Everton are on the up with David Moyes at the helm, but the road to success under the Scotsman's wing is paved with the mishaps of recent years at Goodison Park.
It's been a long journey since Moyes left Everton to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in 2013, and while there have been plenty of low points, the future is indeed bright.
Everton are ready to strengthen in the transfer market this summer, but new owners, The Friedkin Group, will be pleased that the new manager has hit the ground running, nine matches undefeated in the Premier League.
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Everton will need to spend though, and hopefully retain the services of their most valuable players.
Everton's most valuable players in 2025
TFG's successful takeover from Farhad Moshiri was met with universal relief and excitement from those of a Toffees persuasion, ending years of painstaking strife.
Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri
Dysfunction reigned for rudderless Everton as they fell away from their comparatively secure spot in the upper end of the Premier League, enduring several seasons of drama as they escaped the relegation zone and preserved their top-flight status.
However, Moshiri did oversee some positivity on the transfer front. Jarrad Branthwaite is the club's most valuable player, worth £75m, and given that he was purchased from League Two club Carlisle United for just £1m in 2020, this is quite the success story.
He's not the only Everton player worth a pretty, though. Iliman Ndiaye joined from Marseille for a £15m fee in July 2024 and has been a bright spark right through the campaign, Everton's joint-top scorer this year with goals and utterly breathtaking in his slick and skilful movements.
Data analyst Ben Mattinson called him a "relentless forward" and said "he could be at least a regular squad player in every Premier League team."
This is indeed the case. While exact figures haven't surfaced pertaining to Ndiaye's new market value, there's every possibility that he could reach a bracket somewhere near Branthwaite down the line, such is his capacity to impress.
Ndiaye-Everton
Saying all this, Moshiri did endure a few howlers in his time - and none costlier than when he blew the chance to sign one of the world's most valuable players for a pittance.
You could say it was the Iranian businessman's biggest error.
When Everton fumbled the most valuable player in the world
Everton have endured their fair share of transfer misfires over the years, but there's little question the matter in question here is the pick of the rotten bunch.
One of the greatest currently doing it on the European scene, Moshiri and his Everton chiefs must still rue the day that they opted against signing Erling Haaland while he was in his footballing infancy.
Manchester City's Erling Haaland celebrates scoring their first goal
The 24-year-old is a phenomenon, boasting a predatory instinct unlike anything the Premier League has seen before, not in this clinical consistency.
Winning the Premier League title in each of his first two seasons with the Sky Blues, Haaland has rewritten the striker's script, hailed for his "unique" ability by his manager Pep Guardiola.
One that got away
One that got away
The transfers that nearly happened but never did. This article is part of Football FanCast's One That Got Away series.
When Guardiola's affluent outfit activated the £51m clause in his Borussia Dortmund contract nearly three years ago, it was felt that the dominant English champions were getting one of the world's best strikers for a bargain fee.
Bargain indeed. Everton must be absolutely kicking themselves for missing the mark with this one, for they had the chance to add the Norwegian machine to their ranks for the paltry fee of £3m.
According to retired England star Aaron Lennon - talking on the Football Daily Podcast - Everton were in with a shout to sign the talented young forward between 2016 and 2018, with former sporting director Steve Walsh even lining up the deal before Moshiri refused to put pen to paper and complete the acquisition.
"This is a mega story this. I remember Erling Haaland walking in the building with Steve Walsh coming up to me in the physio room. Steve Walsh introduced him to me like, 'Oh look Aaron, we've got Haaland. You know his Dad, Alfie? The Leeds boy. Hopefully we're going to have him here'. And I was like, 'Oh wow, I have not heard much of him'. I think he was 15 or 16-year-old and, never seen him again. I think they could have had him for two or three million and I think Moshiri didn't sign off on that. Could you imagine? Erling Haaland would have signed for Everton."
It's easy to lambast the decision in hindsight, but you can't help but feel that this was a monumental howler from the ex-Everton boss. Walsh has even admitted they had a £3m deal lined up. At that time, Haaland was showing prodigious seeds as he posted 20 goals and six assists across 50 matches for Molde.
Erling-Haaland
Given that the superstar, who has hit 138 goal involvements from as many matches in all competitions for City, is now worth £233m - according to CIES Football Observatory, the world's leading football statisticians - it really is one to make fans cover their faces in dismay.
Not least because he's the most valuable player in the world. Everton wouldn't likely have been able to retain Haaland's services for many years, but they could have banked a significant sum for his signature after enjoying the early fruits of his inimitable striking ability.
Were he to have plyed his trade in the Premier League at an earlier stage, moreover, Haaland's market value likely would have been distorted, as is often the way for those playing in England's top flight.
The positive knock-on effect it might have had on Everton's progress over the past several years is significant; it could have been transformational.
Fewest Matches to Reach 50 PL Goals
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Invariably deadly in the final third, Haaland is one of the most incredible goalscorers you will ever witness on a Premier League pitch. Against Everton alone, he has scored four goals from as many matches, albeit only winning two of his four contests.
Moshiri ultimately sold Everton having been mired in financial and legal problems for an interminable period. His struggle to strike a deal reflected his issues at the very helm.
So much went wrong behind the scenes, but had this deal been brokered, there is every chance that things could have been different, and several years of hurt for Evertonians all around could have been avoided.
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