Football is not the working-class sport it was in the past, at a time when match-day tickets, scarves, food, drink and memorabilia were the cornerstones of English football’s unique character off the pitch.
Today, those privileged enough to enjoy an extended stay in the Premier League now have no choice, except to turn their back on such quaint elements. Instead, they must focus on acquiring the hottest talents, and do so for increasingly inflated prices, lest their ‘gravy train’ derail in the style of once-successful Premier League clubs like Blackburn, amongst more than a few others.
As one of just six Premier League ever-presents since said brand’s inauguration in 1992, Everton are no different, with the potentially £50m acquisition of Richarlison last summer being a standout moment.
While the Brazilian has undoubtedly made the difference in many matches during his time with Everton, some TV, online and radio pundits still assert that the Toffees might have been swindled– or at least overcharged amidst a campaign of reckless spending.
Richarlison: Silva’s Greatest Muse?
Richarlison’s arrival at Goodison Park on 24 July 2018 was a sensational show of ambition from the potential ‘dream team’ that was the new DoF Marcel Brands and new manager Marco Silva. In signing on the dotted line, the versatile Brazilian reunited himself with the very man who initially ‘made’ him a potential superstar down at Watford, and the early signs were extremely promising.
A first-half brace on the opening day of 2018/19, against a surprisingly in-tune Wolves side at Molineux, ultimately saved Everton a point, and helped them avoid a second opening-day defeat to a newly-promoted side in seven years. One week later, he was the decisive goalscorer as Everton beat Southampton 2-1 at Goodison Park, to give Silva a winning start to life in L4.
Reckless ‘Rich’ Resolved with Right Regime
Richarlison’s first season on Merseyside yielded a respectable tally of 13 league goals, which was a good reflection of his ability to play on either flank – albeit to differing degrees of effectiveness – or up front.
While Richarlison is by no means a fair-weather player, Everton’s fortunes can turn very ugly indeed if he becomes frustrated and loses focus. His August 2018 winner against Southampton, for instance, was overshadowed just one week later, when he received a straight red card for a needless altercation with Adam Smith at Bournemouth. Thereafter, a promising lead gave way to two points dropped.
Whatever way it manifests itself, that frustration is only redoubled when key decisions, such as rejected penalty claims, go against him. However, this is undoubtedly a symptom of youth, and the renowned Latin American passion for the beautiful game, rather than any indication that Everton have been swindled out of £50m by Watford.
Perhaps the biggest reasoning behind the pundits decrying that price tag is the relative infrequency of matches where he has a direct winning impact, leading to Everton’s improved standing within the exciting fixed-odds offers currently active for the Premier League. That said, one only needs to look at the frequency with which Everton have conceded set-pieces under Marco Silva as a mitigating factor.
RECOMMENDED IMAGE HERE IN LIEU OF LINK:
https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2019/10/17115218/set-pieces-graph-for-Everton-piece.png
Source/credit info: https://theathletic.com/1301429/2019/10/18/why-are-everton-so-poor-at-defending-set-pieces/ – Article is dated 17 Oct 2019
As an indirect result of that, amongst other defensive derelictions, Richarlison’s last away goal was only his sixth ‘matchwinner’ overall since joining Everton. In the eyes of those fans who expected much more from Richarlison, a player worth £50m should be single-handedly winning matches every weekend, not unlike great number nines of old, such as Dean, Latchford and Sharp.
‘When it matters’ is all that Matters
While the regularity of his ‘match-winning’ goals has come as a disappointment to some Everton fans, Richarlison has at least chosen some crucial moments to score such goals. In between his two winners versus Southampton, at either end of Marco Silva’s managerial reign to date, Richarlison has – in this calendar year alone – been the winning goal scorer against Huddersfield, Chelsea, Manchester United and Wolves, in January, March, April and September respectively.
His second-minute strike at Huddersfield back on 29 January came at a time when Everton were sinking like a stone down the table, with tanking away form that threatened to negate Everton’s good run of autumn 2018. Anything other than a win over hopeless Huddersfield on that testing winter night could have spelled great danger in the aftermath.
As the opening scorer against Chelsea in March, following a first half dominated by the visitors in one of Everton’s poorest displays of 2018/19 yet, Richarlison got the Goodison crowd rocking. That strike turned the game on its head, with Everton going on to win 2-0 and spark the excellent run of spring home form.
As evidenced by case studies such as the ‘Kevin Brock moment’ of 1984, and perhaps even Tim Cahill’s last-ditch strike at Sunderland on New Year’s Eve in 2005, such flashpoint moments can make or break not only a season, but an entire club’s immediate future, and not just that of the manager.
The End Justifies the Means in Modern Football
Ultimately, while habitual winning scorers like Bob Latchford may belong to a ‘bygone’ era, the idea of a number nine acting as a symbol of hope and defiance will never die. Leicester, Tottenham and Arsenal, for instance, have Vardy, Kane and Aubameyang respectively, and fully appreciate their vital importance.
Richarlison is a match for all of them in terms of skill under the right setup, but he is not yet at the same level of that trio in terms of consistency. Much of that is due to his prior deployment on the wing, with decidedly chequered results alongside Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the traditional ‘number nine’ role.
However, there is encouragement to be found in his ability to make the difference when it truly matters. If that ability directly leads to a long, fruitful spell under Marco Silva, culminating in European qualification and the means to cope financially with a new stadium, then £50m is but a drop in the ocean, as the riches of prolonged Premier League participation grow ever larger and more diverse.