3. Richarlison, Everton
Richarlison isn’t a surprise package anymore. He’s a £50 million-rated player Everton broke their transfer record to sign.
The level of investment should tell the Brazilian forward magic is expected. Magic is something Richarlison provided for Watford at the start of last season.
Late goals and deft assists helped the Hornets to some notable wins. They also made the decision to pay Fluminense £11.5 million for a relatively unknown Brazil U-20 international look like a touch of genius from then-manager Marco Silva.
The latter is now in charge of Everton, the main reason why the Toffees stumped up the cash for Richarlison. Even so, Everton fans had better hope Silva is aware of how Richarlison’s form dropped off a cliff last season.
In fact, the goals and assists had already dried up before Silva was shown the door back in January for fluttering his eyelashes at the Toffees. What proved to be Richarlison’s last goal for Watford had come in November.
Richarlison started fast but trailed off, just like Silva did with both the Hornets and Hull. Everton can’t afford for this pair to flatter to deceive again.