Everton started a chaotic week by making a move for Aston Villa winger Jadon Philogene
It has almost got lost amid another chaotic week in the recent history of the football club. But Everton missed out on a key transfer target.
And in doing so it further underlined the reason why the The Friedkin Group (TFG) had to make the decision to part ways with Sean Dyche.
Dyche’s and Everton‘s results and painful lack of goals spoke for themselves – while the manager’s own belief that he had taken the team has far he could proved to be the final straw for the club’s new owners.
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But there was another reason, earlier on in the week, that proved why TFG simply had to make such a big call so early into their reign.
While spirits were low after the miserable 1-0 defeat at bogey-side Bournemouth, there appeared to be good news on the horizon when it emerged that the Blues were back in for Aston Villa winger Jaden Philogene.
The England Under-21 international was a summer target for director of football Kevin Thelwell. His representatives even travelled to Finch Farm to hold talks as they weighed up approaches from Everton and newly promoted Ipswich Town.
In the end, Philogene’s former club Villa swept in at the eleventh hour and triggered the buy-back option they inserted into the deal when they sold him to Hull City 12 months earlier.
However, the 22-year-old’s return to Villa Park is set to be a short one. But instead of signing for the Blues, he is set to join another of the clubs who tracked him in the summer, Ipswich, for £20m.
That the Tractor Boys are currently a relegation rival to Everton makes their move more jarring. But when you understand the reasons behind Philogene’s choice, it becomes clearer.
His conversation with Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna was said to be key to his final decision.
The Tractor Boys could well make an immediate return to the Championship, but there is very little threat to McKenna’s job after the miracles he has performed at Portman Road. He is there for the long term unless, as had been rumoured, he is picked off by a bigger club.
The same could not be said of Dyche, who was already into the final six months of his contract and on thin ice after a largely miserable campaign.
Philogene would have known that, just in the same way that Arnaut Danjuma eventually came to realise that two years ago, when he was set to sign for the Blues only to perform a dramatic U-turn after Frank Lampard was sacked.
Everton, and TFG, could not afford a repeat of that uncertainty. Because while it’s fair argue to that Dyche was no longer getting the best out of the players at his disposal, it’s also fair to argue it is a squad in need of strengthening this month, particularly in the forward areas.
But with money tight, until the end of the season at least, and another battle to beat the drop looming, potential transfer targets, like Philogene, are going to need some convincing to make the move to Merseyside.
You can’t do that with so much uncertainty over a manager. The same could be said of a director of football. Thelwell, like Dyche had, also has just six months to run on his deal
Thelwell’s situation is a pressing one for TFG to resolve. But the bigger, more immediate issue was the manager.
And now that Dyche has gone, and with David Moyes expected to be appointed before the visit of Aston Villa, the owners will have the stability they crave, which as well as helping on the pitch, should help in the transfer market, too.
