Everton: Who is going to replace Ronald Koeman?

Guest columnist Matt Townsend looks back on Ronald Koeman’s reign as Everton manager and determines how much of the blame lies with the Dutchman.

Finally then, Ronald Koeman was put out of his misery on Monday, as the board at Everton made the decision the majority of fans wanted. In my view though, Koeman shouldn’t be left with all the blame for the catastrophic start to the season the Blues made.

After all, the Dutchman was the choice of majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri. And as I’ve said before, I think most Evertonians were happy with that choice at the time.

Koeman had established a good reputation at Southampton. He lifted the Saints to consecutive top eight finishes and they had achieved some fine wins against top four sides, including comprehensively beating Chelsea and Manchester City.

In addition, Steve Walsh arrived with a brilliant reputation for unearthing top talent at bargain basement prices. Everything appeared set and all the optimism seemed to be confirmed, with Everton finishing seventh after a solid if unspectacular 2016/17 season.

However, it was obvious the side were heavily reliant on Romelu Lukaku’s goals. It was equally clear he wasn’t going to hang around for another season, when he declined to sign the new deal on offer.

As a result, it was going to be necessary to find some sort of replacement in the summer. The club was generally applauded for its early signings, with Jordan Pickford and Michael Keane especially looking like sound purchases.

The return of Wayne Rooney was probably more controversial. However, it offered the chance for the former teenage prodigy to help the club achieve something, before the end of his career.

Unfortunately for Everton, despite all of this transfer activity, there was no sign of a new frontline striker to replace Lakuku, who left for Man United. While that was happening, several possible options slipped through the Blues’ fingers, while the seemingly endless saga over signing Gylfi Sigurdsson also proved to be a constant diversion.

Deadline day came and went with no new striker secured, as Everton entered the season short of 20 plus goals, which would have to be found from somewhere. Who’s fault was this then – Koeman or Walsh?

Koeman made it clear he wanted another forward during the window and Everton apparently went for Olivier Giroud and Lucas Perez on deadline day, without success. So you would have to say something went wrong between Koeman’s statements of intent and the actual recruitment process itself.