Farhad Moshiri has likely endured plenty of busy weeks in his time but this past one at Goodison Park will have been right up there. Everton have not seen a change in the guard like this in quite some time.
A Busy Summer For Farhad Moshiri
At boardroom level, there is a new Chief Executive, a new Deputy Chairman and a new Chief Finance and Commercial Officer.
Sam Allardyce has also been removed. In truth, the writing has been on the wall for some time for Allardyce. If dour football had not been the reason for change then his belittling comments or relationship with the fans would have sufficed.
Allardyce represents the old and failed to match the grand ambition of either Moshiri or the Everton fanbase.
Steve Walsh falls into the same category. Brought in as the Director of Football two years ago, last summer was his opportunity to come into his own.
But rather than scouting out the best talent at good prices he ended up paying top prices for players the average football fan would have identified.
An Improvement
His successor is PSV Eindhoven’s Marcel Brands, a man who appears to be everything Walsh was not.
Brands is a man with a proven track record of identifying top talent at the earliest opportunity.
Memphis Depay, Dries Mertens, Georginio Wijnaldum and Kevin Strootman are just four names in a long list of success stories.
The Dutchman has fresh ideas and that is what Moshiri has looked to instil at Everton over the past week. It has been a case of out with the old and in with the new.
Silva Leading The Way
The focus for Moshiri now turns to appointing a new manager with Marco Silva the leading candidate. It would be an appointment that is consistent with Moshiri’s aims so far.
Silva is another who brings fresh ideas and provides a style of football that fans want to see. If he can replicate his early days at Watford, Evertonians will be a happy bunch indeed.
Securing his signature at the earliest opportunity must be Moshiri’s primary aim. He will need to do it in the same ruthless and efficient manner that his actions of the past week have been conducted in.
They can ill afford a repeat of the long drawn out transfer dealings of the past. Extensive work is necessary on a squad lacking in several key areas but will be more difficult with a shorter deadline and a World Cup to negotiate around.
Fortunately, it seems Moshiri has every intention to continue in the vein in which he started this summer.
Talks are already well underway with Silva regardless of Watford’s protestations. The early arrival of Brands indicates transfer work will begin post-haste.
The past week’s ruthless changes have indicated that there will be a new mindset at Goodison Park moving forward. There has been no sentimentality and that is a refreshing change.
If Moshiri wishes to see Everton competing at the top once again, then maintaining that ruthless efficiency will be key. It is, after all, that which set the big clubs apart from the rest.
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