If Everton offload Ronald Koeman in the coming weeks they should look no further than Burnley’s Sean Dyche.
The Englishman has taken eight points off Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton in recent weeks, and the Lancashire minnows are currently sixth in the Premier League, seven points off leaders Manchester City.
That’s a magnificent start for The Clarets who were considered relegation contenders at the start of the season.
Dyche has done great things, first to get Burnley promoted to the Premier League in his first season with the club in 2013/14, and then to get them back up into the top flight in 2015/16 after an initial relegation.
The former Watford coach ensured Burnley’s survival last season and now looks determined to transform the yo-yo side into a consistent mid-table club.
Dyche, a 46-year-old former Chesterfield defender, has the perfect profile for Everton, that of an understated, no-nonsense taskmaster, who achieves miracles with little resource.
Like Roberto Martinez, who did similar with Wigan and was poached by Everton before making way for Koeman — who had similarly worked wonders with Southampton — Dyche fits the bill as a man deserving of a step up to the next level.
Everton for him, represents an opportunity to push on into the ‘top 10 to qualifying for Europe’ end of the spectrum, as opposed to languishing in the “escaping relegation and aiming for mid-table” territory.
Koeman has been given the dreaded vote of confidence at Everton after picking up just seven points from the first seven games of the season. The Toffees sit two points above the relegation zone and are bottom of their Europa League group.
The Dutchman could be gone if the Merseyside club don’t do something away to Brighton and at home to Arsenal in coming weeks either side of hosting Lyon in Europe.
Despite finishing seventh in the league and qualifying for Europe in his first season last term, Koeman now looks set to pay for his transfer dealings. He’s ultimately failed to bring in an adequate forward and defender to replace Romelu Lukaku and Gerard Deulofeu who went to Manchester United and Barcelona respectively, despite spending £140 million (Dh682 million) this summer, the fifth highest outlay in the league.
After having to bring in £100 million of that £140 million total through summer player sales, it seems Everton’s board are reluctant to provide additional cash, despite having a new billionaire owner who is actively courting investment from a Chinese consortium.
Dyche may look at Everton and those who have gone before him and decide he’s better off at Burnley where momentum is on his side. But momentum can easily disappear in football, and he may choose to benefit from his current stock while it’s high.
You only have to look at Koeman and Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe, who were flavour of the month last season, to see how great managers can suddenly seem decidedly mediocre after a few matches — and at Burnley the risk of a sudden change of fortune is considerably high.
Everton are supposedly a wealthy club, but don’t look as though they are going to splurge as expected, meaning Dyche may well be a safe bet to continue managing things effectively on a budget — he just needs to get his signings right.
