if, despite staying in the Premier League, Everton would have to sell to buy, if one of the prize assets would leave this summer.
The reply was measured and realistic. “If that is the case we will sit down and try and work the best way through it,” he said. He hoped to keep Richarlison, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jordan Pickford but did not pledge each would stay.
Instead, the Brazilian’s equaliser in that seminal May comeback against Crystal Palace has proved his final Everton goal. His £60 million move to Tottenham is a price Everton have paid for their past. After years of heavy losses, with questions about how to pass profit and sustainability regulations, their big-spending days are, whether permanently or temporarily, consigned to history.
There is a new era of austerity and a new ethos. It may be simplistic to say Everton’s aim is to be the opposite of what they have been: Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin and Pickford were among the fine signings in recent years, along with Demarai Gray, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Ben Godfrey, but they were outnumbered by the bad buys. The headline figure was that more than half a billion was spent on transfer fees under Farhad Moshiri’s ownership, too little of it well. That has to change.
Everton, courtesy of chairman Bill Kenwright and chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale, launched a strategic review in December; in itself, that was notable.
It was an acknowledgement errors had been made; indeed, at times in recent years, it was tempting to ask if there was a strategy at all. A first summer window since then is an attempt to show lessons have been learned.
In that context, James Tarkowski is a hugely symbolic first signing. Partly because the centre-back arrived on a free transfer – often overspenders, Everton got a player others had offered £30 million for in previous windows – but partly because of his appearance record: he played in 175 of Burnley’s last 190 Premier League games.
By contrast, continuity has been rendered impossible in Lampard’s reign by a spate of injuries as the manager had to change personnel and tactics regularly. Now Everton are placing a greater emphasis on the fitness record of possible recruits.
Too many recent arrivals – Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Yerry Mina, Fabian Delph, James Rodriguez, Andre Gomes, Allan – have been injury-prone. Everton are seeking to avert a repeat.
The theme of the window is low-risk; low-cost, perhaps, too.
Jesse Lingard, also available on a free transfer, is of interest, though Everton will face competition for his signature. Like Tarkowski, he brings Premier League experience that makes him seem a safer bet: the antithesis, in short, of the talented but expensive Moise Kean, who has spent the last two seasons out on loan.
Everton are less likely to sign another Kean now, though he – along with players such as Gbamin and Gomes – is a reminder their squad contains some they would happily sell, and not merely to boost funds. But at least Richarlison’s exit removes the need to dispense with another of their crown jewels, which also includes the Newcastle target Anthony Gordon.
With a limited budget, Everton may pursue loans with an option or an obligation to buy. One of those who would cost more, Harry Winks, is on the radar but not an active target for a club who have to box clever.
If it presents more of a test in the transfer market, it gives less scope for Moshiri’s agent-driven mistakes: former director of football Marcel Brands recalled in an interview in his native Holland last weekend about trying to negotiate one player’s salary down from £50,000 to £45,000 a week only for the owner to talk about offering another £175,000.
Brands’ successor, Kevin Thelwell, is attempting to implement a greater structure. He and Lampard have lent more coherent thinking.
Everton, who got too little value for money, have to find more. Having barely avoided relegation and sold the player who got both most goals and assists for them last season, they can ill afford further mistakes. After dicing with danger, the objective is to make this a low-risk, high-return summer.
