One of Everton’s busiest transfer windows in recent seasons came in the summer of 2022, when Frank Lampard was manager. The Toffees signed six players on permanent deals, and two players on loan, as they looked to boost Premier League survival hopes for the 2022/23 campaign.
The headline signing from that season was Amadou Onana, who joined from Lille for £33m, although he has since left for fellow Premier League side Aston Villa. The Toffees signed four first-teamers who are still at the club today; Dwight McNeil, James Garner and Idrissa Gueye cost them a combined £26m, and James Tarkowski joined on a free.
Their sixth and final permanent deal that summer was a player who has also now departed the club. That man is striker Neal Maupay.
Maupay’s Everton record
It is fair to say that Maupay’s move to Goodison Park did not work out for any party involved. The Toffees signed him from Brighton and Hove Albion for £15m in 2022, and he never really found his best form in front of goal.
Life as an Everton player started superbly for the striker, who scored in just his second game for the club, a strike at Goodison Park against West Ham United.
However, the Frenchman failed to find the back of the net again and ended his time at Everton with one goal in 31 appearances.
Last term, the former Brighton striker left on loan to return to his former club Brentford. The 28-year-old had a far more successful time of things for the Bees than he did as an Everton player. His second spell in West London saw him score eight goals and grab three assists in 31 appearances for Thomas Frank’s side.
Following the expiration of his loan at Brentford last July, the striker departed Everton permanently. He made the move back to France, signing for Olympique Marseille, where former Seagulls boss Roberto de Zerbi is now manager. The French outfit signed him on loan with an obligation to buy him in 2025.
Things did not go according to plan for Maupay at Goodison Park. Then manager Lampard was very close to bringing in a different striker, who is now one of the deadliest players in the Premier League.
Who Everton nearly signed instead of Maupay
The player in question here is Aston Villa and England international Ollie Watkins. The striker has been a revelation under Unai Emery over the past 18 months and scored the Three Lions’ winner in the Euro 2024 semi-final against the Netherlands.
According to an exclusive report from Football Insider back in 2022, the Toffees ‘registered their interest in signing’ Watkins during the final days of the summer transfer window. Incredible though it may seem, the report does state Villa were ‘open to letting Watkins go’, as they searched for a quality centre-forward.
Well, as it turned out, Watkins proved to be that very player for the Villans. He has now played 177 times in that famous claret and blue shirt, scoring 74 times and grabbing 29 assists. That included a superb 2023/24 campaign, in which his 32 goals and assists in 37 Premier League games helped the club qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 1983.
Season
Games
Minutes
Goals
Assists
2020/21
37
3328
14
5
2021/22
35
2955
11
2
2022/23
37
3136
15
6
2023/24
37
3226
19
13
2024/25
6
446
4
2
Watkins, who was described as “elite” by football statistician Statman Dave, has quickly become one of the most valuable players in the Premier League. According to a report from The Mirror in July, he is valued at an eye-watering £85.7m, far more than what the Toffees could have expected to pay back in 2022.
Everton fans can only dream about how things might have turned out for them had they managed to sign the Villa striker instead of Maupay.
Perhaps Lampard, who was sacked in January 2023, would have kept his job, with the Toffees were reaching the pinnacle of European football thanks to Watkins.
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