The full extent of Everton’s recent transfer spending shows just how badly the club have underperformed.
Everton have been in a downward spiral in recent seasons, and now find themselves regularly fighting against relegation from the Premier League.
Considering how much the Toffees have spent in the transfer market to assemble their current squad, this is a disastrous underperformance.
According to the CIES Football Observatory, Everton have spent a total of €418 million on transfer fees in the process of putting their current first team squad together. That alarming figure equates to around £360 million, and makes the first team squad at Goodison Park the 14th most expensive in world football at this time.
This puts the Toffees ahead of the likes of Napoli and Barcelona, and just one place behind Juventus. Yet, Everton face a tougher campaign ahead than any of those three sides. Sean Dyche’s main priority this season will be attempting to retain the club’s Premier League status, rather than battling to win league titles and secure European qualification.
There have been far too many bad transfer decisions made and poor managerial appointments at Goodison Park, over a number of years, to think that a quick fix is now possible.
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The long journey ahead for Everton
Dyche may well manage to keep Everton up this season, in which case the club will still just be treading water. True progress cannot be made until significant structural changes are made and stuck to, and time is then allowed for the benefit of those changes to be felt.
The job of getting Everton back to where they belong is beyond Dyche alone. This £360 million figure simply serves to illustrate the scale of the task that faces him.
However, there are positives to take. The club have a state of the art new stadium on the way, and there is some talent in the first team squad. The club has a huge fanbase and a rich history, meaning it will always hold some attraction to players and investors.