Everton’s unbeaten streak continues.
On Saturday night, at a time David Moyes would normally be “a bottle of red wine down” in his own words, the Toffees were held to a 1-1 draw by Wolves at Molineux, taking the lead through Jack Harrison, only for the hosts to hit back very soon after.
Nevertheless, this extended the Toffees’ unbeaten streak to eight Premier League matches, their longest such sequence since 2012, which coincidentally came during Moyes’ first spell in charge.
Thus, the Blues appear set to be moving into their brand-new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock next season, not only still as a top division club, but also in high spirits although, by the time they play their first match there in August, could arguably their best player have been sold?
Richarlison repeat set to strike Everton
As noted by football finance expert Kieran Maguire, Everton have been poorly run for many years now, with Matt Slater of the Athletic documenting how ‘poor recruitment’ is the primary factor behind their ‘serious financial trouble’.
To name only a handful, Yannick Bolasie, Morgan Schneiderlin, Cenk Tosun, Davy Klaassen, Yerry Mina, Moise Kean, André Gomes, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Allan and Neal Maupay were signed for a combined £264.5m, with none of those players offering very much, and that’s only mentioning a select few.
Richarlson appeared destined to feature on this list too, arriving from Watford in 2018 for an eyebrow-raising £40m, a surprisingly high fee considering he’d scored just five goals in 41 appearances during one season with the Hornets.
Nevertheless, by the time the Brazilian departed, he’d established himself as a cult hero, with Greg O’Keeffe and Patrick Boyland of the Athletic believing that, without him, Everton would have been relegated.
That’s because, Richarlison scored 53 goals in 152 games for the Blues, 43 of which came in the league, meaning only six men have scored more Premier League goals for the club: Romelu Lukaku, Duncan Ferguson, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Tim Cahill, Kevin Campbell and Leon Osman.
So, after saving the Toffees from the drop in 2022, the Brazilian moved to Tottenham for a reported fee of £60m, making him the second-biggest departure in the club’s history, behind only the £90m Man United paid for the aforementioned Lukaku.
This move certainly has not worked out, with Richarlison scoring only 18 goals in 80 appearances for Spurs, labelled a ‘joke’ as well as ‘flop of the season’ by Gabriel Agbonlahor on talkSPORT, hence why Mick Brown of Football Insider is reporting that the striker is ‘pushing’ to move this summer, potentially on his way back to Goodison.
That aside, in a similar fashion to Richarlison’s departure in 2022, could Everton once again be forced to sell their star player to a Premier League rival?
Everton's best player on his way out?
According to a report by Mark Douglas and Sam Cunningham of the i Paper, Everton came extremely close to a PSR breach last year, so could Jarrad Branthwaite be sacrificed to balance the books?
The 22-year-old was the subject of strong interest from Manchester United last summer, but this never came to pass, with James Ducker of the Telegraph reporting he was valued at £70m.
Having stayed at Everton, the centre-back has started the Toffees’ last 18 Premier League matches, having recovered from groin surgery, so let’s analyse his statistics.
Tackles
30
=128th
Blocks
23
=85th
Interceptions
23
=50th
Clearances
132
=9th
Ball recoveries
61
160th
% of aerial duals won
51.6%
89th
Despite the fact his statistics don’t exactly leap off the page, he is certainly influential in this Everton team, with scout Jacek Kulig labelling him a ‘monster’, and Jacob Whitehead and Mark Carey of the Athletic noting he is exceptional when it comes to winning ‘defensive duels’, believing he’s good enough to start for England.
Meantime, Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was Branthwaite’s manager during a loan spell at PSV Eindhoven in the 2022/23 season, described him as “fantastic”, adding he was a “joy to work with” and that he has “a great future ahead for him”.
So, as much as Everton will not want to lose him, if a big offer comes in – reports have emerged suggesting he is now valued at £80m – now may be the right time to do a deal, with Richarlison’s departure proving that the Toffees are able to strike gold by selling at the right time considering he is now worth £29m, as per Football Transfers.
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1 ByAngus Sinclair Mar 11, 2025
