Premier League winners and losers: Deja vu for Burnley
By Ty Finch
Loser: £142.38 million
That’s how much money Ronald Koeman and Everton spent over the summer. Koeman is out, David Unsworth is in (for now) and Everton are only two points above the relegation zone.
Everton were a favorite to challenge for a Champions League spot before the season started, aside from the obvious choices. They sold their star striker Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United, but bought seven other players including record signing Gylfi Sigurdsson. Koeman had led Everton to a Europa League spot the season prior, and was hoping to take them to greater heights after the huge spending in the summer.
To say that the plans have not worked out would be the understatement of the year.
Everton have won once in nine games under caretaker manager Unsworth and have given up nine goals in their past two games against Atalanta in the Europa League and Southampton on Sunday. Southampton had scored nine goals in 12 matches before they faced Everton, and the Saints put four past them. Everton have one clean sheet on the year, and that was a 1-0 win against Stoke on opening day.
At some point, the blame has to be laid on the players. Sigurdsson scored the lone goal for the Toffees on Sunday, a rocket that hit both posts and the crossbar, but he has been an unmitigated failure so far under both Koeman and Unsworth. He certainly isn’t the only one not picking up the slack. None of the big signings have played well. Everton have given up the most goals in the Premier League, and it might be time for Big Sam to step in and take charge. Nothing else has worked.