Onana 5th, Maupay 12th: Ranking all 27 £10m+ Everton signings since David Moyes left

Jason Soutar
Everton players Oumar Niasse, Richarlison, Cenk Tosun and Moise Kean

Everton have utilised the transfer market like rookies in recent seasons, spending over half a billion since David Moyes left in 2013. They need to get it right this month to avoid relegation from the Premier League.

They’ve gone so crazy we’ve had to narrow down our rankings to only include players the Toffees have spent over £10m on. Otherwise, it would have been a list consisting of over 70 people. This means that some shrewd signings such as Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Demarai Gray have been left out.

Like our Manchester United piece, all prices are taken via Transfermarkt. The numbers in brackets are their original ranking when this was first written back in April 2022.

 

27) Oumar Niasse (£16m) (24)
Niasse has a genuine case for the worst Premier League transfer of all time.

 

26) Jean-Philippe Gbamin (£22.5m) (23)
Gbamin has more injuries than games played for Everton.

25) Cenk Tosun (£20m) (22)
Let’s keep this one short and simple: Tosun flopped in England.

 

24) Davy Klaassen (£24m) (21)
Just one of many mind-boggling deals to be seen here.

 

23) Yannick Bolasie (£26m) (20)
Bolasie was a baller for Crystal Palace. He played the game with flair and confidence and would mock defenders (especially Dejan Lovren) on a regular basis. As the cool kids say: the streets shall never forget.

But that was Palace and this is Everton. His spell at Goodison Park was forgettable at best. He scored twice in 32 and left for free in August 2021 after loan spells with Middlesbrough, Sporting, Anderlecht and Aston Villa.

 

22) Moise Kean (£24.75m) (19)
22-year-old Kean feels like he has been around for bloody ages. Everton spent a fair whack on him but will somehow make a profit when Juventus permanently sign him next July.

 

21) Morgan Schneiderlin (£20.7m) (18)
Another player who was great for a Premier League rival, only to flop at Goodison Park.

Schneiderlin swapped Southampton for Manchester United and was a bitter disappointment, perhaps showing that the grass is not always greener. Everton – and only Everton would do this – decided to splash out over £20m on the French defensive midfielder, who continued to regress before leaving for a measly £2m after three years on Merseyside.

 

20) Theo Walcott (£20m) (17)
Walcott is a very underrated Premier League player. It is fair to say that he didn’t live up to his early hype, but he still had a bloody good career. Before Everton came calling, anyway.

 

19) Gylfi Sigurdsson (£44m) (16)

 

18) Michael Keane (£25.65m) (15)
For a while, Gareth Southgate loved starting Keane for England, who is now nowhere near the Three Lions squad. He has not justified his price tag and has struggled to impress Frank Lampard enough to be a regular starter. Keane has 22 minutes in the Premier League this season.

 

17) Ashley Williams (£12.6m) (14)
It was about time that Williams got a move after eight productive years with Swansea. He was linked with numerous teams and it was Everton who bit the bullet and purchased the Welsh centre-half. Williams was never close to his influential best at Goodison and is one of many on this list to leave for nothing after coming in for over £10m.

 

16) Ramiro Funes Mori (£11.6m) (13)
Funes Mori’s most amusing moment in an Everton shirt came in a Merseyside derby when he grabbed the badge after being sent off. This isn’t really relevant, but it’s funny. He played 67 times for the Premier League side and wasn’t very good. Not horrendous, but he won’t be remembered for the right reasons by the club’s supporters.

 

15) Andre Gomes (£22.5m) (12)
Everton did an Everton and took a chance on Gomes after he flopped at Barcelona. Two goals and seven assists in 100 games was not a very good return for the Portuguese playmaker, who joined Lille on a free transfer last summer. His final Premier League goal came in February 2019.

 

14) Dwight McNeil (£15m) (NE)
McNeil has always looked like a decent player, but has struggled to provide goals, assists or what Americans like to say, ‘highlight plays’.

The reported £15m fee is not bad considering he fits the English homegrown quota, which automatically makes any transfer worth at least £10m.

In 20 games for the Toffees, the 23-year-old has scored twice and has one assist.

 

13) Allan (£21m) (6)
Allan joined Everton from Napoli with a big reputation. He was nowhere near his true self for the Toffees. Having said that, his 2020/21 under Carlo Ancelotti wasn’t too bad as the side finished 10th.

 

12) Neal Maupay (£10.4m) (NE)
No player has scored more Premier League goals for Brighton and Hove Albion than Maupay, although Leandro Trossard is closing in. He is someone who can score goals in England, but is not someone who will grab you 15+ league goals per season.

Fans and manager Frank Lampard know what you will get from Maupay. A good work rate, a goal every four games, and a bit of s**thousery.

 

11) James McCarthy (£13.7m) (11)
Signed from Wigan, McCarthy made 133 appearances over six years at Goodison Park. He was solid in his first few years before injuries took over.

The Ireland international played 13 times in 2016/17, six times in 2017/18 and once in 2018/19, which was really unfortunate for a solid Premier League player who now warms the bench for his boyhood club Celtic.

 

10) Ben Godfrey (£24.75m) (7)
Utilised at right-back, left-back and centre-half, Godfrey has the potential to come good, but has not shown it yet.

 

9) Vitaliy Mykolenko (£21m) (9)
The left-back has 28 caps for Ukraine and has looked pretty solid for the Premier League side.

 

8) Nathan Patterson (£12.6m) (8)
Patterson joined from Rangers in January 2022 and has a promising career ahead of him.

 

7) Abdoulaye Doucoure (£19.8m) (4)
£20m is a good deal all things considered. Doucoure is a pretty consistent player.

 

6) Lucas Digne (£18m) (5)
Sold after falling out with Rafael Benitez, who was sacked three days after Digne’s transfer to Aston Villa was confirmed. What a shambles. At least they made a profit, which is a bonus, right?

 

5) Amadou Onana (£30.8m) (NE)
Onana made Belgium’s World Cup squad and has shown early on in his Everton career that he has the potential to be a very good player.

He is strong, quick and good on the ball. Onana could be world class one day.

 

4) Alex Iwobi (£27m) (10)
Iwobi has come on leaps and bounds under Lampard. After showing that he can actually hold his own as a midfielder during the second half of last season, there is now no debate over his ability.

Having originally seemed like one of the worst pieces of business in Premier League history, the Nigerian has begun to fully justify his price tag.

 

3) Jordan Pickford (£25.65m) (3)
England’s No. 1, Pickford joined as one of the best young goalkeepers in the country. Overall, he’s not exactly been bad but then again, he’s not been very good. Capable of some absolutely bizarre moments, perhaps Pickford needs a competent defence in front of him to replicate his form for England.

Jordan Pickford celebrates a win

 

2) Richarlison (£35m) (2)
Richarlison scored 53 times for Everton after joining from Watford in 2018. He played a crucial role in the club’s survival from the Premier League last term, netting six goals in his final nine appearances of the season.

The Toffees got £50m for the Brazilian striker in the summer transfer window as he joined Tottenham. He is yet to score a league goal for Spurs and has only scored two in 15 matches for them, which both came in the same Champions League match.

 

1) Romelu Lukaku (£31.8m) (1)
Lukaku couldn’t get a sniff for Chelsea, meaning he was loaned out to West Brom and Everton before joining the Merseysiders on a permanent basis for over £31m in 2014. The Belgian became an elite striker under Roberto Martinez and the Toffees flogged him to Manchester United for a whopping £76m after he chipped in with 87 goals in 166 games.

He wasn’t great for the Red Devils, then was great for Inter Milan, then was rubbish for Chelsea before being loaned back to Inter, where he has struggled with injuries.

 

READ MORE: Lukaku, Soldado, Mustafi: The worst Premier League buy in each of the last 20 transfer windows

F365 Features Amadou Onana