Graham Potter was delighted to see Hakim Ziyech show his quality at the World Cup, but the Chelsea head coach says there will always be talented players out of favour at Stamford Bridge.
Ziyech was one of the stars of the tournament as Morocco became the first African nation to reach the World Cup semi-finals in Qatar, playing a prominent role in several devastating counter-attacking displays from the Atlas Lions.
However, the tricky winger has enjoyed limited time on the field in the Premier League this season, featuring for a total of just 148 minutes and only starting one game.
Ziyech's strong performances in Qatar have led to suggestions he could leave Chelsea in search of regular game time, but Potter remains hopeful he will excel at Stamford Bridge.
"Where he was at when we first came in, he was away from the first XI, but he has been involved in the games," Potter said on Friday.
"We know his qualities, we like him as a player. He plays between the lines and has fantastic quality, and we saw that at the World Cup.
"At Chelsea, there are always good players that aren't in the starting XI, and they have to be patient.
"I'm delighted for him that he helped his team; I kept in touch with him throughout the World Cup."
Ziyech's Morocco lost out to Mateo Kovacic's Croatia in the third-place play-off, and both players will sit out Chelsea's Premier League meeting with Bournemouth on Tuesday.
"It's a real mix in terms of when they got knocked out and how much they played. They've dripped back in according to their own circumstances," Potter said of his returning World Cup stars.
"They've come back in a really good way. We're still waiting on Hakim and Mateo. Obviously, they went the distance with the third-place play-off.
"It's a big demand for those two, so it was important to give them a bit of time. They won't be available for the game. Everyone else has been back and had a few days of training."
Everton’s great escape will not automatically solve problems – leading academic
Everton’s escape from relegation will not automatically free them from problems which caused that predicament and proposed new investment will have to inevitably bring changes at boardroom level, according to a leading academic.
While Premier League revenue has been secured for another season – extending their top-flight stay into a 70th season – a club which has cumulative losses of more than £430million in the last four years will have to make significant changes.
And while American investors MSP Sports Capital are poised to buy into the club, Kieran Maguire – from the University of Liverpool Management School’s Centre for Sports Business – believes that will not come without strings attached.
Fans who have been protesting against what they claim is mismanagement by the current board, including chairman Bill Kenwright and CEO Denise Barrett-Baxendale in particular, will welcome that prospect but what impact it has on owner Farhad Moshiri’s approach remains to be seen.
“Someone suggested £150million for 25 per cent, which would value the club around £600m. Newcastle went for £300m,” Maguire, speaking about the new investment, told the PA news agency.
“If a new person was coming in, they’d be looking for board representation, more concessions from Moshiri and then where does it leave him: owning three-quarters of a football club and he’d walk away with a big loss.
“MSP are looking to bring two directors onto the board and for there to be changes on the existing board.”
However, a new, albeit partial, boardroom will not sweep away all Everton’s issues.
There are deep-rooted problems at the club which the £600m Moshiri has spent on transfers alone have failed to solve.
That means it will take some turning around and – after back-to-back seasons of narrowly avoiding relegation – it could be a painful and complicated process with a squad overhaul likely to have to take place on a budget, potentially funded by existing player sales.
“It is not Football Manager where you think ‘It’s not going too well, I’ll delete and reset’,” added Maguire.
“You have costs in terms of the infrastructure, legacy costs in terms of player recruitment.
“There won’t be a lot of money to buy players but you still have the issue of wages at 90 per cent of turnover and this overhang of the Premier League charges.
“We don’t know how long that will take to conclude – and the worst-case scenario is a points deduction.
“Football is a talent game and the talent follows the money. It could be you do a Brentford or a Brighton and you succeed at a point in the market but there is no evidence to suggest Everton are capable of doing that.
“How do you get around that? You pay them more money – and that extra money doesn’t exist.”
On the horizon is the new 53,000-capacity stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock but that, too, will be no panacea for finances.
“It will start to kick in for 2024, but it is not going to move the dial a huge amount,” said Maguire.
“And Everton have a fanbase who are traditional supporters from Liverpool so monetising the corporate element may be more difficult.”
Sean Dyche outlines vision for Everton’s future and calls for realism
Sean Dyche is nothing if not realistic and within minutes of achieving his sole aim of saving Everton from relegation he delivered his verdict on the state of the club – and it will have made for difficult listening for his bosses.
The 51-year-old has built a career on plain speaking and pragmatism but until another season in the top flight – the club’s 70th in succession – was secured he had to keep his own counsel, at least in public, on the state of affairs he inherited from predecessor Frank Lampard.
But in the immediate aftermath of the 1-0 win over Bournemouth which safeguarded the Toffees’ future, Dyche laid bare the extent of the problems he feels have riddled the club and outlined what needs to be done to change.
Whether owner Farhad Moshiri, whose £600 million-plus spend on players in just over seven years has almost hastened rather than failed to prevent back-to-back relegation scraps, will listen remains to be seen.
But Dyche knows throwing money at the problem is not the answer, especially as it has now effectively run out with the club making losses of over £430m over four years and facing sanctions next season for breaching profit and sustainability rules.
“The fans have been amazing, they want the club to be in the top end of the market but the club currently is not at the top end of the market,” he said.
“We need solid thinking going forwards. We are not ready to be up there yet, that is quite evident.
“It is going to be building and progress and I need the Evertonians to understand that. I’ll be very surprised if they (the club’s board) say ‘Here’s another war chest, sign who you like’.
“It’s not going to happen so we have to be wise, recruit wisely and recruit players who, if possible, understand this club.
“They have to be able to handle what it is to be part of Everton. I’m learning that all the time and we have to be able to get that heartbeat and also talent as well.
“I’ve tried to be realistic since I’ve been here but the problem with realism is not many people want it because it sounds boring.
“But at the end of the day it is time for that. There was a time when this club went from ‘Let’s just do everything’ but there is a time for realism, that’s what I’ve learned.”
Dyche is already starting to sound like his old self during his decade-long stay at Burnley before his sacking last season in a relegation scrap from which they failed to escape.
He worked miracles on a small budget at Turf Moor, making the club a Premier League regular against the odds, and believes he can turn things around at Goodison Park.
But he needs the people in charge – Moshiri, chairman Bill Kenwright and chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale – to accept his version of what the future should look like and abandon lofty but unrealistic ambitions fuelled by influential agents, the owner’s inexperience and a lack of joined-up thinking on a club ethos and recruitment strategy.
This is a club which are on their eighth permanent manager and third director of football since the billionaire took over in 2016.
Dyche, who admitted managing up was as much a part of his job as leading those below him, said on him being the driving force: “Someone has got to. That’s usually the manager.
“Now at least I can bring some of it to the fore and I can say ‘OK, I’ve given you the first step and it’s a big step’ but I need a bit of reality from fans that they don’t think next season we win the first 10 on the trot.
“That’s highly unlikely from a club which has been edging downwards.
“There’s that beautiful stadium down the road (at Bramley-Moore Dock) which someone has to pay for.
“There has to be a reality (about money) because we are trying to build a stadium, they are doing things in the community, and you have to get a team to win.”
On transfers, he added: “Fans want development but really they want first-team footballers who can play and win and that usually implies money.
“But we know about the financial stuff, that has to be realigned, so not yet, I don’t know but I will know at some point.
“Evertonians remember when they had an ‘earthy’ team, a team that gave everything – they are good things even in modern times. Let’s applaud it.
“And of course we want to play good, attacking, pleasing football that can win games. Not easy.”
Alan Stubbs demands change ‘from boardroom down’ despite Everton escape
Former Everton captain Alan Stubbs says he was left feeling both relief and anger after the club secured Premier League survival on Sunday and has called for “major changes from boardroom level down.”
The final day of the season saw the Toffees claim the victory they needed for safety as Abdoulaye Doucoure’s stunning 57th-minute strike sealed a 1-0 win over Bournemouth and Leicester and Leeds were relegated.
Stubbs told BBC Radio 5 Live: “There are two (feelings) – one is relief and the other is anger.
“It was a horrible 90 minutes as an Everton fan, watching that and the emotions you were going through. The players did really well – to play under that pressure, it’s not easy and the manager (Sean Dyche) deserves a lot of credit as well.
“But now…Everton need to make some major, major changes from boardroom level down. It’s got to happen.”
Regarding Everton owner Farhad Moshiri, Stubbs added: “I have to applaud him in terms of he’s invested in the club, but he’s been really poorly advised by people on the board and probably people he’s trusted in as well, and he has to take a step aside because he’s not a football person so he shouldn’t be getting involved in any football decisions.
“That’s got to be left to people and trust them to do the job, and if he doesn’t trust them they shouldn’t be there in the first place.
“(Chairman) Bill Kenwright, (chief executive) Denise Barrett-Baxendale, thanks very much but it’s time to go because you’ve failed this football club, on and off the pitch, and the owner has to make those decisions, because if he doesn’t, the animosity among the fanbase… they’ve had enough.
“This is where everyone’s waiting with bated breath, to see what the next steps are. I’d be surprised if there’s nothing coming from Everton today in terms of resignations. Everton is broken, and it can be fixed but there has to be major changes for that to happen.”
Leicester went down despite concluding their campaign with a 2-1 home win over West Ham.
Former Foxes skipper Steve Walsh told Sky Sports it had been a “sad day”, adding: “It really hurts, it does.
“The alarm bells were ringing after 10 games, we were in a bit of trouble, so you sensed something could happen, but you never believed it would because of the quality that was in the squad.
“These owners have won so much. Hopefully we can bounce straight back, but there’s a lot of hard work behind the scenes that has to be done and the club know that.”
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