Shani Tarashaj is expected to leave Everton this summer after struggling for playing time at Goodison Park, but Marco Silva might have some difficulty offloading the out-of-favour striker. Tarashaj has been on the periphery ever since he joined Everton from Grasshoppers in January 2016, with the Swiss international still waiting to make his debut three-and-a-half years later.
The 24-year-old was loaned back to his former club for the remainder of the 2015/16 campaign, joined Eintracht Frankfurt on a season-long loan in 2016/17, failed to make a single first-team appearance for Everton in 2017/18 and re-joined Grasshoppers on a season-long loan in 2018/19.
Since the summer of 2016, Tarashaj has scored just two goals in a total of 27 games in all competitions – one for Frankfurt vs Hamburger SV (October 26, 2016) and one for Grasshoppers vs BSC Old Boys (April 3, 2019). His return to Grasshoppers could hardly have gone worse with Tarashaj struggling for form and playing time at the Stadion Letzigrund.
He racked up more minutes for the reserve side (242) than he did in the first-team (171) and was an unused substitute in Grasshoppers’ last Super League outing – a fond farewell… The Swiss club have the option to buy Tarashaj at the end of his loan deal, but it’s highly unlikely they will make his stay permanent as they suffered relegation to the Challenge League and may not consider the striker worth £0.78m-a-year/£15k-per-week after his less-than-forgettable return.
Silva needs to sell to buy this summer, but he might be stuck with Tarashaj at Everton.
Crippy Cooke’s previous article
Explained: Club have option to sign Everton forward, decision could be made in June