July has certainly been a busy month for Everton. In terms of transfers alone, there is so much to talk about, but the Toffees have also kicked off their season earlier than ever before, having already played their first game and secured their first win.
As well as being a busy month, it’s also been a solid month of further establishment for the club. New signings have had the opportunity to play with one another and embed themselves, whilst more players have been moved on, allowing the correct squad to take shape ahead of the new season.
This month’s review is mainly just a recap, and a brief window for me to voice some of my personal opinions on what has happened with Everton this month.
Everton faced Europa League Third qualifying round opponents MFK Ružomberok last Thursday, firmly kicking off the new campaign with a 1-0 win at Goodison Park. They’ll now travel to Slovakia this week for the second leg, hoping to kick on and progress to the final qualifying round.
The game wasn’t the easiest on the eye; it was a typical ground out result. Leighton Baines scored the only goal and Everton’s first of the season, with a low deflected shot from 20yards.
I was very impressed with the performance levels of new signings Davy Klaassen and Michael Keane, and Sandro Ramírez looked very sharp once he came on. Other new signings Wayne Rooney and Cuco Martina didn’t do as well, with the former finding himself far too isolated, and the latter having a nightmarish time throughout.
All in all though, Everton were able to grind out a positive result and ensure they kept a clean sheet, preventing Ružomberok from getting an away goal – something which could prove to be important this week.
In terms of signings, a great number of players have come in. Boris Mathis, Josh Bowler and Lewis Gibson have all joined David Unsworth’s Under-23s side for a combined total of £7.5million, whilst Anton Donkor has once again joined on loan.
Keane, Sandro, Martina and Rooney have all linked up with Ronald Koeman’s first-team squad for a modest £30.2million, taking the club’s summer spending to just shy of £100million.
With Keane and Sandro in particular, I’m very excited to see how they do over the course of the year. Sandro is undoubtedly one of the bargains of the season, and I’m looking forward to seeing how well he will be able to adapt to the English game, whilst Keane has shown already the ability he possesses.
Rooney, although a divisive signing amongst Evertonians at first, has caught the eye in pre-season, scoring in the win over Gor Mahia and the draw with Genk. He’s begun to turn even the most dubious of Evertonian, and the thunderous reception he got when his name was announced over the tannoy at Goodison backed that up.
In terms of outgoings, Everton’s record Premier League goalscorer, Romelu Lukaku, has finally departed the club, joining Manchester United for an initial fee of £75million. Gerard Deulofeu and Aiden McGeady have also left, for £10.6million to Barcelona and £250,000 to Sunderland respectively. Several players have also left on loan; Brendan Galloway and Tyias Browning have joined Sunderland, Matthew Pennington has joined Leeds United and Joe Williams has gone to Barnsley.
Lukaku will always be revered on Merseyside as one of the best strikers to play for the Blues in the last 15-20 years, but he won’t go down as an Everton legend on account of his poor attitude. As such, I’m glad that the transfer saga is finally done, and now the club can move on.
Deulofeu moving back to Barcelona is bewildering, but it was always likely he’d be moving away from Everton this summer anyway. It’s a shame things didn’t work out after he re-signed, but that is the nature of football. Aiden McGeady certainly won’t be missed though. His Everton career was definitely mixed to negative, and hopefully he’ll find more luck in the Championship. Finally, all of the youngsters out on loan have gone to good clubs where hopefully they’ll find plentiful game time and develop accordingly.
With that, we’re about done. Next month will be much more exciting, much more eventful and much more enjoyable with Premier League football returning.
Are you excited? I can’t wait.
