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Explained: How Everton lost out on £6m in January, transfer decision backfired

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Kieran Dowell has an uncertain future at Everton. The 21-year-old finds himself on the periphery at Goodison Park and is expected to leave the club on a permanent deal or loan next season – Sheffield United are leading the race for his signature.

Dowell signed a new deal with the Toffees in August 2018 but has featured only twice in the first-team since then and was denied a £6m move to Aston Villa in January – a decision which Everton may now be regretting. He was loaned out to Sheffield United instead.

Despite impressing for Chris Wilder’s side last season, Everton still don’t appear to have a place for Dowell in the first-team – Gylfi Sigurdsson is first-choice in his preferred role. Recent reports suggest the £15k-per-week midfielder will be loaned out for the third time in as many seasons too, so why did Everton turn down the £6m bid?

In the last two seasons, Dowell has spent time on loan at Nottingham Forest (August 3, 2017 – May 31, 2018) and Sheffield United (January 2, 2019 – May 31, 2019). He did well for United and will have hoped his form in the Championship would boost his chances of playing under Marco Silva in 2019/20, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Everton made a blunder by rejecting £20m for Lookman and may have repeated the feat with Dowell. Unless the Merseysiders are planning to develop him in the first-team, rejecting £6m makes little sense.

Read Crippy Cooke’s previous article

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Sports journalist who is an avid football fan, enjoys debunking transfer rumours, loves to write pieces about players out in the cold and takes a large amount of pride getting a predicted XI 100% correct.