It took long enough, but Everton appear to have finally identified who they want to replace Ronald Koeman as manager. There’s only one problem - he’s currently the manager of another Premier League club, and said club aren’t so keen on letting him leave to take up a new post at Goodison Park.
Indeed, there is something of a stand-off currently taking place between Watford and the Toffees as they wrangle over the future of Marco Silva. By all accounts, Everton have made an official approach for the Portuguese coach, only for the Hornets to hold firm in their insistence that he is staying put.
This is fairly standard when it comes to the pursuit of a manager already in a job, but where this particular case differs is in the money Everton are offering to force Watford’s hand. The Merseyside club have reportedly made a bid, if you will, of £10 million to release Silva from his current contract. That would be the biggest compensation package ever paid for the appointment of a manager.
But why is the notion of paying such fees for a coach so farfetched? Why is it so rare? After all, Premier League clubs don’t flinch at the thought of paying £10 million for a player. That would represent a bargain in the current market. So why are such fees not banded around when it comes to the touting of managers?
Of course, much of this is down to the fact that many manager’s contracts have compensation clauses written into them should another club come calling. But Everton’s pursuit of Silva could set a different precedent. Those clauses could now be left out, sparking a managerial transfer market of sorts.
This is what the fetishisation of managers has been leading to for quite some time. We talk of ‘player power,’ but football has become a sport obsessed with the guys who sit in the dugout, stand on the touchline. Flick through a newspaper and the majority of the sports headlines will concern managers.
They are considered the most important figures in the game, with the fortunes of a club intertwined with that of their manager. The success and failure of a team is, as the mainstream sees it, down to the man who picks the team, signs the players, decides the tactics, holds the press conferences. It’s why struggling sides opt for a managerial change as a first port of call.
Is Silva worth £10 million to Everton? He could well be, should he secure the Toffees’ Premier League survival and push them closer to the European places in the top half of the table. Equally, Watford will surely place a higher value on their manager, considering their start to the season. The Hornets are on course for their best campaign in a generation and much of that is down to Silva, hence why they have so far rejected Everton’s approach.
The Toffees have already splashed the cash this year, with owner Farhad Moshiri backing the club to the tune of £140 million in the summer transfer window. There is a talented squad at Goodison Park for someone to mould. Koeman couldn’t do it, but nobody seems better qualified to succeed where he failed than Silva. Considering some of the fees they paid for some players, paying an extra £10 million+ to get the best out of that squad pales in comparison.
