Victims of Moshiri’s millions

The investment of Farhad Moshiri has been a welcome one for all Evertonians after many years of searching, but it won’t be good news for some of the players at the club. A lot of players who would have been kept on during the likes of the cash strapped Moyes era will have to leave as they are either too old or no longer good enough.

Tim Howard hasn’t been a victim of Moshiri’s millions but more a victim of his own bad form, he’ll be leaving to the MLS and leaving a great Everton career behind him. It is the end of an era of sorts with so many players leaving with a huge amount of appearances, but Howard’s departure has been long overdue. Joel Robles should be a victim of the new investment, whilst not doing too much wrong since replacing Howard, I think it’s pretty clear we need to aim higher with Joel reverting back to our number 2. A goalkeeper is arguably our biggest priority in the summer.

One position of concern that shouldn’t be is right back. Coleman has had two average seasons now where his standards aren’t near what we know he’s capable of, especially what he shown in Martnez’s first season in charge. He’s not been awful by any means and maybe an improvement in team form will bring the best out of him, but his once solid position in the team in now under threat. One right back that should be leaving the club is Tony Hibbert, after many years of service and precisely 0 goals (yet!) it’s time to bring an end to his career at Goodison Park.

The FA Cup semi-final showed why we need another centre back, but whether the club will now be prepared to bring that through our youth team remains to be seen. With the likes of Galloway, Connolly, Pennington, Holgate and Foulds impressing in the youth ranks, would you rather bring in experience with the money available or back our young players to step up if needed? I’d go with youth and I hope the club keeps that policy even with the increased cash.

About a year ago left back seemed one our most solid positions. Since that time Baines has struggled with injury, Oviedo has struggled ever since his horrific injury and Garbutt has struggled badly on loan at Fulham. I think there have been signs in recent weeks that Leighton Baines is getting back into the groove and has a few years left in him yet. It’s a position that needs to be addressed in the medium term.

Central midfield is also a position that seemed strong until recently. James McCarthy is another player who has struggled since Martinez’s first season. He is no longer as effective off the ball and his lack of passing and shooting ability on it is a burden for a team that should be getting a lot more out of it’s central midfield. He is a player i’d look to replace in the summer, Besic has the ability but he is yet to be able to show it in long patches and injury is an issue. Gareth Barry is also a problem, solely down to the fact he is 35. One of the players of the season will be hard to replace when he calls it a day and it’s an area Everton need to start scouting for. Gibson should be let go in the summer due to his injury record, he’s been a good player when fit, but that’s been very rare.

Pienaar and Osman are another two players who should be leaving in the summer. Age and injury have meant we have long seen the best of the South African and Osman, although probably deserving of more credit for his career, no longer has a place in the squad. We’ll desperately try and get rid of Aiden McGeady and hopefully someone will take him. Arouna Kone’s fate more than likely lies with who will be manager at Everton. Any new man would surely want an upgrade, whereas Martinez would still find some way of putting him in the first team.

So there will be old players and great servants who will leave the club. It’s sad in a way that these players who have put so much into the shirt will be leaving but the time has come for Everton to move on and into a new era. A few of the established players will be under threat with the new investment and may pay the price for their bad from. It’ll be an interesting summer for Evertonians, hopefully our squad comes out the back of it much stronger.