Everton’s transfer history in recent years has been… chequered, to say the least. Though the Goodison Park side stand proud as one of six clubs to have never been relegated from the modern Premier League (since its inception in 1992), that record has teetered on the precipice in recent years.
Football is fickle, of course, and now that Everton have strung together a five-match unbeaten run in the top flight, the hostility on the blue half of Merseyside has somewhat evaporated, but the fact remains that the Friedkin Group and their takeover from Farhad Moshiri better bear fruits after a rotten period.
If the Toffees are to get themselves unstuck, a refined and repurposed assault on the transfer market must be constructed, for there are a wealth of talented teams in the lower echelons of the division and only the most pinpoint purchasers of quality will succeed in rising.
Sean Dyche does manage an industrious bunch and has perhaps aided his fight by moving away from the big-money, high-profile signings that Everton used to complete.
Prominence doesn’t necessarily translate to prosperity, with the Barcelona buys across the past several years evidence of that.
Everton's Barcelona buys
Everton have completed a host of acquisitions from Barcelona across the past decade, starting with the sharp £4m signing of Gerard Deulofeu in June 2015, with the winger having previously spent the 2013/14 campaign on loan with the Blues.
By December 2015, the Spanish maverick had notched seven assists in the Premier League, with six of those placed at the feet of the hulking Romelu Lukaku. Deulofeu’s comparative success was fleeting, however, and he left on loan to AC Milan in January 2017 after fizzling out at Goodison.
Deulofeu had given Everton a taste of the talent available on Camp Nou’s fringes, and thus it was a triple signing was enforced in the summer of 2018.
Over a week into August, talented midfielder Andre Gomes joined defensive titan Yerry Mina in joining the Goodison cause, for a combined fee of £51m (once Gomes’ £2m loan move was made permanent the following year).
2022/23
7 (7)
2
0
1
2021/22
13 (11)
0
0
2
2020/21
24 (23)
2
0
5
2019/20
29 (25)
2
1
4
2018/19
13 (10)
1
0
3
Both players flattered to deceive despite showing flashes of La Blaugrana brilliance, largely due to injury woes that precluded their chances of making their mark.
Of course, that double swoop was enforced after Lucas Digne was signed a week earlier, setting the tone.
Lucas Digne's Everton career
Digne joined Everton on a five-year deal, attached to a fee rising to £20m. Regular match action was the swaying point in negotiations, with the France international stuck playing second fiddle behind Jordi Alba at Barcelona.
The full-back’s passing game was borne from his days at Paris Saint-Germain, nurtured in Catalonia, and he impressed in his first year, helping Everton toward their third successive top-eight finish in the Premier League, this time under the leadership of Marco Silva.
Indeed, Digne posted four goals and four assists apiece across 34 matches in the league that year, averaging 2.1 key passes and 2.1 tackles per game, winning 59% of his duels and keeping 13 clean sheets, as per Sofascore. It’s no surprise that correspondent Paddy Boyland hailed the defender as “operating at the very top level”.
But Everton’s good fortunes were not sustained across the spread of Digne’s time at the club. The left-back would eventually be sold to Premier League rivals Aston Villa at the end of Rafa Benitez’s dismal spell, and though he had a rift with the grizzled tactician, the issues ran deeper: financial struggles and Digne’s £90k-per-week salary called for his departure.
Across his four seasons at the outfit, the 31-year-old completed 127 appearances, scored six goals and supplied 20 assists. Benitez’s pragmatic tactics and Everton’s consequent nosedive pulled him away from his productivity, though, with just one goal scored and not a single assist placed across 15 matches.
The time had come, it was time to sell.
Lucas Digne's market value in 2024/25
Aston Villa signed Digne for a £25m fee in January 2022, mere days before Benitez would be given the boot. As referenced above, though, the Frenchman’s sale was a necessary evil regardless of the Spaniard’s fate.
He’s since played a key part in Villa’s rise, plying his trade in the Champions League this season after finishing fourth in the Premier League last year. Digne has been hailed as a “machine” by journalist Ty Bracey.
Even so, Digne’s getting on a bit and is starting to lose some of his defensive solidity and creative flair, winning just 49% of his ground duels in the Premier League this season while averaging only 0.9 key passes per game.
Market Movers
Football FanCast's Market Movers series explores the changing landscape of the modern transfer market. How much is your club's star player or biggest flop worth today?
As such, Everton’s sales team will probably be happy to note that, as per Football Transfers, the Les Bleus star is now worth around £6m, suggesting that his departure on Merseyside was bang on the mark, especially with Vitalii Mykolenko purchased to replace him at the same time, in a deal worth £17m.
Though he’s an integral part of Unai Emery’s booming Villa project, Everton collected a pretty penny for his sale and his market depreciation – a drop of £19m in just two years – does point toward business conducted at just the right time.
Digne would likely argue that he is the finest former Barcelona star to have plied their trade in Everton colours over the past decade, and he’d make a compelling case for it.
The 31-year-old might have found loftier heights at Villa Park, but he did a job for the Toffees and was swiftly replaced by an adequate heir in Mykolenko – turning a profit at that.
It feels like Everton cashed in for a lucrative amount at the perfect time.
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