Friday, March 29, 2024

Schneiderlin signing needs to be the start for Everton

French midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin is on the verge of joining Everton

Everton currently sit in seventh place in the Premier League table. However, once again they will not win silverware this season.

I would say I am frustrated by that, but I am now used to the disappointment.

After Everton’s 2-1 home defeat champions Leicester in the FA Cup at the weekend, Toffees boss Ronald Koeman was highly annoyed and you could see it.

His interview after the game pulled no punches about his players. It also called on the club’s board to act this month to get the players Everton needs to progress.

The news broke last night that the Toffees had agreed a fee of around £22million for Manchester United’s defensive midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin. It was about time too, as the transfer seemed to be dragging on forever.

The Schneiderlin deal needs to be the start of the great Everton rebuild. It will not be done overnight, but the Toffees fans need to see signs of progress at their club.

Summer dealings were poor

Everton fans knew that Dutch legend Ronald Koeman had a major rebuilding job on his hands when he arrived in the summer. The boss gladly swapped his Southampton job for a £6million a year salary and promises of big transfer budgets, two things not available to him on the south coast.

All the promises of big transfer kitties and big names did not amount to much in the summer really. The players that did arrive, Ashley Williams, Yannick Bolasie and Idrissa ‘Gana’ Gueye were good additions to the squad. However, they were not the star names fans expected nor did the club spend much money.

Of the three Gueye has impressed, while Williams has looked shaky at times and Bolasie inconsistent prior to picking up a season-ending injury. In short Koeman and the fans were let down in the summer by the club’s hierarchy.

Koeman was clear in his interview after the Leicester match that it was now down to the board to get him the players Everton need to progress in the near future.

Everton need a complete rebuild

The current Everton squad needs a complete rebuild. From back to front players are needed. There are very few players in the first team squad that most Evertonian’s would keep if given the choice. The squad is full of players like Darron Gibson, Arouna Kone, Tom Cleverley and Aaron Lennon.

These are players who would not get in any of the top six teams in the Premier League. In fact, these are players that would probably struggle to get into most decent teams in the top-flight. Kone has been linked with a move to QPR and Cleverley with a switch to Newcastle.

Both those clubs are in the Championship. Even the majority of their fans do not want the pair anywhere near their teams.

The Everton squad is full of players that do quite cut it at the top level. Koeman has the task of trying to replace these players. One television pundit said recently that the Dutchman looks like he doesn’t like his team on the sidelines at times.

That is probably true to a certain extent, as the majority of the players at the club were not signed by him. The Toffees boss is probably thinking the same thing as the fans with regard to his players. However, it is him that has to do something with this group of players.

He may get paid handsomely for doing the job, but he is not a miracle worker. He cannot turn Arouna Kone into Lionel Messi. That is why he needs to be backed in the transfer market by the owners this month.

Improving the squad in the next two windows

Everton as a club are supposed to be ambitious, at the moment the Blues are odds of 12/1 to make the top six in the Premier League this season. That aim looks unrealistic, as the Merseysider’s are currently nine points behind sixth place Manchester United.

However, Ronald Koeman will hopefully be building a squad over the next few transfer windows that can compete for the top six next season. Many people have called Schneiderlin a United flop. However, the consensus from United supporters seems to be that he was not given a proper chance at Old Trafford.

For me, his form at Southampton prior to his move to United showed that the Frenchman is a very good Premier League midfielder. He looks like a good signing and if Everton wishes to progress his must be the first of many in the next nine months.

Will Morgan Schneiderlin be a good signing for Everton?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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