THE GREAT GOODISON GAMBLE
Everton have not won a match since a farcical 22-0 stroll in Austria, and new boss Marco Silva is now acutely aware of the tough challenge ahead with the players, the wage bill, the owner and Toffees fans...
MARCO SILVA started at Everton with a 22-0 win.
Since that early pre-season mismatch against Austria’s ATV Irdning, the size of the job he inherited has become clearer. Silva’s reputation is on the line and he knew what he was taking on when appointed manager in June: “It’s a big project and a big challenge.” A big project barely does justice to the scale of the problem. When Silva and his experienced technical director Marcel Brands arrived, they did so in the knowledge a bloated firstteam squad of 39 players must be pruned drastically before any signings were contemplated. Brands indicated only 25 or so senior players were needed and conceded such a reduction could take four or five transfer windows to complete, given the scale of Premier League wages.
Everton have not won a match since the game in Austria, and the question for Silva already is whether he will be given that time.
Owner Farhad Moshiri has hardly shown the patience of his predecessor Bill Kenwright, effectively appointing five managers in barely two years.
The problem for Silva is simple. He has already cut the wage bill massively by getting rid of the £150,000 a week paid to Wayne Rooney and £100,000 a week to Davy Klaassen, but more players must depart before many more signings can be made.
That process is under way with Ashley Williams, another big earner, heading to Stoke and Kevin Mirallas in talks with Fiorentina, but it needs to be accelerated. Silva has had backing, with the £40million capture of
Richarlison an eye-opening deal, but there is not the same mood as a year ago when Moshiri bankrolled a promise to deliver Everton into the top four, which of course stalled spectacularly.
Now he realises he cannot continue with a strategy which saw the wage bill almost double in two years, with crazy-money signings such as Sandro Ramirez and Yannick Bolasie.
Silva knows there will perhaps only be a centre-half to join Richarlison (right) and Lucas Digne (left), and is aware that will bring pressure as he works with a squad exposed last season even while finishing eighth.
“The club doesn’t need to sign lots of players, we need to sort out the number of players first, then be assertive,” he said. “We have to take the right decisions and sign the right players to improve our squad.
“We know it takes time, and we know it’s not the perfect situation. We have a base here.
“We have 38 players and that brings pressure. Of course that is a big challenge because this club has a big history so there is expectation. But me and Marcel know what’s required.
“We need to look at our players first, but we have time before the transfer market closes, and it’s clear to me as well as our board and owner, it’s clear they know what we need.”
Brands spoke of a long-term project when he arrived, but in reality, Silva realises he must improve on last season’s poor style of play, as well as finish higher than the eighth place Sam Allardyce achieved. He must be ruthless in forcing out players, and has told the likes of Williams, Mirallas, Cuco Martina and – surprisingly – young Nikola Vlasic they will no longer train with the first team while they remain at Goodison.
Silva will be helped by the capture of a centre-half. Barcelona’s Yerry Mina remains the No.1 target. There was contact with Manchester United over Marcos Rojo, but reports of an agreed fee of £29m are premature.
Given there will be four signings at most this summer, that is a tough call for a boss already under pressure after being relegated with Hull and sacked by Watford in the past two years.