Everton have made some gross misjudgements in recent memory, with Farhad Moshiri’s reign likely to be remembered for these errors rather than the efforts he made to return the glory days to Goodison Park.
After all, it is easy to forget how ambitious he was when he first joined, and had his huge financial gamble paid off, he would be a hero nowadays.
Alas, with no long-term strategy and entrusting his money to the wrong people, he is Everton’s chief villain, and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
And whilst he needs no help in adding to his torrid legacy, the recent emergence of one former Toffees star has provided further cause for misery.
Ademola Lookman now valued highly by Atalanta
Having signed Ademola Lookman in 2017 under Ronald Koeman’s poisonous tenure, the Nigeria international joined as an unproven teenager from Charlton Athletic.
Big things were expected, but those expectations added undue pressure on this talented trickster.
Eventually amassing 48 senior appearances for Everton, his subsequent move to RB Leipzig in 2019, under Marco Silva’s watch, marked a sad acceptance that he had not fulfilled his potential on Merseyside.
But upon then trading Germany for Italy, such lofty expectations were soon fulfilled.
Now a hero in Atalanta, one report from Calcio Mercato actually claims that the 26-year-old is valued at a remarkable £51m, just five years after he was sold for £22.5m.
Everton made a mistake with Ademola Lookman
Whilst they got good money at the time for a player who had struggled to make his mark on the first team, in hindsight this was a real error of judgement from the Everton hierarchy.
However, that kind of blunder has become unfortunately commonplace across the last decade.
Seeking to rush through a deal as they often did, whether it be incoming or outgoing, Lookman’s sale brutally showcased the club’s lack of foresight and long-term planning, unable to see the bright future on show.
Last season saw him score 11 and assist a further eight in Serie A, building upon his 21 goal contributions from the season prior.
The outstanding moment of those years, and likely his career, has to be his performance in the recent Europa League final, where he delivered Bayer Leverkusen’s only defeat of the entire campaign with a hat trick to win Atalanta the trophy.
Everton fans were unsurprisingly all stunned by Lookman’s performance, but many also claimed that such promise was always there to be seen.
Now, with such a lofty price tag at a time when the Toffees are still in financial distress, their huge error has only been emphasised.