Why did Evertons 90 million deal with Manchester United backfire?
It appeared reasonable to all parties. Manchester United has acquired a goal-scoring machine. Romelu Lukaku has agreed to join a championship challenger with the possibility of playing in the Champions League. Meanwhile, Everton and Ronald Koeman had a world-class leader and talisman in Farhad Moshiri, and Wayne Rooney had returned home with real ambitions to win a trophy with his childhood Blues. On this day four years ago, on July 10, 2017, the Red Devils announced the 90 million purchase of Lukaku, and Rooney was introduced as a new Toffee. However, while it appeared like the two players and both organizations made wise decisions, it did not work out in the end. After Everton fell into the relegation zone following a 5-2 home defeat by Arsenal three and a half months after smiling for the cameras while holding Rooneys shirt at his signing press conference, Koeman was fired. Along with Rooney, the Dutchman had also signed Gylfi Sigurdsson and Davy Klaassen for a combined 74 million that summer, leaving fans bewildered as to why they needed or wanted three expensive number tens. It cost Koeman money not to sign Olivier Giroud, who was at Finch Farm but wanted to stay in London. He told Dutch football magazine Voetbal International that after cashing in on Lukaku, it made things difficult. Lukaku was crucial to us not only for his goals, but also for the way he played  strong, quick, and direct. To him, the long ball was always a viable option. We had Nicola Vlasic and Wayne Rooney, guys that want the ball into their feet, but we were missing such a player.  Rooneys game was also impacted. As Everton faltered and became a dysfunctional team, Englands all-time leading striker dropped deeper and deeper in an attempt to affect his clubs fate. When Sam Allardyce went for pragmatism and sought to make the Blues more compact and difficult to beat, this was even more apparent. Rooney, however, finished the season as the leagues top scorer, with eleven goals in all competitions, including a stunning goal against West Ham from his own half. Despite this, his fairytale comeback to the Toffees was short-lived. The summary comes to a close.