Phil Neville has praised Everton’s work in the transfer market this summer.
Pundit and former Everton midfielder Phil Neville has told BBC Sport that he thinks the Toffees can become ‘the new Tottenham’ after a promising summer.
Everton made a big move last summer by replacing Roberto Martinez as manager, with Ronald Koeman coming in and immediately improving the club, earning a seventh-placed finish in the Premier League.
With Farhad Moshiri’s investment, Everton have now emerged as one of the Premier League’s most ambitious clubs, and whilst they have sold star striker Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United, this has been a positive summer for the Toffees.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman (L) and Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino
Jordan Pickford, Cuco Martina, Michael Keane, Davy Klaassen, Sandro Ramirez and Wayne Rooney have all joined Everton this summer, whilst Henry Onyekuru arrived from Eupen before immediately being loaned out to Anderlecht.
Those signings should give Everton a real boost, and whilst the club are back in the Europa League this coming season, they will also harbour ambitions of pushing for Champions League qualification.
That was the case for Tottenham under Mauricio Pochettino too, and with Spurs now considered as a legitimate title contender, former Everton captain Phil Neville believes Everton must attempt to follow suit.
Neville has told BBC Sport that he thinks Everton have done the best business in the Premier League this summer, and believes that the Toffees can now ‘do a Tottenham’ and kick on towards the upper echelons of the Premier League.
Neville noted that Everton have been more proactive in the transfer market than they were under David Moyes, and believes the return of Rooney from Manchester United gels everything together for Koeman’s men.
“If the window closed today, Everton have done the best business,” said Neville. “Everton have to look at Tottenham. Four or five years ago, Tottenham and Everton were on similar levels, Tottenham kicked on and Everton didn’t but now I think they are well capable of doing a Tottenham – producing a young team with a brilliant manager in Ronald Koeman.”
Phil Neville
“Everton have bought quality and what is more exciting is the young players breaking through – couple that with Wayne Rooney and it should be good. Everton could be one of the teams to watch this year. They have been very proactive, they have not waited for Lukaku to leave, they have said ‘let’s get our players in first and take some of the pressure off. I remember when I was at Everton with David Moyes. We sold Joleon Lescott one summer and Mikel Arteta towards the end [of the transfer window] – when you sell those players it puts added pressure on and fans get a little angry.”
“They have actually signed four or five players, the fans are happy, it softens the blow of Lukaku leaving with knowing full well there are one or two more to come. I think the signing of Rooney gels it all together for Everton. There is no way Wayne Rooney would go back to Everton if he didn’t think they were going to win things, that is for sure,” he added.
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