For years, a selling club.
Merseyside’s blue half has developed an unwanted reputation as one of England’s premier salesmen since the turn of the century.
Sought-after names including Wayne Rooney, Jack Rodwell and Joleon Lescott, amongst others, were all willingly let go by the Toffees in the face of high demand.
Those players have enjoyed varying levels of success at their new clubs, but their sales nevertheless seemed to reflect a growing chasm between Everton and the league’s top dogs.
To add to that, another unwanted stigma, that of being a small-time spender, has stuck to the Blues for some time. Romelu Lukaku’s £28 million move from Chelsea in 2014 looked to have set the club free from those shackles, but for the time-being at least, they have been firmly clamped back on.
The Toffees have spent no more than £7 million on their four newest additions: Gerard Deulofeu, Tom Cleverley, David Henen and Mason Holgate. So it is never good when a club known for selling its prized assets reinvests little of the money in the squad.
The fans have grown impatient too and with good reason. Calls for change at boardroom level have been numerous and loud over Everton’s seemingly conservative transfer policy.
But despite those criticisms, manager Roberto Martinez and chairman Bill Kenwright are due some credit.
The two men have been resolute in the face of growing pressure from Chelsea over the future of John Stones. The 21-year-old has been the subject of intense transfer speculation and concrete interest from the reigning champions. Three official bids have already been rejected, with more likely to come.
Martinez must think he sounds like a broken record. He has said on the 13th, 24th and 26th of August that Stones is not for sale and yet, the summer’s longest running transfer saga rolls on.
His strong stance took courage, however, given rejecting transfer requests has only further damaged relationships between players and clubs in the past. The centre-half handed in a transfer request ahead of Everton’s League Cup clash with, somewhat ironically, his former club, League One’s Barnsley.
Martinez did not hesitate in saying the request would be rejected, but the innuendo looked to be having an effect on Stones. His performance on the field was shaky at best and he was reported to have been seen crying at a service station by travelling Evertonians after the match. The reckless mind games Chelsea are playing with the England international, contracted to Everton until 2019, are clearly affecting him and visibly swaying him. For that reason, the stick he received from a minority of fans at the conclusion of the Barnsley match, which Everton won 5-3 after extra time, was hardly warranted.
As if Martinez and the club’s position on the situation was not clear enough, arts guru Kenwright made it crystal clear.
“Since the start of the transfer window, we have resolutely turned down offers from another Premier League football club for our player,” Kenwright said in a statement, featured on Everton’s official website.
“John is not for sale and he will remain a highly valued member of our first team squad.”
Those comments, which drew acclaim from Martinez, should put an end to the story and be enough to dismiss Chelsea’s interest in the player.
“It’s vitally important to show that we have got our own ambitions and our own projects and we don’t rely on big offers coming in,” Martinez said.
“The chairman was very, very clear yesterday. Many, many football clubs would have tried to get the biggest deal they could do and take the money and allow the sale to happen.
Every single Evertonian can be extremely proud to keep one of our most treasured younger players and make sure we build a winning team.”
So they should be – the club is holding firm on one of its most valuable talents. The Blues have faced challenges to keep hold of other gems, namely Ross Barkley, James McCarthy and Kevin Mirallas in recent seasons but managed to tie them down for the foreseeable future.
Just today, it was reported by talkSPORT that Everton rejected a shock bid of £20 million from Paris Saint-Germain for right-back Seamus Coleman. In further good news, the signings of South American pair Ramiro Funes Mori and Leandro Rodriguez are expected to be announced imminently.
The Stones case may not yet be over despite the many blunt warnings of a non-sale, but it represents a crucial shift in Everton’s thinking. The selling days are over; maybe Kenwright and co. are not quite as bad as we all thought?
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I commend Everton for exercising their refusal right. But I don’t believe Chelsea are disrespectful either. This is a transfer window and every team has a bidding and refusal right.