Moshiri wanted Paulo Fonseca at Everton for years – now he’s out of a job

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Everton have long held an interest in Paulo Fonseca.

This one goes back five years. The Telegraph reported in 2017 that Everton has considered Fonseca as a candidate to replace Roberto Martinez in 2016 before eventually going for Ronald Koeman.

The Toffees were back in for Fonseca in November 2017, with The Independent stating that Farhad Moshiri had met with Fonseca and Jorge Mendes to discuss a deal but Shakhtar Donetsk blocked the move.

Come April 2018, The Mirror reported that Fonseca was Moshiri’s top choice for the job, with Marco Silva – the eventual appointment – second choice.

Everton now find themselves searching for a new manager, as Carlo Ancelotti completed a quickfire move to Real Madrid on Tuesday.

A number of names have been linked, but this feels like a golden chance to land Fonseca if Moshiri is still keen – which you would imagine he is, having pursued him so strongly in the past.

Fonseca is without a club having left Roma at the end of the season, meaning Everton wouldn’t have to pay anything in compensation to secure him.

Just because he’s available, don’t think that means he’s a bad manager; far from it.

Fonseca won a staggering 74% of his games at Shakhtar Donetsk, winning three straight league titles with the club and even guiding them into the last 16 of the Champions League in 2018.

At Roma, Fonseca only lost 27 of his 102 games in charge, boasting a 52% win rate. He finished fifth in his first season, and then guided Roma to the semi-finals of the Europa League this past season.

Those are things that Everton would love to achieve going forward; top six finishes, European adventures, attacking football that generated almost two goals a game.

With 315 wins from 594 games in management, Fonseca has impressed in almost every job, and it feels like now or never with Everton.

If Moshiri still doesn’t make his move with Fonseca now free to move on, when it’s unlikely to ever happen. Given some of the names being touted, Fonseca absolutely deserves another look from the Toffees.