Everton signed Anwar El-Ghazi on loan from Premier League rivals Aston Villa without the backing of former manager Rafael Benitez, as reported by The Athletic.
If there is any player that sums up the muddled thinking that has hounded the Goodison Park club in the Farhad Moshiri era, it’s El-Ghazi. Or maybe Vitalii Mykolenko. Alex Iwobi, perhaps. Or Cenk Tosun.
Either way, El-Ghazi is clearly indicative of a wider problem.
The former Ajax winger arrived from Aston Villa on a short-term deal during the January transfer window. So far, however, he’s played just 11 minutes of Premier League football.
And it’s telling that, as Everton lost at 1-0 home to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, Frank Lampard opted against bringing El-Ghazi off the bench despite the fact that the Toffees were chasing a goal and in danger of slipping ever closer to the relegation zone.
Salomon Rondon and the much-maligned Alex Iwobi were also left on the sidelines.
Lampard could have been forgiven for glancing over at the rival dugout, as Daniel Podence was being put through his paces, and turning a deep shade of jade green.
With Richarlison squandering chances, Dominic Calvert-Lewin out of sorts and Demarai Gray half-fit, where are the goals coming from?
What next for Everton and El-Ghazi?
In truth, El-Ghazi finds himself in a rather awkward position at Everton. He signed on January 13th. Benitez left just five days later.
Though this is not to say that El-Ghazi would be finding minutes easier to come by under Lampard’s predecessor. To quite The Athletic, ‘El-Ghazi is a January signing that even Benitez is believed to have not wanted’.
El-Ghazi was not one of Marcel Brands’ signings either. Brands, the former director of football, cleared out his locker on December 7.
So who brought El-Ghazi to Goodison Park? Who was responsible for the latest in a long line of strange signings?
The fact that this is a question without an obvious answer speaks volumes.
About a lack of accountability. About the dearth of joined-up thinking behind the scenes at a club who, at times, would make a six-year old’s lemonade stand look like a sophisticated business.
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