Remember Oumar Niasse? The fourth most expensive player in Everton’s history. Well it’s fair to say his Premier League dream isn’t going quite as planned.
He doesn’t even have a locker. Oumar Niasse, the fourth most expensive player in Everton’s history, has discovered that there’s a whole other layer of dirt beneath rock bottom.
First, Niasse slipped down the pecking order under Roberto Martinez. Next, new manager Ronald Koeman (below) stripped him of his squad number and, after watching the 26-year-old in action for just one half of football, told him in no uncertain terms to get out of Goodison immediately.
Niasse, to his credit, did not. In an enthralling interview with The Guardian, the affable frontman explains how he had offers from clubs across the continent but refused to entertain an exit, such is his desire to play Premier League football. Some may say he’s foolish, in need of a brutal reality check, and that he can have no complaints following a series of startlingly poor performances since joining from Lokomotiv Moscow in January.
But, in truth, his stubbornness and refusal to accept defeat is commendable, even if he is staring into a rather bleak future of changing, training and playing with Everton’s under-23s.
“It’s sad, it’s really said,” Niasse admits. “I think that I don’t deserve this.”
It’s difficult not to agree. We all know Ronald Koeman doesn’t take any prisoners (see Ross Barkley) but has the hard-nosed Dutchman stepped out of line in his treatment of a striker desperate for a fair chance?
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