Everton secured their place in the Premier League for another season with a 1-0 win, thanks to a goal from Idrissa Gueye, over Brentford at Goodison Park last Saturday.
The Toffees can now look ahead to the summer transfer window and plot how they could improve the squad by dipping into the market to add to the group.
Sean Dyche and his team will be hoping to avoid costly mistakes throughout the window, as the Blues have been burned many times in the past by spending poorly.
The signing of Fabian Delph from Manchester City in the summer of 2019 turned out to be a dreadful piece of business by the club, as they were rinsed by the central midfielder during his time on Merseyside.
How much Everton paid for Fabian Delph
According to Sky Sports, the Toffees splashed out a fee of £9m to secure the England international from the reigning Premier League champions.
Marco Silva, who was the Everton manager at the time, described him as a "high quality" player who would offer the team quality on the pitch and in the dressing room.
2015/16
4
126
30
2016/17
1
126
31
2017/18
3
61
13
2018/19
3
75
17
As you can see in the table above, Delph missed a staggering 91 games for club and country during his time with the Cityzens, and only made 89 competitive appearances for them.
This shows that the Toffees were bringing in a player with a track record of injury problems, which meant that he arrived at Goodison Park with the potential to be a liability from an availability perspective.
How much Fabian Delph cost Everton
Those injury issues did turn out to be a problem for him at Everton as he went on to miss a whopping 63 games for club and country in three seasons on Merseyside.
The experienced flop made just 41 appearances in three seasons with the Blues, 36 of those coming in the Premier League, before being released on a free transfer in the summer of 2022.
Delph, who was described as a "complete disaster" by journalist Paul Brown, had to be spoken to by manager Carlo Ancelotti after Instagram messages had been leaked – showing him arguing with multiple frustrated supporters who had messaged him.
He replied to one fan, who had claimed they would have done better on the pitch for the wages the Englishman was being paid, calling them 'delusional'.
Per Salary Sport, the former Aston Villa star earned £5.2m on £100k-per-week during his first season with the club, in which time he made 13 league starts.
The English dud then raked in £4.7m-per-season, on £92k-per-week, over the next two years at Goodison Park during the 2020/21 and 2021/22 campaigns, in which time he started ten top-flight games combined.
This means that Delph earned a whopping £14.6m in wages over his three seasons with Everton, despite only making 23 Premier League starts during that period, on top of the £9m fee they paid Manchester City to sign him.
Overall, the Toffees were rinsed of £23.6m by the former England international, who was injured for more matches than he played for the club before leaving on a free transfer.
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ByDan EmeryApr 30, 2024
