Townsend signs for Everton – a headline I always dreamed of!
So Rafa Benitez has made his first outfield signing as Andros Townsend has put pen to paper on a two-year deal at Everton.
This was a headline I always wanted to see because as a kid I dreamed of Townsend playing for Everton of course and now my namesake has made it happen!
The 30-year-old, who joins Asmir Begovic as one of the new manager’s first two major signings, represents a free hit of sorts for the Blues as obviously he hasn’t cost a fee after leaving Crystal Palace this summer and presumably won’t be on big wages either.
And if he can replicate the sort of creativity he produced last season – five assists for a very average Palace side isn’t bad going – then he could well prove a bit of a bargain.
The 30-year-old former England international certainly has bags of top flight experience having played for Palace, Newcastle United and Tottenham. And given that experience he might also help nurture the career of a younger wide player like Anthony Gordon.
Benitez knows him, they have a very good relationship and according to the player the Spaniard improved his game considerably when they were both at St James Park, even though they weren’t together for a long time.
Townsend puts in a lot of accurate crosses and regularly supplied a big centre-forward Christian Benteke at Palace so he’s being brought in to do the same for Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
This is critical for getting the most out of the Everton striker, as Calvert-Lewin while having many strengths, isn’t a player who will create chances for himself and misses quite a few opportunites as well. So he needs a regular supply of good quality balls and crosses to him from out wide in order to score goals consistently.
When he had that during the first month or so of the last campaign he was prolific and looked as dangerous a centre-forward as there was in the Premier League. Can Townsend help provide the ammunition for him to reproduce that goalscoring form next season?
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The Toffees new signing has admitted he is probably going to be considered a squad player by many, but has been making good noises about proving himself worth a starting place. And in truth the Blues are hardly well stocked for genuine wide attacking players.
As we’ve mentioned before this sort of signing, while not exactly earth-shattering, could still prove shrewd business and perhaps represents a sobbering reality-check for Evertonians given the financial and football position the club now find themselves in.
The combination of FFP and a hugly disappointing tenth place finish last season followed by the exit of their high-profile coach, means a new more realistic outlook regarding transfers is almost certainly inevitable. For the moment at least, it looks like the days of big spending at Goodison Park are over.
But if the Toffees also bring in another talented winger Demarai Gray for only around £1.5 million (as it looks like they will do) then at least on paper the Blues will have added two genuine wide attackers with pace and creative ability, for peanuts.
I think this is also part of a wider strategy to enable Everton to conserve their limited financial resources for other areas of the team where a bigger outlay might be needed.
This could be particularly useful when it comes to trying to bring in players like Denzel Dumfries who will cost a considerable fee.