Whatever you think of Everton’s transfer policy this summer, you certainly can’t accuse them of lacking ambition. The Toffees identified Gylfi Sigurdsson as their top transfer target early in the summer and never relented in that pursuit, despite Swansea City rejecting multiple bids. And on Wednesday, Everton finally got their man for an incredible £45 million transfer fee — by far a club record.
Sigurdsson is the player who has received the most credit for keeping Swansea City in the Premier League last season. He recorded nine goals and 13 assists in league play, with many of both coming from set pieces.
Everton has some fantastic defenders, athletes, ball-retainers, and finishers, but is currently lacking in the quality service department. Ronald Koeman believes Sigurdsson is his team’s missing piece, and will expect him to rack up assists for the next few years.
Where will he play?
It’s likely that Sigurdsson will slot into Everton’s starting XI on the right wing, but he’s a versatile player who will likely line up in multiple spots based on the form and fitness of other players. Sigurdsson is a very two-footed player, and he’s played on both wings, as a No. 10, and in a three-man midfield for both Tottenham Hotspur and Swansea City.
That versatility makes Sigurdsson an especially useful pickup for Everton given their set of youngsters currently fighting for playing time. Tom Davies is a central midfielder, Dominic Calvert-Lewin has played as an attacking midfielder and winger, and Ademola Lookman has played as a winger and forward. None is clearly head and shoulders above the others, but any of them could make a big leap forward and cement their place in the starting XI sometime this season.
No matter which player makes that leap, Sigurdsson can fit into a lineup with them. He doesn’t block anyone, and no one blocks him. Sigurdsson’s future position might be defined by which one of those players makes the most progress in the first half of the season.
Worth the money?
After years of frugal spending by chairman Bill Kenwright, Evertonians will be thrilled that new owner Farhad Moshiri was willing to spend whatever it took to get his manager’s top transfer target. So if you’re an Everton supporter who can’t be bothered with worrying about the club’s finances, stop reading here and don’t let me drag you down. Celebrate and be happy. This is an incredible day for you.
Are they gone? OK — this is a bad deal. Sigurdsson is a good player who will slot into Everton’s starting XI right away and make them better, but he will not make them better enough to get into the top four. He is not the difference between seventh and fourth. Everton had the seventh-best squad in the Premier League before signing Sigurdsson, and after signing him they have ... the seventh-best squad in the Premier League.
This is the predicament that clubs outside of the rich top-six set face — there is no one signing, or even half-dozen signings, they can realistically make to bridge the gap. The only way to do it is, as Tottenham has, slowly but surely increase your commercial revenue while hitting the lottery on some very cheap signings or academy products that turn into superstars.
Sigurdsson is turning 28 in less than a month, so he has very little resale value. He’s signing a contract with wages big enough that no smaller club will want to match if he is anything less than a superstar for Everton. Players like this should only be signed if a team has reason to believe that they are one player away from a Champions League place/league title, or if their revenue is so high that the loss they take on the player will be irrelevant. Neither applies to Everton.
What about Swansea?
A team that nearly got relegated last season, and who has done very little to improve this summer, just sold their best player by several orders of magnitude. Yikes.
Swansea now has two weeks to spend £45 million wisely enough that it gives them one of the 17 best squads in the Premier League. Given that their transfer window was a disaster last summer as well, this seems unlikely. The Swans might have sold a player for double what he should be worth, but they also made themselves strong relegation favorites. Maybe Sigurdsson isn’t worth £45 million on the open market, but there’s a good chance he was actually worth much more than that to the Swans.
This appears to be a rare lose-lose transfer, with both teams making bad deals.