da mrbet： Everton have become renowned for their transfer disasters under Fahad Moshiri’s ownership with over £500m spent and little to show for it.
da aviator aposta： The Toffees are enduring another relegation scrap this season with Sean Dyche the seventh permanent manager appointed by the unpopular owner challenged with the task of turning things around at Goodison Park.
In more recent transfer windows, Everton have found themselves having to tighten their belts due to financial concerns after the reckless spending on numerous transfers took its toll.
Indeed, at the rate that the club were turning over players Moshiri was bound to get it right at some point and the controversial sale of Lucas Digne back in January last year is the perfect example.
It was a troubling time at Goodison Park with Rafael Benitez struggling to get the best out of his squad and with every game came another protest against both the manager and owners.
Behind the scenes, it was quickly revealed that Benitez had fallen out with Digne as the pair disagreed on the training pitch which led to the Frenchman being isolated and dropped from match-day squads.
Ultimately this fractured relationship would be the end of Digne’s career with Everton and the player was sold for £25m in the January transfer window to Aston Villa.
Ironically, it wasn’t long before the former Real Madrid boss followed Digne out of the door as he was sacked just five days later, nevertheless Moshiri surprisingly still had the last laugh on the sale.
How much is Lucas Digne worth now?
The move to Villa Park was a great opportunity for Digne to have a fresh start and move on from the seemingly sinking ship he was leaving behind under Benitez.
Under the management of one of Benitez’s player prodigies, Steven Gerrard, at first it looked like Digne was a key player in the young manager’s set-up playing 90 minutes in 13 of the remaining 18 games of the season.
However, shortly into the current campaign things began to unravel for Digne when he suffered an ankle injury in September 2022 that left him side-lined for 40 days.
During that time Villa found themselves edging closer and closer to the relegation zone and when the left-back returned in late October, Gerrard had been sacked.
With a new manager comes a new perspective, a fresh style of play and commonly a change of favour when it comes to selection and under Unai Emery, Digne has become a fading feature.
Digne has not played a full 90 minutes since New Year’s Day and the arrival of Spaniard Alex Moreno has only added insult to injury as the former Villarreal boss clearly doesn’t see the player in his future plans.
In fact, there are claims that the 29-year-old – dubbed "poor" by Luis Miguel Echegaray – could be on his way out this summer and with his market value plummeting 72% to (€8m) £6.9m compared to what they paid just 16 months ago – as per CIES Football Observatory – it’s safe to say Everton hit the jackpot.
With that being said, although the sale of Digne was met with fury from supporters, in hindsight, Moshiri made the right decision at the right time in a very rare transfer masterclass.