Everton were bled dry by “useless” dud who cost the club £7.9m per goal

Everton have endured a slippery slide down the Premier League table in recent years and that is mostly down to their misfiring transfer strategy.

The Toffees have suffered through years of inadequacy and terrible decision-making on the transfer front, acquiring talent for ridiculous amounts and burning through the wage budget like there’s no tomorrow.

Such is their consistent failures across numerous tenures, the Merseyside giants have allegedly breached financial fair play (FFP) rules and that is a searing indictment of the issues that have plagued them of late.

With years of overspending coming back to bite them as a potential 12-point deduction looms, it is easy to narrow down the list of stars who have contributed to their plight on and off the pitch.

Moise Kean, in particular, is one talent who exhibits Farhad Moshiri’s addiction to emptying his deep pockets on players who have ultimately underperformed in the Blue of Everton.

Moise Kean’s best qualities

During the Marco Silva tenure in the summer of 2019, Everton shelled out a whopping £29m on a 19-year-old Kean from Juventus.

At the time, the Italian wonderkid looked like he was worth every penny having terrorised defences in Serie A across the 2018/19 season.

The teenager was largely restricted to substitute appearances, but he still showcased his sharpness and predatory instincts in front of goal to gobble up chances, netting six in 13 matches in that campaign.

Perhaps more impressive, Kean was displaying his talents as a complete striker, coming out on top in the physical battle against defenders, peeling in behind with his searing pace and supplying a ruthless finish in front of goal.

According to FBref, the youngster ranked in the top 1% against his positional peers in Serie A for non-penalty goals, top 19% for successful take-ons, top 20% for pass completion and top 1% for aerials won.

When he arrived at Goodison Park, Kean had a whole host of competition to contend with in the striking department, including Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison and Cenk Tosun, but given his talents, he was expected to become a roaring success on Merseyside, however, that couldn’t be any further from the truth.

The total cost of Moise Kean’s transfer to Everton

Arriving as one of the most in-demand young strikers in Europe, a heavy weight of expectation was planted on the Italian’s shoulders, and there is one key factor as to why he never lived up to the hype.

Speaking to CalcioMercato last year, Kean’s brother, Giovanni Kean, revealed that he was very upset about his transfer to Everton, which happened less than two months after Maurizio Sarri took over as manager.

He said: “Allegri was the first to realize his potential. What a pleasure to see him score a brace against Lazio under the eyes of Sarri, who didn’t want him. Kean was very upset about the transfer to Everton.”

Kean’s dejection unsurprisingly impacted his performance on the pitch, featuring 39 times for the club but only mustering four goals, two of which came against lower league opposition, Salford City and Fleetwood Town, in the Carabao Cup. There was even that wretched incident where Duncan Ferguson substituted him on, only to then drag him back off.

Having struggled to settle in England and leave his mark on the pitch, the Italian ultimately bled Everton dry of £2.7m in wages across his debut campaign, amounting to a total of £31.7m when factoring the initial £29m transfer fee.

In the 2020/21 campaign, Kean was granted the opportunity to join Paris Saint-Germain on loan, enjoying a successful spell at the French giants with 17 goals in 41 appearances, including three strikes in the Champions League. Impressive form indeed. Just where did that go at Goodison?

Since then, the 23-year-old has spent two seasons on loan at his former club Juventus, where his performance in the Coppa Italia final in 2022 was described as “useless” by journalist Tancredi Palmeri.

Despite his stop-start displays in Turin, the Italian giants triggered the £24m option to buy in his two-year loan in March, with Everton feeling fortunate to recoup most of what they initially forked out for him.