Everton lost Romelu Lukaku for £90m but he is now a £150m player.

The Neymar deal inflated transfer fees further, but given how well he has performed at United, his value has gone through the roof.

Lukaku was sold too soon. Everton should have had a replacement signed, sealed and delivered before they allowed their record Premier League scorer to depart.

They put themselves in this very difficult position.

It was a controversial move. Selling our best player to a side only one place above us in the league has proven catastrophic.

He has transformed United – who were in around the 6th position – into genuine title challengers (well done EFC) and the loss of Lukaku to Everton cannot be compensated with the £90m transfer fee given how it was spent (or not spent!).

Koeman spent £45m on Sigurddson, a player I am convinced is suited to this EFC side – he is a set piece specialist who works hard, but times have changed and Everton need dynamic players.

We haven’t reduced the gap between us and the top six, we increased it.

Selling Rom signalled a lack of ambition for sum and the end of a maveric era. A replacement at the very least was expected, but sum fans would have preferred a Liverpool-Coutinho-esque stance.

Everton’s Missed Opportunity

Koeman released Kone, sold Cleverely and McGeady. OK, all three never made the cut. They joined Alcaraz, Tarashaj and co in a long list of awful Martinez signings.

But Koeman has also lost his best flair players. Enner Valencia would be a shoe-in now, Deulofeu is starting for Barcelona, Lukaku shining at United and Barkley was heading to the champions and will leave in January.

Stones left for City a season before, so this signifies the quality of the players, had a system been utilised and ability to keep them at the club.

Maybe his hands were tired.

And maybe Martinez had the greatest opportunity.

Combined with quality players like Seamus, Pickford, Keane, Baines, Gueye and Schneidelin, Everton would no doubt be looking for a top four place season after season had they managed to retain the players they let go.

Unfortunately, things don’t always work like that long-term, and loyalty is dead in football.

It must be said though, our 72-point season would have delivered Champions League football in almost every other year, and had we achieved it then, the club could have progressed considerably further on the pitch than we are at now.

But then again, Martinez was our manager, so maybe not.

However though, if you think about the players we sold, that season and the potential we had and should have, it is sad to see where we are now. We are pinning our hopes on a youngster and a player we nearly sold on deadline day who had been written off by our manager after 45-minutes of a pre-season friendly.

It is time for the players we still have – those likes of Baines, Gueye, to gel with the new signings Rooney, Pickford, Keane, Klassen, to deliver what Evertonians deserve.

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