Ellis Simms has left Everton, joining Coventry City in the Championship.
Ellis Simms has joined Coventry City on a four-year deal, as reported by the BBC. The striker will replace Victor Gyokeres, who has joined Sporting Lisbon. Coventry will be hoping that Simms can fire them to promotion to the Premier League, after they fell agonisingly short last season, losing the play-off final to Luton Town.
From an Everton perspective, it ends Simms’ stay at Goodison Park, which began back in 2017 when he joined the club as a 16-year-old. Simms often impressed at academy level. The striker went on to make 12 first team appearances for the Merseyside club. However, the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Neal Maupay recently blocked his path to further opportunities in the Premier League.
Given the 22-year-old’s need for regular football, his departure this summer made perfect sense.
Everton missed an opportunity with Ellis Simms
Simms’ lack of opportunities for Everton last season would have made sense if the club’s other strikers had been in prolific form. However, it was yet another injury-hit campaign for Calvert-Lewin. The regular starter in the Englishman’s absence was Neal Maupay, and the former Brighton man struggled in his first season with the club. Sean Dyche’s side suffered a goalscoring crisis last season that nearly ended in disaster.
The French forward made 27 Premier League appearances last season, of which eleven were starts. He played 1,113 top flight minutes in total. In all that time, the 26-year-old scored just one goal. As Everton came very close to relegation, Maupay’s wastefulness almost cost them dearly.
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By contrast, after Simms returned from his loan spell with Sunderland in January, he was afforded just 219 Premier League minutes and two starts. He equalled Maupay’s goal tally and his physicality and strength made him a more similar replacement for Calvert-Lewin.
If given more chances by Dyche, Simms may not have fired the Toffees to safety earlier. However, he would have likely had a more positive impact than Maupay, which at the very least would have allowed the club to command a bigger fee for him this summer. Simms exit must go down as the confirmation of an opportunity missed for Everton.