Everton cannot lose with Ronald Koeman appointment

Dutch boss Ronald Koeman has joined Everton on a three-year deal

Everton finally confirmed Ronald Koeman as the clubs new boss on Tuesday after a prolonged wait following the Dutchman’s holiday. The former-Feyenoord boss has signed a three-year deal with the side from Merseyside.

The main talk seems to be about how much money he will be earning at the club.

In truth Everton cannot lose with Koeman’s appointment. If he is successful Everton will be in a better position when he leaves for Barcelona or whoever wants him in two or three years’ time.

The club from Merseyside seems to have moved into an era under Farhad Moshiri and there is a sense that failure is not an option for Koeman at Goodison Park.

Koeman will improve current situation

Everton’s situation in the last few years is a rather false one caused by the poor management of Spanish boss Roberto Martinez and under-performing players. Prior Martinez’s arrival and in his first season the Toffees were in and around the top six of the Premier League.

In fact more often than not Everton were fighting for a top-six spot under David Moyes, on a highly limited budget. The current Toffees team is not one that should be in the bottom half of the table.

Koeman knows that appearing to improve the situation at one of English football’s most historic clubs will look good on his CV for the future. Managing to get Southampton into the top-six was admirable, but it would never have got him noticed by the massive clubs it is rumoured he wishes to manage in the future.

Everton main failing under Martinez has been their defence, as the Toffees have made more errors leading to goals than any other team in the league in the previous two seasons.

At times last season the Toffees were superb going forward though, so fixing the defensive situation will be the Dutchman’s priority, because quite simply the Everton defence have made the Keystone Cops look competent in recent seasons.

Key players wanting to leave

Koeman is walking into a club with a number of highly-rated players that want to leave the club. It is a familiar scenario for Koeman who walked into Southampton and had to rebuild after a number of key players left.

It seems that Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku has already decided he wants to leave. He will need to play far better than he did in Belgium’s 2-0 defeat against Italy at Euro 2016, if any club is going to pay the mooted transfer fee of £65million this summer.

England international defender John Stones was poor for much of last season. He attracted a rejected bid from Chelsea last summer, but he did not sulk about it. However, maybe the youngster’s mental state was affected by all the speculation and transfer talk.

There are mixed opinions amongst Everton fans regarding Stones and whether the club should sell him this summer, with the likes of Barcelona, Manchester City and Manchester United all believed to be tracking the former-Barnsley star.

If both players leave the Merseyside club this summer then the majority of Everton fans will be confident that Koeman is shrewd enough to replace them and have money left over.

Everton does have a decent squad of players

The way some fans of other clubs are talking the Everton squad is falling apart. Yet even if Stones and Lukaku leaves then the Toffees still have a highly-regarded squad.

In Seamus Coleman, James McCarthy, Gerard Deulofeu, Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, Kevin Mirallas and Ross Barkley there is quality to build the foundations of a good team, even without the potential leavers.

The Toffees just need the right captain to steer the ship in the right direction. Just two years ago Everton finished the campaign on 72 points in fifth-place. That points tally would have been enough to see them finish second last season.

The Toffees are an outside bet at odds of 12/1 to finish in the top four next season, which seems like a stretch too far for the team from Merseyside. However, a top-six finish could be possible with the right recruitment from Koeman this summer.

This summer has already been a positive one for Everton with the determination to get Koeman an indication that Moshiri means business and will drive the club forward in the future.

The Dutchman is unlikely to be at Everton for long, as football bosses in general no longer remain at football clubs for long and Koeman’s history also suggests that he will not be at the club long.

Koeman’s past performances at the likes of Feyenoord and Southampton seems to suggest that he leaves a team in a far better position than when he arrives and that will be no bad thing for Everton.

What will Everton’s expectations be next season?