Everton have had their fair share of transfer blunders in recent years, with the vast riches injected by Farhad Moshiri proving more regressive than anything despite the excitement it promised.
Wildly backing numerous managers has seen them dwindle with each passing year, devolving into a side constantly battling the drop, with Sean Dyche the latest to tackle the challenge.
However, when viewing their greatest transfer failures, few stand out like Jean-Philippe Gbamin, who was billed as the ideal replacement for the outbound Idrissa Gana Gueye, set to join Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2019.
Few could have predicted the misfortune that was to come, with the Ivorian midfielder soon ravaged by injuries before seeing his contract terminated a year early.
His agent, Bernard Collignon, has since come out to suggest that their move to Merseyside was one that initially made sense, even though there was interest from bigger clubs that they supposedly turned down.
Speaking to The Guardian, who branded his spell at Goodison Park an ‘unmitigated disaster’, claimed: ‘Arsenal and Tottenham wanted Jean-Philippe in 2019. Jürgen Klopp, who managed Mainz, had wanted JP before signing Fabinho.
‘But we chose Everton because if you arrive straight away at a big club in England, it’s very difficult to make it. N’Golo Kanté would never have been the player he was at Chelsea if he didn’t arrive at Leicester. The same with Riyad Mahrez at [Manchester] City.’
What happened to Jean-Philippe Gbamin?
Joining for £25m in 2019, it did not take long for the 28-year-old to suffer the first of what would be numerous setbacks set to stunt a once-promising career.
A hamstring injury devolved into the rupturing of his Achilles tendon, before further ligament damage in 2021 cemented his place on the treatment table once again.
Even loan spells to CSKA Moscow and Trabzonspor could not reignite his career, even though he managed more games for the Russian side (13) than he had across four years at Everton (eight).
Given his final year in Germany saw the current free agent impress, managing 1.6 tackles and one interception per game, it is crazy to see just how far Gbamin has fallen, given the clubs supposedly once interested in securing his services.
Since then, Gueye has actually returned to the club, truly making the former FC Mainz flop obsolete.
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