Home > Football > Do these bizarre Everton signings highlight a David Moyes weakness?
by Ed Bottomley on 07 February 2008
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I love David Moyes. His moniker “The Moyesiah” is fully deserved. He is a ginger alchemist who pulled Everton’s socks up almost single-handedly. Having said that, there is a dark side to Moyes’ brilliance, the one thing that niggles at me are some of his less-than-successful signings.
Whilst the Moyes purchases of Mikel Arteta, Tim Cahill, Tim Howard and Joleon Lescott are obviously distilled managerial genius, and all of them, if sold, will be exchanged for a huge profit, he has also taken a punt on some bizarre and esoteric signings that are more out of left field than a cryptic Pink Floyd album. Let's look at them:Rodrigo: I watched in queasy bafflement as my sister swooned after this mini Tom Cruise lookalike in the car parks at the Park End. And when I saw him play, his only contribution of note was to vigorously shield the ball and usher it 30 yards back into the Everton half, then stop abruptly and crumple in a heap.
Where is he now? Feted by none other than Jairzinho as being better than Rivaldo, this potential star sank without a trace after succumbing to a knee injury. Anderson da Silva: Everton jumped several hurdles to bag Brazilian midfielder Anderson; purchasing commercial and federative rights and then shipping him on loan to Spanish side Málaga to get round the fact that he didn’t have an EU passport (something we didn’t know about until we’d signed him). Alarm bells should have been ringing after he couldn’t even get a game for Málaga, who by that point were scraping the bottom of the Spanish second division.
Where is he now? Barnsley. Anderson was back with Everton this summer but Moyes, clearly not rating him at all, loaned him to Barnsley and eventually sold him just before the close of the January 2008 transfer window. Per Krøldrup: Acclaimed in The Times as one the worst signing of all time in the Premier League. A tad harsh, but rumour has it that his utter inability to head a ball (rumours were rife that he even had a phobia of heading) turned Moyes off him as soon as the Dane trained with Everton.
Comments (19)
by Karlos on February 07, 2008
Take a look at the prices we paid for these players. The only one we lost money on was Koldrup. Now look at Moyesies outstanding signings and I think you will find the balance swiftly shifting to the good signings side!!!!
by What? on February 07, 2008
You expect every signing Moyes makes to be a piece of divine transfer activity, unearthing a gem that turns out to be a 1st team star? Get over it. Have every one of Ferguson's purchases been worth it?
by John Middleton on February 07, 2008
Rodrigo was signed on loan, Anderson on a free. Kroldrup was used with expected Champions League money that obviously didn't arrive, but never really fitted in although watching his play in Serie A you would wounder how he didn't. Van Der Meyde was a gamble, he was a £15m rated winger who had gotten lost and Moyes hoped he could revive it for just over a million. Unfortunately his fondness of the drink and lack of fitness have scuppered this. I would more look on the Simon Davies, James Beattie signings as signs of his weakness in the market. Taking a chance in the virtually unknown and unproven players (arteta, cahill, lescott for combined £8m) if what he does best.
by Rob on February 07, 2008
4 bad signings in 6 years is meant to highlight a weakness in Moyes? nonsense
by scouser on February 07, 2008
if you want to talk about bad signing look across the park at liverpool, rafa's signed some of the most useless players i have ever watched playing football, out of the 50 players he's signed how many are good enough for the premiership or english football
by paulablue on February 07, 2008
I think if you were to check gains and losses, Moyes has virtually balanced the books with signings. According to an article 2-3 weeks ago in the daily mail.
by Blusenose on February 07, 2008
On the whole Moyessie's signings have been good. Whilst I appreciate that he's made some that havent worked out such as the above and Beattie, Davies etc his excellent buys (Yobo, Howard, Cahill, Arteta) and his buys were he's done good deals (Bent, Kilbane, McFadden) to name but a few far outweigh the dodgy ones. For me any wrong buys hes made are used as a stick to beat him with for some reason. Ferguson signed Djemba Djemba & Kleberson, Wenger signed Boa Morte and Stepanovs....does this highlight a weakness of theirs? No - fact is everyone makes mistakes but because its Everton & Moyesey and we dont have as much cash as those 2, it seems to be highlighted more. I for one am thankful that we have one of the best around in charge of our club and its transfers. COYB!
by strewth on February 07, 2008
Blimey while not being in "the man can do no wrong" camp, get real. The net cost of all these examples cost less than c.£5m. Bloody sight less than likes of Sir PuceFace's clangers or the stream of first French and now Spanish donkeys bought and discarded by the dark side. Perspective and balance please!
by sean long on February 07, 2008
what a pointless piece, which ridiculously, was a headline on newsnow. No mention of Beattie and the listing of Rodrigo how much did we lose on him? wasnt he on a murky pay as you play /loan type deal and left (probably) before the lease ran out . Stick to writing about subjects you are knowledgable on...
by Dixie Dean on February 07, 2008
What a laughable article. Rodrigo - a one year loan signing who damaged his knee ligaments and missed most of his season on loan as a result. Anderson de Silva - £700,000 signing. An absolute pittance for Premiership club to pay for a player in this era. So he didn't work out. Andy Van Der Meyde - £1.8m signing. A small fee for a signing that hasn't worked. He's still at the club, despite him being blighted by injury and personal issues. Per Kroldrup - £5m signing. Moyes one and only bad signing. But to Moyes credit, he didn't continue playing him and sold him as soon as he could, recouping most of the money back. How much did Houllier waste? Bernand Diomede, £3m signing, 2 appearances, released on a free? Heskey - bought for £11m, sold to Birmingham for £3.5m? Diouff - bought for £10m, to Bolton for a pittance? Even Sir Alex Ferguson isn't immune - £28.1m for Veron, sold to Chelsea for £14m 3 years later? Moyes' so called 'bad signings' cost a pittance and weren't even squad players. Hardl
by Chris Cunningham on February 07, 2008
What a bad bad bad article, havent you got something better to write than about players who havent gone to plan at everton?? Theres alot of good things happening round the club at the minute which one can easily write about, yet you decided to talk about Moyes' poorer signings. In no way am i defending Moyes nor am i his biggest fan but the article itself is just s*** to be frank! How about................ FEED THE YAK AND HE WILL SCORE?
by Ed Bottomlet on February 07, 2008
Guys, this was meant to be cheery not dreary - I love DM - I just wanted to highlight some of our wierd signings, I promise to be more positive - and I know, on a crap scale this is a 10 out of 10.
by The boy azul on February 07, 2008
Have Toffeeweb dispatched the search and rescue chopper to bring you back to their suicidal bosom. In short: Youre a belter.
by rob on February 07, 2008
possibly the worst and stupid artical ever you could name 4 s*** signings from any manager ,but could you name such googd ones from any manager?
by Yoda on February 07, 2008
Those are NOT his worst signing. The worst signing has to be Richard Wright (£4,5m). Most of his other bad signing have been on the cheap or loan signings (like Weifeng, Baardsen, Said, Jeffers, Ferrari)
by Cahillisagod on February 07, 2008
What a stupid article. Ok, he's made a few clangers, who hasn't? But his good buys far outweigh his bad ones, so shut up you useless moron!!!!!!
by Max on February 07, 2008
Please do us a favour! We're nothing compared to some of the top teams: 1. Veron £28m Ferguson/Man Utd 2. Rebrov £11m Graham/Spurs 3. Grabbi £6.75m Souness/Blckburn 4. Balaban £5.8m Gregory/Aston Villa 5. Taibi £4.5m Ferguson/Man Utd And lets not forget Liverpool:Josemi, Jan Kromkamp, Antonio Nunez, Sean Dundee, Kewell, Sissoko, Mauricio Pellegrino, Fernando Morientes, Mark Gonzalez, Gabriel Paletta, Andriy Voronin, and Dirk Kuyt
by Christopher Kennedy on February 08, 2008
Nuff said above.
by Heat on February 08, 2008
Stick to eating pasties. Probably meant to be a 'light hearted' piece. In truth just a piece.
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