Everton’s Striker Situation Calls For January Transfers

The second, post-World Cup, part of Everton’s 2022/23 season began with the news that 33-year-old center-forward Salomon Rondon has left the club by mutual consent.

It was a reminder of the re-rebuild job at the club that has now been taking place for several years but has never been completed.

Rondon’s departure is another indication of a muddled transfer policy where players arrive, don’t quite live up to expectations, and then depart to free up wages or space in the squad for the next attempt. A policy fans will hope becomes a thing of the past.

The most recent rebuild has, in part, been forced upon them by the expensive failure of previous attempts, but also comes as a result of failure on the pitch.

Rondon’s signing served a purpose as part of the most recent recovery. At one stage in 2021, the club was simply unable to spend any more money, even if it had it.

The Venezuelan was signed in the 2021 summer transfer window as an emergency backup for Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

The problem with that was, at Everton, an on-field emergency is always just around the corner, especially where Calvert-Lewin and his recent injury record are concerned. It was inevitable that the emergency backup soon became the first choice.

A relatively unfit Rondon, and certainly not a match-sharp one, was thrown in to start in a 3-0 defeat at Aston Villa in the fifth game of the 2021/22 season. Calvert-Lewin would not feature again until January 2022.

The dire state of Everton’s financial situation around that time and, perhaps more pertinently, the potential repercussions of it if they were to break financial fair play rules, have since become clear.

Rondon was an emergency signing not only in terms of his role in the squad but also because of his availability on a free transfer.

Most of the transfer business carried out by Everton in the 2021 summer transfer window, including the departure of high-earning players plus the subsequent sales of Lucas Digne and eventually Richarlison, was done to prevent the club from dropping off a financial precipice.

There was even talk of a points deduction which, when combined with poor performances on the field, would have led to relegation to the Championship.

They were saved from such a fate by the performance of their supporters, whose efforts willed a hard-working set of players to Premier League safety.

Everton have now seen two first team forwards, three if you include Cenk Tosun, depart within the space of six months.

Only one forward has arrived during that time, as Everton spent $18 million on Neal Maupay from Brighton & Hove Albion, a team from whom they could learn plenty.

Eight Brighton players were present at the 2022 World Cup. They were sixth in the Premier League for the number of players participating in the tournament, behind Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham, and ahead of Liverpool.

Brighton’s attacking midfielder Alexis Mac Allister returns to the club with a World Cup winners’ medal having been a key part of the Argentina side in Qatar.

One of the differences between Everton’s and Brighton’s recruitment strategy can be summed up by the Maupay transfer.

The French forward had traits in his game to replace some of what Everton lost with the departure of Richarlison. He is a hard-working annoyance to opposition defenders, bringing some bite to an attack in the same way the Brazilian did.

He may not have had the best goalscoring record, but Richarlison himself was hardly prolific, usually just about getting into double figures at the end of a league campaign.

Across the previous three full seasons, Richarlison has only scored four more Premier League goals than Maupay.

Goal return, or lack of, is not really the issue. The main problem is that Maupay appears to have been used by Everton as a like-for-like alternative to Calvert-Lewin—something he isn’t.

You can imagine Maupay being useful as part of a larger plan of attack, whether as a false nine dropping deep to allow wide forwards to advance towards the area, or as part of a front two in a 4-4-2 or 3-5-2, ​​but he cannot act as the focal point in the same way Calvert-Lewin can.

Everton signed this player from Brighton and don’t seem to have had a plan for how to use him, which is the opposite of the way Brighton operates in terms of recruitment.

The south coast club have a plan off and on the pitch including constantly updated lists of players who can fit each role in the team. If a player, or indeed a manager or coach leaves, they already have similar replacements lined up.

Rondon may not have been considered as good a player as Maupay, but in terms of keeping to a style of play with Calvert-Lewin out, which he has been for much of this season already, Rondon was arguably the better option.

The Venezuelan’s departure means Everton now have a space, and indeed a need, for another centre forward in their squad.

The way Everton act in the upcoming transfer window will give us an idea of how they plan to go forward tactically, and how well their recruitment overhaul is working under director of football, Kevin Thelwell, who has been in the role since February 2022.

That a similar sentiment could have been put forward before every Everton transfer window in recent memory indicates that recruitment, and a plan for recruitment, remains one of the main problems at the club.

A revolving door of players and managers is a big part of this problem. The upheaval caused by the managerial and coaching changes creates a vicious circle. Squad overhauls and changes in playing style are brought in with each new manager and new, different styles of players are needed as a result.

Frank Lampard and his coaches have stated they have an idea for the type of attacking football they would like Everton to play, but so far there there have been difficulties getting that onto the field in competitive games.

Most of the approach to date has been geared around putting out fires and stopping the opposition (and indeed simply trying to avoid relegation in 2021/22) rather than being proactive.

Everton has now signed six first team players under the leadership of Lampard and Thelwell, so they should be getting close to having the players required.

Rondon’s departure, and the need for new forwards, means by the end of the January transfer window they should be closer to having 11 players to carry out a desired style.

As is said so often, too often where Everton are concerned, this next transfer window and the subsequent six months will tell us a lot about whether this latest plan, and this latest group of players, will work.