In days gone by spending £7m on a player would represent a significant investment for a Premier League club to make on a transfer, but not so much in today’s climate.
The level of spending in the Premier League has reached unprecedented levels, largely thanks to the revenue generated from the latest television rights deal.
Thirteen top flight teams broke their own transfer record and according to financial firm Delloite the average spend of a Premier League club in the last transfer window was £60m. This is what makes the acquisition of Idrissa Gueye all the more impressive for Everton at a cost of £7.1m.
It has been a brilliant start to life on Merseyside for the Senegalese international. Not only impressive in the pre-season games but he has been instrumental in Everton’s start to the EPL campaign, with the Toffees having claimed ten points from four matches under new manager Ronald Koeman.
The Dutchman certainly full of praise for Gueye after the most recent victory at Sunderland. “Idrissa Gueye is fantastic – his energy, how he presses, how he keeps the ball. He’s important defensively and offensively.”
Everton director of football Steve Walsh who was poached in the off-season from Leicester was reportedly keen on signing Gueye whom he was previously tracking at Lille before the Foxes ended up signing another player that Walsh had targeted – N’Golo Kanté.
While Kanté has since moved to Chelsea, Walsh made one of his first pieces of business at Everton since moving from Leicester to bring Gueye to Goodison. While other clubs were reportedly keen on the midfielder it was Everton who were first to meet the buyout clause with the player quickly agreeing terms.
Should the quality of performance thus far be a surprise? The midfielder certainly performed well for Villa last season, but perhaps this was overlooked somewhat given how poor Aston Villa was. Gueye was one of the very few who performed. The midfielder played 38 games and was second only to N’Golo Kanté for number of combined interceptions and tackles made across Europe’s top five leagues last season.
Some Everton fans were left disappointed on deadline day as the expectation was more players were going to be arriving but overall the feeling from Evertonians is positive with Koeman appearing to correct many of the frailties inherited from Roberto Martinez.
While it is still early days this signing appears to be an astute one in adding more bite to the Everton midfield. Not often the blue half of Merseyside will agree with what Jamie Carragher has to say but his comments this week might just sum it up perfectly.
“I think Everton have a real player, and considering the prices in football these days, I think £7m is a steal for Everton.”
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