Marco Silva explains Everton’s transfer strategy last summer

When Marco Silva took over at Everton last summer, he faced a mountain of a challenge in trying to change the culture at Goodison Park. 2017-18 was one of the worst seasons the Toffees had endured this millennium, so quite how Marcel Brands and Silva would go about creating something positive out of that dire situation remained to be seen.

A few months into the 2018-19 season the clouds are starting to part and their vision is slowly materializing, and it all started with their transfer policy.

Speaking to evertontv yesterday, Silva spoke how critical it was that some of the summer signings got off to a good start -

“It is important. When we sign players, it is my job to be almost 100 per cent sure they can improve our squad and that they are good professionals and good characters for our club.

“And they are showing those things with their performances. Their teammates have really welcomed them and the Club is supporting them all the time, which is helping all the new players perform well and feel at home.

“That is what we want. And they are helping the Club, which is the most important thing.”

Richarlison, Lucas Digne, Kurt Zouma and Andre Silva Andre Gomes have all become fixtures in his starting lineup, with Bernard also playing regularly. The last of the six, Yerry Mina, made his full debut before the international break and put in a Man of the Match performance against Chelsea.

“It was a tough match for him to come in and play his first official game in the starting XI in the Premier League. To go and play [so well] against a strong side in a tough match, he showed his quality.

“It was very important for him and very important for us as a club because we made a big effort to sign him. Our stability as a team helped him as well, we are creating this stability in our squad.

“It is good; he helped the team and it was a good performance from him. And a good performance from our squad.”

Brands had spoken early into his tenure about the importance of getting the transfers right in an apparent dig at previous regimes at the Blues. However now it’s looking like he’s put Farhad Moshiri’s money where his mouth is, and it’s starting to pay off too.

The upcoming January window will show what kind of faith the management has in the current squad, and where they are hoping to end up come the end of the season.