Kia Joorabchian has hit back at claims he influences Farhad Moshiri’s decision-making at Everton and revealed the club passed up the chance to sign Bruno Guimaraes.
Joorabchian, it has been claimed, is said to be close to Everton majority shareholder Moshiri. Those close ties have been questioned in recent months amid the Blues’ struggles.
Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan called out the agent for being too involved at Everton and for being too close to Moshiri during a talkSPORT show on Wednesday afternoon. But those comments prompted Joorabchian to call into the White and Jordan show to respond.
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And in a twist of events, Joorabchian said he has mostly been ignored by the Blues' current regime over the years, especially when it comes to transfers, claiming he has only ever been involved in four deals with the club, with one of them being Carlo Ancelotti’s appointment as manager.
“I have done three transfers of my players during Farhad’s tenure at Everton,” he kicked things off by saying. “Those three were Richarlison from Watford, which I think was very successful. There was a free transfer from Bernard from Shakhtar Donetsk who I don't think was a complete disaster and did very well.
“We had Carlo Ancelotti who is the only manager they have taken a recommendation. We always do the same with every club in the Premier League. When someone needs a manager, we always present our client.
“We always present of clients and then we were involved in the Anwar El Ghazi loan which was part of the Lucas Digne transfer and financial fair play. That didn't work out for them, there was a change of manager and when the new manager occurred, he wasn't in the new manager's plans.
“We do a lot more work across the Premier League. We have a player almost at every Premier League club, Championship and across Europe.”
Joorabchian then continued, saying: “I recommended Vitor Periera. They went with Frank Lampard, that was very much a board decision.
“It was mentioned on Sky that Bill Kenwright and Denise Barrett-Baxendale had nothing to do there, Jamie [Carragher] mentioned that. People who say stuff like that haven't done their homework and are misinformed, that's unfair.
“Farhad didn't have a sole vote, he created a board. Denise Barrett-Baxendale was very much involved, she was involved in the hiring of the sporting director there, Kevin Thelwell. She led that.
“He [Kevin Thelwell] is not one of my clients. He worked at Wolves recently. He worked in the MLS and I had nothing to do with it.
“I met him one time and of course as we do we offered him many, many players and they turned them all down. All the signings of the summer, [James] Tarkowski, [Conor] Coady, [Neal] Maupay, Dwight [McNeil] and the list goes on. All the loans and all the signings they did were done purely by them and the board and we didn’t have involvement whatsoever.
“We speak to all the owners. I speak to quite a few owners, but the point is, what is our job? Our job is to present what we have as a client list and say this is what we have. And Everton haven’t taken any of our advice or movement. They haven’t taken our advice so we can’t be that influential.”
Before the agent added: “The one thing is that Farhad Moshiri runs very differently. He’s not a person that likes to say himself what’s happening.
“He’s created this board, he created it seven years ago, with Bill as the chairman and Denise and everyone else. He has relied on them even when he may have wanted a different manager and was against it.”
Talk then switched to the appointment of Ancelotti, with Jordan claiming it was a 'Hollywood appointment' and he 'couldn’t wait to get out the door' and return to Real Madrid during the summer of 2021.
“By the way, apologies for presenting a five-time winning Champions League, multiple winning league manager," remarked Joorabchian. “Actually, I think that’s not true because it’s not quite factual. First and foremost, it’s one of the only years in the last seven where they’ve not been in a relegation situation at Chelsea in December.
“You said it was a bit fit, but they sat at the top of the table for most of the Christmas period and when it started to weigh in on the depth of the squad, we knew Liverpool and City like that were way ahead of Everton at the time.
“Carlo actually, I think, would have done very well, but I think the problem was he didn’t think he had a choice to say, 'okay what can you say it is Real Madrid'.”
The focus then switched to transfers and not only did Joorabchian claim none of his clients would be joining the club this month, but also stated that Everton had previously passed up signing Newcastle United star Guimaraes and Real Madrid defender Eder Militao.
“In the past, we have offered them Bruno Guimaraes at £16m when he was leaving Athletico Paranaense,” he said. “They didn’t like him and they went for Jean-Philippe Gbamin instead and Guimaraes went to Lyon.
“Diego Carlos, when he was leaving Nantes, we offered him [to Everton] at £11m before he went to Sevilla, and now he’s at Aston Villa.
“We offered them Eder Militao when he was leaving [first club Sao Paulo in Brazil, before he joined Porto – now he’s staring at Real Madrid].”
Joorabchian then added: “Unfortunately, at this particular time, we don’t have players that would suit them in that kind of relegation because otherwise I would offer them.”
Former Leeds United manager Marcelo Bilesa emerged as the leading contender to take over from Lampard on Monday, only for speculation to emerge a day later claiming that the Argentine had doubts about taking over at Goodison Park.
“Listen, I have never represented Bielsa, but what I do know about Bielsa is that a person I have admired since 2004 when I first worked in Argentina,” Joorabchian replied when asked about Bielsa.
“I think he is one of the top coaches in the world and if you speak to any coach in the world they would say he is one of the top coaches in the world, there is no doubt about it.
“He has a very harsh pragmatic style, he is tough and he gets things done. What he did at Leeds is quite extraordinary, really. With the amount of money being spent in the Championship to come up every year, the way he did and created that sustainability.
“I don’t know if he will accept the job at Everton and the Everton board have to decide if he is going to be the right fit. You can keep changing managers but if the back house isn’t right, the front will never get right and that is that.”
“At this moment in time, I am going to tell you something Simon, rack your head, there are not that many potential managers,” Joorabchian then added. “There is Sean [Dyche], there is Bielsa and I can’t think of another because [Mauricio] Pochettino and Luis Enrique will not take the job.”
And when pushed further by Jordan over the links to Bielsa, Joorabchian suggested that regardless of who comes in, Moshiri needs to address issues behind-the-scenes at the club.
“I would say he has to take a very close look at his organisation and make sure his back house can handle this front house. That is going to be key for Bielsa,” Joorabchian said.
“No, I wouldn't be advocating for anybody. I wouldn’t be telling him to stay away. If Bielsa was my client what I would be saying is that what you need to do is make sure your back house can handle your front house.”
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