Everton sack Ronald Koeman after disastrous start to season

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James Benge23 October 2017

Everton have sacked Ronald Koeman.

The Dutch manager departs Goodison Park following Everton’s 5-2 drubbing at the hands of Arsenal on Sunday, a defeat that sent the Toffees crashing into the relegation zone.

“Everton Football Club can confirm that Ronald Koeman has left the club,” a statement announced.

“Chairman Bill Kenwright, the board of directors and major shareholder Farhad Moshiri would all like to express their gratitude to Ronald for the service he has given to the club over the past 16 months and for guiding the club to seventh place in last season’s Premier League campaign.”

The club has not confirmed who will take charge for the EFL Cup tie against Chelsea on Wednesday, though Koeman’s brother and assistant Erwin will almost certainly follow his brother out of Goodison Park.

It has been reported that Under-21s coach David Unsworth could take over on an interim basis though this remains unconfirmed.

Great things had been expected from Koeman heading into his second season after a summer in which over £130million was spent to bring in the likes of Gylfi Sigurdsson, Wayne Rooney, Jordan Pickford and Michael Keane.

However, the loss of Romelu Lukaku has been keenly felt, particularly as Everton failed to replace the Belgian international striker. Olivier Giroud had been their first choice but the France international chose to stay and fight for his place at Arsenal.

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