Everton face inquiry into Silva pursuit

Everton might be facing an inquiry into the club’s alleged ‘tapping up’ of Marco Silva.

All of this relates to the allegations that Everton were guilty of illegally pursuing Silva when he was Watford boss last season.

To re-cap after Ronald Koeman’s reign came to an inglorious end in October 2017, majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri made the Hornets manager his first choice to replace him.

There then developed a standoff between the clubs as Everton pushed to get him and Watford were adamant they weren’t letting him move to Goodison Park and alleged the Blues had illegally ’tapped up’ the Portuguese.

Eventually Everton backed off, turning instead to Sam Allardyce.

Then of course this summer Moshiri did finally get his man as Silva took over at Everton after a truly forgettable 2017-18 season.

During the summer the Blues signed a Watford player who Silva had brought to England, Brazilian forward Richarlison.

The fee paid for him always seemed a little steep but it was alleged that Everton had used the transfer fee to pay Watford financial compensation for pursuing Silva.

But now it looks as if the saga over Silva’s appointment isn’t going away anytime soon. Several papers are reporting that the Premier League are setting up an independent inquiry into what actually happened.

This could possibly result in a points deduction if the Toffees are found guilty of an unacceptable approach for Silva.

If the Blues are found responsible, they could face a possible points deduction, although according to the paper a fine is more likely.

Without wishing to sound paranoid it does sometimes seem as if the Blues get singled out for action against them. I don’t know whether Everton have behaved inappropriately over Silva but once more the Blues seem to be falling foul of the football authorities.

Last season for example the first player to be retrospectively banned for supposedly conning the referee and securing a penalty in a Premier League game, was Everton’s Oumar Niasse after a game at Crystal Palace.

Niasse is certainly not the only player to try this on, nor will he be the last I’m sure and yet as far as I’m aware no other club faced a similar sanction.

Then as this season got underway there have been two red cards for Phil Jagielka and Richarlison.

As we’ve said before Jagielka’s was for a miss-timed but hardly malicious tackle against Wolves and Richarlison saw red for a silly, petulant nodding of heads with an equally aggressive Bournemouth player who didn’t even get a card at the time!

And all this then comes on top of another issue that is threatening to undermine Everton’s season.

The club’s injury list is growing almost every day and includes three of the Blues major summer signings, all of whom have had no impact at all on the season. Bernard made a brief, fleeting appearance against Bournemouth while Toffees fans haven’t seen anything yet of Yerry Mina or Andre Gomes.

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In fact with Richarlison still suspended against West Ham on Sunday and Bernard, Theo Walcott and Dominic Calvert-Lewin all injured, the Blue’s attack will be pretty threadbare for that match against the Hammers.

Moving onto other news, Farhad Moshiri has bought more Everton shares this week giving him greater control over the club. This move consolidates his position and is not unexpected given how much the Iranian billionaire has invested in the Blues.

At the very least this does seem to underline his commitment to Everton. And although there are always reservations about football clubs owned by super rich individuals, in the modern game there are usually indispensable to that club being competitive in the Premier League.