Everton’s Lukaku-shaped hole leaves praise of summer buys looking hollow | Paul Wilson

Oct 04, 2017

Ronald Koeman was applauded for his swift summer recruitment but his failure to replace Everton’s most important departing player shows the pitfalls of judging a team’s health by their transfer activity

An ancient cliche was conspicuous by its absence when Everton’s owner, Farhad Moshiri, gave Ronald Koeman a vote of confidence the other day. Older football followers in particular might have noted that in reporting it hardly anyone used the word “dreaded”.

Presumably it is safe to say votes of confidence are still dreaded, because no manager particularly wants one and they still tend to mean what they always meant, that the stay of execution will be terminated anyway if results cannot be quickly improved.

Tags: Everton Football Romelu Lukaku Ronald Koeman Sport Transfer window