Rafa needs huge transfer window as Everton appointment nears

We enter another week and Everton still don’t have a manager but it does still seem almost certain now that Rafa Benitez will be that man, probably in the next few days.

Leaving aside whether or not the majority of Everton supporters can ever be reconciled to this decision, if Benitez is appointed, first of all he is going to need a really successful summer transfer window.

The Liverpool Echo has been looking at some of Benitez’s past transfer windows when he was at Liverpool and other European clubs.

It’s certainly a mixed bag for sure. Then again frankly what manager doesn’t have a number of players who they probably wouldn’t sign again if they had the chance to go back.

The very best and most successful managers like Alex Ferguson made some terrible decisions in the transfer market even if they did also of course bring in outstanding players. In one example I remember he signed Brazilian midfielder Anderson and that proved an abject failure. And there were others like Juan Sebastian Veron who also didn’t work out either despite his talent.

And past Everton managers have certainly not covered themselves in glory on this one! Look at the players past Blues bosses have brought in: Bernard, Yanick Bolasie, Theo Walcott, Cenk Tosun, Alex Iwobi etc etc. Obviously not all these signings have been necessarily primarily the responsibiltiy of whoever was the manager at the time, but they would have had input.

Even look at last summer’s transfer window under Carlo Ancelotti. The Italian is one of the most successful coaches in the history of the game and signed Allan, James Rodriguez, Abdoulaye Doucoure and then Ben Godfrey on deadline day.

This was generally considered a successful window. But let’s be honest James and Allan spent large chunks of last season injured (somnething that Ancelotti was aware could be likely) and their overall impact was limited. So apart from Godfrey, were any of those signings unconditionally successful?

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Injuries will always be that wildcard and so it’s perhaps unfair to be too harsh on that one! However, the point is that there are many factors that make for a successful signing and in truth the transfer market is always to some extent, a lottery.

For Benitez though given his extremely difficult relationship with Evertonians, he is going to have even less leeway than usual and so he needs to have a really successful window and then a great start to the new Premier League season.

The Toffees have been repeatedly linked with a number of players such as Denzel Dumfries, Philippe Coutinho, Merih Demiral and others.

It’s hard to know if any of these indivduals are on Benitez’s list of players he’d like to bring in. There will probably be a few players that we haven’t really considered yet. But it’s not just who to sign there are still a number of players who need to be moved on to pastures new as a matter of urgency.

Whoever the Spaniard wants to sign he will need to work very well with Marcel Brands and this is something that perhaps hasn’t always been the case in the past with other managers. For example did Marco Silva really want Moise Kean?

Anyway, we will hopefully, finally find out who is to take over in the next few days and if it’s Benitez then boy does he need a hugely successful transfer window this summer!

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