If we’re talking sheer pound-for-pound value then surely there’s no disputing whatsoever that Everton captain Seamus Coleman is the best Premier League transfer ever. The “Sixty Grand” terrace chant has been a Blues anthem for over a decade now and his modest fee represents the biggest bargain in modern day football.
While I’m sure most of us would be delighted to have £60,000 in our bank accounts – especially in the current cost of living crisis in which wages are struggling to keep up with inflation and skyrocketing energy bills – but in the relative terms of the billionaires’ playground of the Premier League, it’s the equivalent of that dirty penny on the pavement you can’t even be bothered to bend over and pick up, but boy must Everton be delighted that they made the effort with this deal back in January 2009. In an era when the top young players routinely command fees north of £30million, here is a Premier League star who was bought for a fee less than the weekly pay packet of many top flight footballers and even much smaller than the value of most regular people’s houses.
During his long spell in charge at Goodison Park, David Moyes used to complain that trying to get the Blues to compete financially against the likes of petrodollar-fuelled Manchester City was akin to taking a knife to a gun fight but the Scot must have been delighted he took a punt on a raw but exciting prospect from Ireland’s wild Atlantic west coast after being spotted by scout Michael Doherty who was watching his son Sean also play for Sligo Rovers. It took time to polish up this rough diamond from – including a loan spell at Blackpool – but Coleman, along with Leighton Baines on the opposite flank who in contrast had arrived as the most-expensive defender in Everton history at the time, revolutionised full-back play at the club and took the position into the modern era in which those in the role are expected to be potent forces in the opposition half in addition to providing wide support for their own centre-backs.
