OPINION
With Eliaquim Mangala potentially out for the rest of the season it proves that Everton failed in the January transfer window and it will cost Sam Allardyce his job.
The Daily Mail reported that the centre-back who joined the Toffees on loan from Manchester City in January might not feature again for the club, after injuring his knee during the 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace.
Alongside Mangala, Theo Walcott and Cenk Tosun joined the club in January with Ross Barkley and Aaron Lennon permanently leaving the club.
Mangala before suffering his injury, only made two appearances for Everton, and was unimpressive in both outings.
Especially in his debut as he was partly responsible for his side losing 5-1 to Arsenal, as he made some costly mistakes.
So with him set not to feature again for the club, he can easily be deemed as a waste of time, as he didn’t make a positive impact at the club.
Along with Mangala, Tosun is yet to make a positive impression at the club after joining from Besiktas for £27million, according to Sky Sports,in January.
The centre-forward has only made three appearances since joining Everton and is yet to grab his first goal for the club.
Allardyce gave Tosun a less than stellar review for the start he had made at the club as he told the Liverpool Echo that the centre-forward was struggling to adapt to the Premier League.
“He’s had service to him that he’s not held up and he’s found it a bit of a struggle at this level because of the pace and the physicality of the game,” said Allardyce as quoted by the local newspaper.
The Toffees needed Tosun to hit the ground running as they have struggled for goals this season, with this shown by the fact they’ve only scored 32 goals in 27 league games.
Allardyce’s other January signing, Walcott, has at least hit the back of the net since joining as he has scored two goals in four appearances for Everton.
The Toffees paid Arsenal £20million, according to the BBC, to sign the 28-year-old in January.
Both of the attacking midfielder’s goals came in the 2-1 win over Leicester City and in the two appearance since, Walcott hasn’t exactly been impressive.
The 28-year-old was always inconsistent during his time at Arsenal, and you wonder whether the Toffees really needed a player like him as they can’t rely on him to constantly put in the good performances they need.
With all three signings having noteworthy issues, it’s safe to say that despite it only being February, the January transfer window already looks like it was a failure for Everton.
This is worrying for Allardyce as he only signed an 18 month deal upon joining, as reported by the Daily Mail, and the Toffees really needed strengthening in the window after being poor this season.
Everton’s squad looked like they were facing relegation and while they’re now eight clear of the bottom three, they were expected to kick-on in the second half of the campaign.
Now as Allardyce’s new arrivals don’t look like helping, the manager’s job is impossible and it will no doubt see Everton relieve him of his duties in the near future.