Lots of Everton fans have been reacting on social media after former Director of Football Steve Walsh revealed some of the deals the club allegedly passed up on during his time at Goodison Park.
Walsh moved to Merseyside in 2016 having served as Leicester City’s Chief Scout, as Farhad Moshiri sought to begin his time in charge with a new set-up including Ronald Koeman in the dugout.
Deals soon followed for Yannick Bolasie at £25million, Morgan Schneiderlin at £24m and Ashley Williams at £12m, while Idrissa Gana Gueye was lured away from the recently-relegated Aston Villa, Ademola Lookman arrived from Charlton Athletic and Dominic Calvert-Lewin departed Sheffield United.
We would go on to break our club record transfer spend by signing Gylfi Sigurdsson the following season for £45m, too, while adding Michael Keane, Jordan Pickford, Davy Klaassen, Cenk Tosun, Henry Onyekuru, Nikola Vlasic and Sandro Ramirez to the squad at Goodison Park.
But some players slipped through the cracks before Walsh was sacked and replaced by Marcel Brands in 2018, going by his recent comments in an interview with The Athletic.
“While I was at Everton, I offered them Andrew Robertson and Harry Maguire deals, when they were at Hull, and it was worth £20m for the pair. Everton wouldn’t take them,” Walsh said.
“I had a deal done for Jonny Evans too before he came to Leicester, but again they wouldn’t take him. Erling Haaland, the striker with [Red Bull] Salzburg, I had him and his dad at the club with a deal done for £3.4m. The club wouldn’t back me.”
Who was Walsh's worst signing?
Sandro Ramirez
Davy Klaassen
Yannick Bolasie
Henry Onyekuru
Haaland is reportedly now an £85m target for Manchester United, and has been linked with moves to Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid after a standout season so far has seen the 19-year-old hit 26 goals in 18 games, including seven in four Champions League Group Stage ties.
The two-time Norway international only made his senior Salzburg debut in February, after joining the Austrian side in January from Molde FK where he scored 20 times in 50 games after leaving boyhood side Bryne FK in 2017.
Here are some of the reactions offered to Walsh’s comments…
Thats down to him isnt it?
— Mark L (@Toffybolox) November 18, 2019
Thank goodness they agreed with his Sandro recommendation
— mbp (@Philatty) November 18, 2019
Steve Walsh was in Pizza Express Woking signing all these players was he?
— Martyn Leach (@martypl76) November 18, 2019
He tell anyone he tried to spend 28 million on Evans and give him 80-odd grand a week? No, he missed that detail then.
— Connor Bennett (@ConnorBennett14) November 18, 2019
He’s right about maguire and Robertson. They were clearly class players and up for the taking
— Gary (@dready101) November 18, 2019
None of this is true, he’s looked around at today’s decent players and name dropped them in an interview. To say the club never backed him is ludicrous. Moshiri’s been throwing money around on all kinds since he took over!!
— Ben Higgs (@benhiggs83) November 18, 2019
Doesn’t mean they would end up the players they are now! We could make Ronaldo look like Bebe
— Stephen Reeves (@reevesyefc) November 18, 2019
I refuse to believe Haland. Look at his career in 2017
— Louis Crawford (@LouisCrawford10) November 18, 2019
How many names that have done as much as Lookman? A gambler only tells you his wins
— Gary Hegarty (@hegars74) November 18, 2019
We also ended up with Cuco Martina and Michael Keane
— adam (@ademl1999) November 18, 2019