The Anthony Gordon saga is over.
Stepping back from it all, a lot of things go on that we don’t get to see. Having said that, the information that has emerged hasn't reflected well on Anthony or Everton.
A lot has been said about the fee we have received for Gordon, but I think the conversation should be about the role played by our academy in making that possible. It's credit to them for how they have developed Gordon and so many others over the years.
It saddens me the way in which the academy has been the saviour for the club, where you have to rely on selling young talent because of the situation we find ourselves in. We thought those days were going to be gone with the money of Farhad Moshiri. We’ve had to rely on cashing in on an academy player to hopefully reinvest in the squad. You can talk about the fee all you like, whether it’s £45million or £100million, it is irrelevant. What the club now does with those funds and who is brought in is what counts. If it is used to bring two or three players to help us stay in the league, it’s great business. But there are no guarantees that will happen.
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Will Dyche be disappointed Gordon has gone? Possibly. But he will also be pleased because he’s lost a player who didn’t really want to be there. Right now, Everton cannot carry passengers. We need everyone on the same page, working hard for the shirt and ready to train and play. Anthony staying away from training proves he wasn't there mentally and, when you do that, you’re disrespecting your team-mates who want you to help them out of a difficult situation.
We have seen other players leaving Premier League clubs in the summer, who went on strike and sulked but still went for big fees. Wesley Fofana left Leicester for £80million and Brighton sold Cucurella for £63million. Gordon is young and has potential, meaning Newcastle have likely recognised the possible long-term rewards of this deal. We could have probably got more money, but we're not in a position to haggle. When you haven’t got a manager and the club is in crisis, it’s a hard sell. We now have an improved opportunity to convince players to join after Dyche's arrival.
It's obvious we need to add quality in attack as we haven't replaced Richarlison's goals, but we've also failed to replace his character. He was rumoured to be leaving the football club a year before he actually did, but he never downed tools. That comes down to him having accountability of his own performances. He left everything out on the pitch and our current players need to share that same sense of desire. We shouldn’t have to rely on Richarlison to do that, everyone should feel that responsibility. If you’re not playing well as a footballer, it’s embarrassing. The only way you can address that is by looking at yourself in the mirror and taking pride in your work.
Time to relish tricky run
What we know as a fanbase is that we are a strange team, who seem to turn up against the big boys. Arsenal are flying high right now and my ex-team-mate Mikel is doing a fantastic job. But we know we can beat anyone on our day at Goodison Park. When we’re underdogs and everything is against us, that’s when Everton come into their own. We’ve got Arsenal and then the derby, but Dyche will relish that challenge and will be looking to see which players he can trust to deliver.
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