If Everton cut corners, they will lose their best chance of success in decades
When Ronald Koeman signed on the dotted line at Everton, he spoke of ambition as the main factor in his departure from Southampton. The implication was that the Merseysiders had plenty of it.
They have a strong squad targeting a place amongst English football’s elite places, whilst new stadium plans look more and more substantial. Everton seemed a good fit.
After the guts of a season in the job, things are looking up from where they were before Christmas, too. Stranded in the no-man’s land between the top six and the bottom 13, Everton could have gone one of two ways; but instead of joining the wretched masses on the teeming shore, the Toffees have clambered their way to the safe haven of the European spots.
And yet, if Everton really are ambitious, now is the time they have to prove it.
The new stadium move certainly shows some, but their ability to keep Romelu Lukaku and add more quality to make their team even stronger will show more about their desire to compete than the stadium will. Long-term financial stability isn’t the same as grabbing a sporting chance while you have it. This is arguably the best side the Toffees have had in quite some time, and building on the best platform to compete at the top they’ve had in decades is crucial. Wasting it would be criminal.
But there is a jarring gap between Everton’s ambition and the reality of the situation.
No one could accuse a team of lacking ambition for playing young players, and Tom Davies and Ademola Lookman seem like fabulous prospects whose development is being expertly managed by the Dutch coach. It’s also true that Everton’s side is, by and large, too old. Gareth Barry, Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka are all in the twilight of their careers, and new blood is necessary. There is a nice mix of young talent, players in their prime like Schneiderlin and Ashley Williams, and the older heads mentioned above.
A look, though, at some of the recent transfer rumours emanating from Goodison is a little more worrying, though. At least on the superficial ambition front. Recent links to Chris Wood and Stuart Armstrong – arguably the stand-out players from the Championship and the Scottish Premiership so far this season – have come at the same sort of time as rumours of Romelu Lukaku’s departure.
Transfer rumours are just that, of course, rumours. They are often meaningless and rarely correct, but for a club who are supposedly trying to break the top six stranglehold on the Premier League and break into the big time, that doesn’t look good. Replacing Romelu Lukaku with Chris Wood, as prolific as he’s been for Leeds, is a massive step down.
And yet there’s something nice about the squad Koeman is creating. Like Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs, there would be no discernible stars in the side should Lukaku leave and be replaced by someone of a lesser stature – though surely not Chris Wood, replacing one of the strikers of a generation with an unproven Championship striker doesn’t seem right.
And if there is a desire to progress, a desire to be ambitious, then Everton may need to look beyond the squad strengthening signings, the young starlets and the sale of their best talent. Balance is crucial – but in an era of big spending and superstar managers, you wonder if it’s the best policy Everton could take.