Former Everton transfer target has just finished top 15 in the Ballon d’Or rankings

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Everton have missed out on a number of players in previous transfer windows who have gone on to become world beaters.

The Toffees tried to sign Alexander Isak for around £14m in 2016, and now he’s just joined Merseyside rivals Liverpool in a £130m deal.

Cenk Tosun recommended Arda Guler to Everton scouts in 2021, but they passed up on the offer and have paid the price as he’s flourishing at Real Madrid years later.

Even Scott McTominay more recently was wanted by Sean Dyche and since then, he’s become a top-class midfielder at Napoli and finished in 18th place in the Ballon d’Or ranking this year.

Another former transfer target was also nominated for the Ballon d’or and actually finished in 12th place.

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Former Everton target Khvicha Kvaratskhelia finishes 12th in Ballon d’or rankings

Remarkably, Everton were on the verge of signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in 2021 and he was going to cost just £9m.

The Toffees were leading other Premier League clubs to sign the then Rubin Kazan winger, but ultimately, they didn’t get a deal done.

Since then, Kvaratskhelia has established himself as one of the best players on the planet and was a standout performer in Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League winning team last season.

The former Everton target has just finished in 12th place in this year’s Ballon d’or rankings after netting 13 goals whilst laying on 11 assists in the 2024/25 campaign with both PSG and Napoli.

Everton have to learn from past mistakes

Everton’s previous recruitment team was clearly hit and miss, which is why the Friedkin Group replaced many of them when they took over from Farhad Moshiri.

New CEO Angus Kinnear, speaking back in May, explained how the new structure is set up.

“I think there’s been a move in recent years to a single Director of Football model and that can be challenging,” Kinnear said.

“We’re going to move to a broader, flatter structure, where we have experts in data and analytics, in football operations, in recruitment and talent ID, and then in player trading.

He added: “I think when Everton fans see it, they’re going to be really reassured that we’ve got, I think, a world-class football operations team in place who’ll be there to support David, who we think is a world-class manager.”