What’s Gone Wrong For Everton FC?

After a well earned 5th place finish in the 2013/14 Premier League Season, Everton Football Club have started to decline. Roberto Martinez had an absolute blast last season after receiving Owner Bill Kenwright’s backing to sign promising Chelsea striker, Romelu Lukaku on loan. The Belgian forward lived up to his potential after scoring 15 goals in the league. Seamus Coleman, who was Right-Back of the Season for many, surprised the english game with his fantastic variation of defending and attacking skills. His performances lead Everton to gain interest from many different clubs, even the likes of Champions League Semi Finalists, Chelsea and Premier League Winners, Manchester City. The Toffees’ supporters had only praise for the Spanish Gaffer. But now, after 20 games played in the league, The Toffees sit in 12th place, with only one win in their last 12 games.

The main reason that Everton aren’t reaching their full potential is that the signings of Samuel Eto’o, Christian Atsu and most of all, Muhamed Besic haven’t been particularly good ones. Having spent most of their transfer budget on bringing Romelu Lukaku in on a permanent deal, The Toffees weren’t left with a massive budget. All three of them are struggling to get into the team, and in my personal opinion, they could all be classified as “Panic Buys”.

Besic had a decent World Cup, and was a solid midfield assest for Hungarian club Ferencvaros, he had only scored one goal in his 5 year career, and is still yet to be involved in a goal for Everton. His lack of experience was clearly exemplified in the crushing 6-3 loss at home to High Flying Chelsea.

Although Samuel Eto’o had a great season at Chelsea after scoring 15+ goals, he was definitely not the right option for Everton. The recently retired Cameroon captain had an awful showing at the World Cup, and his age was starting to show. Eto’o isn’t and will never be the same player as he was when he was banging in goals for Inter and Barcelona. I feel as if Martinez brought him in as more of a mentor to the younger players, or as a piece of memorabilia for the Everton Faithful.

Last and certainly least is Christian Atsu. The Ghanaian Winger, who belongs to Chelsea, went out on loan to Everton near the end of the transfer window, and contrary to what many people had thought, he has proved that he probably is not up to the level that Premier League players should be. Having scored only 5 goals in 30 appearances for Dutch club Vitesse Arnheim during the 2013/14 season, Atsu did not prove to be the player that everyone thought that he will be.

The reason behind Everton’s decline is the inexperience that Roberto Martinez has with managing “big clubs”, but the question is: How long will this go on for?