Imagine, for a second, that you’re already sick to the back teeth of your club’s recruitment policy and lack of a discernible long-term plan. And then, just to add insult to injury, they choose to sell your most exciting attacker – an academy graduate for good measure – before bringing in a free-agent who suffered relegation with Sunderland the last time he stepped foot in the Premier League.
Well, for Everton supporters, this nightmare scenario is threatening to become a reality.
According to Spanish publication AS, the Toffees are giving serious consideration to offering an unattached Adnan Januzaj a fresh start on English soil.
Now, that in itself is not a terrible idea. Belgium international Januzaj is still just 27, and has a lot of oil left in the tank. And while he might never fulfil that ‘world-class’ potential, Januzaj’s performances last season at Real Sociedad – five goals and three assists from the wing – suggest that he could be a sensible, low-cost addition to an Everton frontline lacking in quality and quantity.
Anthony Gordon out, Adnan Januzaj in at Everton?
But it’s the suggestion that Januzaj could replace Anthony Gordon at Goodison Park that will get backs up and claws baring. AS claim that Everton are ‘waiting to make a sale to Chelsea’ before making an offer for Januzaj.
In short, that means Januzaj’s future is tied to that of Gordon, if reports are to be believed. The former arrives if the latter is sold.
Now, Everton have already lost Richarlison to Tottenham Hotspur this summer. But the sight of Gordon donning the deep blue of Chelsea would feel a different sort of painful. He is Merseyside born and bred, a graduate of the Everton academy; In short, ‘one of our own’. Everton would not only be selling their most exciting, homegrown youngster since a young Wayne Rooney, but they’d be selling their future too.
“These things can happen very quickly. And while Frank Lampard has backed (Gordon), the board might accept an offer for him,” says former Everton defender Michael Ball amid reports claiming Chelsea have submitted a £40 million bid for the England U21 international (Sky Sports).
“Everyone has got their price. But with him being one of our own, it would be a bitter bill to swallow.”
And bringing in Januzaj as Gordon’s replacement would not calm fears over Everton’s direction, but exacerbate then. If anything smacks of an absence of ambition, it would be this.
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