“It hasn’t worked.”
Everton could cut their losses with Davy Klaassen after just half a season, Sam Allardyce has admitted.
The Dutchman arrived for £23.6m in the summer from Ajax, with big things expected of him. But he has failed to deliver, and has not played in the Premier League since Everton’s 5-2 home defeat to Arsenal in October.
Ronald Koeman brought the midfielder to the club, along with Gylfi Sigurdsson and Wayne Rooney, and they have all been competing for the one or two spots in attacking midfield. On the few occasions that the trio have played together, they invaded each other’s space and the team lacked width.
As reported in The Telegraph, the Everton boss said:
“At this moment in time and from what we see, it hasn’t worked. The lad is prepared to fight for his place, but before I came and since I’ve been here, in all the other players, there seems to be more coming from them than there is from Davy.”
Allardyce lamented the fact that it hasn’t worked out, but laid no blame on the player:
“That’s a great shame. One, for the club and two, for the player. As a person and lad, he’s a terrific young man, but at the moment, there’s not a place in the side for him.”
Rooney and Sigurdsson, both having the benefit of years of Premier League experience, have performed much better than Klaassen this season, but it has taken a while for them to pick up form, as the whole team struggled in the early months of the season.
Another summer signing who has failed to impress at Goodison is Sandro Ramirez.
He arrived for just £5m from Málaga, but has struggled to find the net at Everton and could make an early return to Spain this window as well. Allardyce said:
“It’s the same with Sandro. He’s had two or three. I can’t give him any more chances than that because my job is about getting results on the pitch. He drops himself, picks himself. I don’t drop him.”
Everton did not replace the goalscoring threat of Romelu Lukaku in the summer but will hope they have addressed that issue with the signing of Çenk Tosun from Besiktas.
