Summer Transfer Spotlight: Ronald Koeman (Everton)

BY EWAH CHIKA

Four Eredivisie titles, two European Cups, four Spanish La Liga titles and one Champions League are some of the major achievements of new Everton manager Ronald Koeman who is the highest goal scoring defender in world football after scoring 193 goals in 535 league games for the likes of Barcelona, Ajax and PSV and also 14 goals in 78 games for the Dutch national team. 

Koeman have also managed top clubs like Benfica, Valencia and PSV before joining Southampton in 2014. Koeman was announced as the replacement for sacked Spanish coach Roberto Martinez who joined Everton from Wigan in 2013. Though Everton were linked with several managers notably Unai Emery (who will soon join PSG), Frank De Boer (who just left Ajax) and Manuel Pellegrini (who also just left Manchester City), it was no surprise that the Everton board settled for the experienced Dutch man at the end. Everton under Martinez flattered to deceive and had finished outside the top 10 twice in his three years in charge with quality players like Romelu Lukaku, Leighton Baines , Seamus Coleman and Ross Barkley. Martinez had failed miserably even when he made the club spend large sums for the likes of Lukaku (£28 million from Chelsea in 2014) and also reject more than £40 million from Chelsea in 2015 for John Stones with the likes of Leighton Baines and Ross Barkley retained on his request. 

With Martinez in charge, Everton finished 5th narrowly missing out on Champions League football in his debut season and recording their highest point tally in history. All these changed in his second season as he tried so hard with little success to imitate Barcelona's ticki-tacka football . Martinez failed to realise that players at his disposal (Lukaku, Baines, Coleman, James McCarthy and Kelvin Mirallas) were more used to playing direct football rather than the one touch ball possession based football that he employed. 

With Koeman, Everton have signed a manager who understands the transfer market perfectly coupled with his extensive links abroad . Records show that Koeman's signings are spot on compared to their actual worth . These players include Sadio Mane, Graziano Pelle, Tadic and Frasier Foster who were signed at bargain prices and are now worth a triple of those prices. The Dutch man also has the charm, personality , exposure and class required to attract big names to the club and also to dissuade current players from quitting the club. 

Under Koeman, Southampton finished 7th in 2015 and 6th this season which is the club's highest ever Premier League finish and also highest Premier League points total (63) which qualified them for the Europa League next season. This was after the coach was forced to sell the more established players like Ricky Lambert, Adam Llalana, Morgan Schneiderline and Lovren for huge sums in the summer of 2015. 

Though it is still too early to tell, but on paper Everton have struck gold with the signing of the Dutch man this summer as the "Sleeping Giant" Merseyside tag on them might be a thing of the past by the summer of 2017 when Koeman might have done his magic .