Every football club has a ‘one that got away’ case, but amazingly, Everton actively chose not to go after Bruno Guimaraes before he arrived on English shores.
During the Farhad Moshiri era, a lot of questionable transfer deals happened.
As a result of poor recruitment, Everton spent years languishing at the wrong end of the table.
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Thankfully, the picture is a lot brighter now with The Friedkin Group at the helm, and hopefully we won’t be seeing the Toffees in such worrying predicaments again.
As well as seeing deals done for players that just weren’t up to the required standard, Everton also failed to bring in players they really should have.
And Bruno Guimaraes was one such case – and what the Brazilian has done since Everton declined to sign him is now a terrible reflection on the previous regime.
Everton must be haunted by Bruno Guimaraes as midfielder now looks world-class
In January 2023, the agent Kia Joorabchian claimed that Everton actually had the chance to sign Guimaraes, but declined the opportunity.
He said (as quoted by Daily Express): “Of course, as we do, we offered [Moshiri] many, many players, and they turned them all down. All the signings of the summer – James Tarkowski, Conor Coady, Neal Maupay, Dwight McNeil, the list goes on, all the loans and signings they did – were done purely by them and the board.
“We didn’t have any involvement whatsoever. We speak to all the owners, I speak to quite a few club owners [in the Premier League], but the point is, what is our job? Our job is to present what we have as a client list and say, ‘This is what we have’.
“And Everton haven’t taken any of our advice. So we can’t be that influential. In the past, we have offered them Bruno Guimaraes at £16 million when he was leaving Athletico Paranaense.”
Joorabchian stated that Everton signed Jean-Philippe Gbamin instead. Guimaraes then went to Lyon.
Gbamin, of course, turned out to be one of Everton’s worst-ever signings, making only eight appearances in an injury-ridden three years with the club.
Fast forward a few years, and Guimaraes now stands on the brink of being world-class. Some will argue that he now is.
The midfielder has developed into an all-action player, scoring 31 goals and making 32 assists in 195 games for Newcastle, while also providing consistently good defensive work.
And we are currently seeing his quality on show for Brazil at the 2026 World Cup. Against Japan on Monday, he stepped up again and gave his fourth assist of the tournament – no player has made more.
At the moment, Guimaraes is the subject of transfer interest from Arsenal and it seems he could make for huge money. That further underlines the amazing rise he’s had.
So many poor decisions were made by Moshiri at Everton.
But declining to sign Guimaraes in favour of bringing in Gbamin has to rank as one of the very worst in terms of recruitment.
Of course, Guimaraes may not have had quite the same rise had he joined Everton.
But there is still no denying that it was a major oversight by the club, watching what he has now become.
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