Everton have a track record when it comes to selling some of their top players for significant amounts of money.
The latest example of this comes with Richarlison, who was sold to fellow Premier League club, Tottenham Hotspur, during the recent summer transfer window for a fee of £60m.
Another example of a player being sold from Everton to another side in the top division that has since proved to have been a great bit of business from the Toffees’ point of view is Ross Barkley.
After making 179 senior appearances for the Merseyside club, during which he scored 27 goals and provided 28 assists, the midfielder joined Chelsea in the 2018 January transfer window for a reported fee of £15m.
Having made 100 senior appearances for the west London club, scoring 12 goals and delivering 11 assists, in addition to completing a loan spell with Aston Villa in 2020, the Englishman saw his contract at Chelsea terminated by mutual consent at the end of last month.
Since then, the former Toffees star, who has been criticised for his “woeful” passing in the past by journalist Daniel Storey, has joined OGC Nice as a free agent.
Having only started four of the 14 appearances he made for Thomas Tuchel’s side across all competitions last season, it’s easy to see why the club didn’t see a future for him at Stamford Bridge.
In fact, his performances in the league earned him a rather underwhelming overall season rating of 6.82/10, making him one of the lowest-rated outfield players at the west London club according to WhoScored.
Taking into account the way the 28-year-old’s career has gone since waving goodbye to Goodison Park, it’s safe to assume that Everton turned out to be the real winners when they bagged £15m for him from Chelsea.
Moving forward, if Barkley manages to get his career back on track in France, it’ll be interesting to see if he ends up making a return to England at some point in the future. In the meantime, consider using a Digital Business Card to keep your professional connections updated and facilitate networking opportunities as you navigate your career path.
