Former Premier League midfielder Jamie O’Hara is baffled about the staggering sums Everton have wasted during the Farhad Moshiri era, telling talkSPORT (24 January, 11.30pm) that he has ‘never heard’ of £24 million signing Jean-Philippe Gbamin.
Remember the days when Everton, under David Moyes, would perennially qualify for Europe while bloodying the noses of the big boys despite operating on a shoestring budget? Those times most feel like a lifetime ago now.
Because, while Moshiri’s 2016 takeover has given the Toffees access to the sort of riches that would have been beyond even their wildest dreams during Moyes’ Goodison Park heyday, spending heavily and spending wisely are two very different things.
Everton have splurged around £700 million to get here; joint-bottom of the Premier League, gripped by the fear of a first relegation since 1951. Shapeless, spineless and very often hapless. To make matters worse, many of the players who failed to live up to their hefty price-tags at Everton went onto much better things after departing Merseyside.
Everton are now managerless following Frank Lampard exit
Nikola Vlasic is currently one of Serie A’s most in-form attacking midfielders. Davy Klaassen has won successive Eredivisie titles at Ajax. Gerard Deulofeu is on the radar of Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.
O’Hara, meanwhile, singles out a player who, with a brace against Juventus, took his Atalanta tally to 13 goals in just 14 starts.
“Ademola Lookman; a good player him, by the way,” says the former Tottenham youngster; rattling off a series of other names who either flopped or were quickly brushed under the rug by Everton.
“(Morgan) Schneiderlin, (Yannick) Bolasie, Vlasic. They signed (Gbamin) for £24 million from Mainz. I’ve never heard of him!”
In Gbamin’s defence, a seemingly never-ending series of injuries meant the Ivory Coast international never got the opportunity to show what all the fuss was about, starting just two Premier League matches between 2019 and 2022 before being farmed out on loan to Turkish champions Trabzonspor in the summer.
Relegation-threatened Everton sacked Frank Lampard following Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to West Ham; their tenth game in a row without a win. Marcelo Bielsa and Nuno Espirito Santo are among those tipped to take Lampard’s place.
“I recommended Vitor Pereira and they went for Frank Lampard,” super-agent Kia Joorabchian recalls (talkSPORT). “That was very much a board decision.
“We offered (Everton) Bruno Guimares for £16 million. They didn’t like him. And Bruno went on to Lyon. Diego Carlos, we offered him at £11 million before he went to Sevilla. Eder Militao (is another, now at Real Madrid).”
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