Everton turned their form around before the October international break, winning against Crystal Palace before completing successive draws against Leicester City and Newcastle United.
Is it imperfect? Sure, but the Toffees have given themselves a launchpad from which to leap away from the relegation fodder in the Premier League, with a favourable (on paper) run of fixtures coming up.
Jarrad Branthwaite will return and shore up the defence, but Dominic Calvert-Lewin needs to do more at the other end of the field, having tapered off at centre-forward after a promising start to the campaign.
Luckily for the 27-year-old, Dwight McNeil has been in such fine form across the past few months.
Dwight McNeil is Everton's new star forward
With Calvert-Lewin out of contract at the end of the season and having blanked across his past three appearances in the Premier League, The Friedkin Group will know that work is needed up front next summer, especially with Armando Broja yet to feature for the club as he battles back from injury.
McNeil, not a striker, has stepped up, with his new-found potency in the final third lifting the Toffees away from their dismal position at the pit of the table, scoring three goals and supplying two assists across his past five matches – as well as scoring once in the Carabao Cup.
Everton purcahsed McNeil from relegated Burnley after the conclusion of the 2021/22 campaign, signing him for a £20m fee, and though he played alongside Anthony Gordon for just shy of six months, he’s assumed a role of greater signficance since his peer forced his way out in January 2023, handing in a transfer request and joining Newcastle United for a £45m fee.
Gordon might have won the Magpies Player of the Year last term but he didn’t hit a vein of potency in the final third at Goodison Park and has effectively been replaced by McNeil, albeit indirectly.
Everton might have lost their homegrown winger but there’s enough attacking quality to ensure that Sean Dyche leads the team away from the danger zone this season.
McNeil is proving himself invaluable in this fight, and indeed ataking his claim for a brand-new contract that better reflects his importance. After all, he’s still earning less than Neal Maupay did when he played for the club, and that just won’t do.
Everton wasted millions on Neal Maupay
The Merseysiders might feel that they could do with a bit more quality in the final third, but it’s hard to imagine that there are too many of a Toffees persuasion who are yearning for Maupay to don the shirt again.
In August 2022, Everton signed Maupay for a fee of £15m, on a three-year contract, under the management of Frank Lampard. He’d been a notorious presence in the Premier League across several years prior with Brighton & Hove Albion, frustrating opponents and proving to be a real menace of a striker.
Never quite the most prolific of goalcorers, he made up for this by putting in tireless shifts. It didn’t happen with the Toffees, and he only scored one goal across 28 Premier League fixtures, failing to register a single assist, before leaving on loan to Brentford, where he had preivously plied his trade in the Championship.
2023/24*
Brentford
29
6
3
2023/24*
Everton
2
0
0
2022/23
Everton
27
1
0
2021/22
Brighton
32
8
2
2020/21
Brighton
33
8
2
2019/20
Brighton
37
10
3
As you can see from the table above, his performances at Everton proved to be his worst in English football by a considerable distance, having actually been branded a “disaster” of a signing by journalist Paul Brown.
His swivel-and-shoot goal against West Ham United in September 2022 looked to set the tone, but it proved to be only a flash in the pan, for he didn’t bag again in the Premier League.
Maupay wasn’t the highest-costing players on the books, but he did take home £50k per week. Across two years, that counts for around £5m, meaning that he might have cost the outfit about £20m when adding in the transfer fee; £10m per year.
Earning more than Gordon (£10k per week) and earning more than McNeil still is (£25k per week), Maupay was a terrible investment and one can only hope that his current loan spell with Marseille in Ligue 1, with an obligation for purchase at the end of the campaign, sees the majority of his wages covered.
Wage Burners
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Ultimately, Maupay has proved himself worthy of Premier League status across spells with Brentford and Brighton, but he failed to adapt to life at Everton and his departure was met warmly by the club and its demanding fanbase.
Given that he bled the club over £20m, it’s hard to argue that he was anything other than a complete misfire – especially since the side brushed against the throes of relegation during his full campaign on Merseyside.
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