Everton hit a bump in the road last week with two consecutive defeats but their start to the new campaign has been phenomenal if you excuse that.
The Toffees are just a point off top spot and that’s despite a rather mediocre showing in the transfer market.
Salomon Rondon may have struggled to hit the ground running but the likes of Andros Townsend and Demarai Gray have wasted no time settling in.
Townsend already has four goals since signing as a free agent while the latter has found the back of the net on three occasions.
Gray’s addition was an interesting one. He’d scored just 13 times for the Foxes before a move to Germany seems to have given him new purpose.
Following a switch back to England, he has been in electrifying form and at £1.7m he looks like a true bargain.
What’s funny about this move is that Leicester now have a former Everton player in their ranks; Ademola Lookman.
The duo are incredibly similar in the way they play. They are tricky individuals with plenty of pace but ultimately, they lack end product.
Gray is making strides away from that assessment now but Lookman is arguably still in the same boat as he was at Everton.
He struggles to receive game time and ultimately, doesn’t score enough goals.
The 23-year-old played 48 times for the Merseyside outfit but only found the net on four occasions. What followed was a whopping £22.5m move to RB Leipzig but his career has not followed the path many thought it would when he first broke through.
Lookman is struggling to reach his true potential and as a result of a few poor years, his transfer value has collapsed quite significantly.
According to Transfermarkt, he is now rated at just £9.9m. Therefore, to receive the amount of money they did in the summer of 2019 has to be considered a masterclass from Marcel Brands.
He doesn’t always get things right but he must be commended for that deal.
After all, he is yet to score for Leicester in the Premier League while Gray shines for Lookman’s former employers Everton.
The ex-Toffee had a solid season at Fulham last term where he bagged four goals but he will sadly always be remembered for a dismal Panenka penalty miss in the dying embers of a game with West Ham.
It was an incident that left pundit Andy Townsend seething. “That young man – that was the most selfish, ridiculous, incomprehensible decision I think I’ve seen for many a year,” he said.
Lookman’s attitude will no doubt improve under the stewardship of Brendan Rodgers but one does wonder how he’d have coped with Rafa Benitez his mentor.
The Spaniard is currently steering Townsend and Gray’s careers in directions they’d have only dreamt of when first signing at Goodison.
Football is a funny old game but Everton have definitely received the better end of the deal here.
AND in other news, Imagine him & Doucoure: Everton must swoop for “outstanding” dynamo with 262 PL apps…