Everton’s summer has been a busy one, but thus far they have only had to suffer through one major sacrifice.
It was always expected that a big sale would be needed to balance the books, but few predicted that it would come after such a flurry of incomings set to revolutionise Sean Dyche’s squad.
Now, the first team is looking much stronger, and it is all thanks to one outbound transfer that has not really weakened the side.
Paul Scholes reacts to Everton transfer
Speaking on the latest episode of The Overlap, in which he sat with Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher to discuss the Premier League’s summer activity, he chimed in whilst the latter discussed Everton’s outstanding sale.
After all, a £50m deal was always bound to draw interest, with Amadou Onana sold to rival Aston Villa in order to bring in crucial funds.
However, despite their apparent financial distress, Scholes still questioned the Midlands club’s decision-making, taking particular issue with the huge fee unloaded.
He noted: ‘With Douglas Luiz, he had to go for financial reasons, but I think he will be a big miss. I thought that he was brilliant for them. Who comes in to replace him? Tielemans is a bit inconsistent but he is a really good player. But he’s not that number-six footballer, he’s one who more likes to get forward.
‘I don’t really see the Onana thing, I’ve not seen him while he’s been at Everton. I didn’t see it at Belgium either. When they spent £50 million for him, I thought that seemed a bit too much. Now Emery being the manager he is, he might get something out of him, it might be a club that suits him, but where I’m stood right now, £50 million seems like a lot of money.’
This came just after Jamie Carragher admitted he never rated Amadou Onana either.
Who have Everton signed and sold this summer?
It has been a busy window for Everton thus far, but few could argue with the progress made.
After all, Kevin Thelwell had sought to temper expectations with his post-summer speech, in which he inspired fear that few new players would be bought whilst some of their stars might be sold.
Thus far, both of these have proven to be untrue claims, with the ‘exciting’ Onana, as Roberto Martinez branded him, the only major absence thus far.
The window started with the Toffees’ capture of Tim Iroegbunam, with Lewis Dobbin going in the other direction for £10m and £9m fees respectively.
Next came the return of Jack Harrison on loan, before Iliman Ndiaye was prised from Marseille a year after Thelwell had tried to sign him from Sheffield United.
Jesper Lindstrom joined on loan from Napoli, and Jake O’Brien’s move from Lyon rounded off a summer of spending that could yet have more still to come.
Meanwhile, Onana and Dobbin’s departures stood either side of Ben Godfrey’s sale to Atlanta.
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