Do Everton miss any players they sold in the last 10 years?
I often think about players that have left Everton and wonder if we miss them or not? Do players leave the club and become better players? There are arguments for a couple in fairly recent times, such as Wayne Rooney and Mikael Arteta but on the whole I don’t think there are many.
Thinking back to Joleon Lescott, he was a massive loss at the time but we received amazing money for the lad. His gap was filled successfully with the ever green Sylvain Distin, so although Lescott went on to win medals, I don’t think he improved as a player at Manchester City and I don’t feel that Everton lost out either.
Some people would argue that we miss Aiyegbeni Yakubu and to an extent I would agree with that. I think we would miss the player that we bought, but I don’t think we would miss the player that we sold. Yakubu was a beast of a player, but he just wasn’t the same player for Everton after his injury. I don’t think we miss Yakubu in the slightest, even with out lack of proven goalscorers that are signed on full time contracts at the club. It could even be argued that we miss Huddersfield Towns James Vaughan more. Vaughany is highly regarded with many Everton fans and while his Everton career was hampered with injury and lack of game time, this season he has so far scored 9 goals in 12 appearances and followed a rich vein of form at the end of last year.
Mikael Arteta was a great player for Everton and he looks to be playing really well for Arsenal but I don’t think we really miss him at all. Towards the end of his Everton career he looked to be going stale. He would often go missing in big matches and we needed a bit of a shake up. We received £10m for him and in the end that was probably a fair price. He was probably just what Arsenal needed at the time but it could be argued that the player at the end of his Everton career wasn’t the same player at the start of his career.
Other than the obvious Rooney shout (Who looks to be in the form of his career at the moment) I can’t think of any players that we have sold recently that we really miss. Rodwell was too injury prone, Bily couldn’t cope with English football, Fellaini was decent for us but we got good money and replaced well and Victor Anichebe was all braun and no goals.
So this brings me on to Leighton Baines. He is coming into the peak time of his career at 29. Yes he probably won’t have as good a chance to win silverware as he would at Manchester United, but the grass isn’t always greener on the otherside and I think he is a good match for the club. Whether the current board could turn down a high bid is another story. Leighton should probably have a scout over the Everton transfers out over the last 10 years and that may make up his mind for him.
Can you think of any players that we have actually missed over the last 10 years? Have your say at www.theevertonforum.com
We missed Pienaar when he left a lot, we just didn’t have anyone in the squad who came close to doing what he could do on the left.
Speaking as a supporter of over 50yrs the player Everton sold and missed the most was without doubt Alan Ball, I remember it so well.
I can’t remember any other player leaving having such a devastating effect on the team, it was as if the teams heart had been torn out, it took years to recover from it.
Going back a bit but Gary Lineker sticks out for me.
I think if he had stayed, more trophies would have followed.
Steven and Stevens should also be considered as should Andrei Kanchelskis.
Always think what could of been with Manny fernandes ! think he’s be a real star if his head hadnt of been turned ! imagine him under martinez now !