Exclusive: Kieran Maguire shares Everton FFP claim amid major transfer update
Everton “cannot continue” to risk falling foul of Financial Fair Play rules and low-risk deals for players like Joshua Zirkzee therefore make sense.
That is according to football finance expert and new Football Insider columnist Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively as the Daily Mail revealed the Toffees are interested in a £9million loan-to-buy deal for the Dutch forward.
The 6ft 4in 19-year-old is linked despite Everton director of football Marcel Brands stating recently that he expects to see little in the way of January activity.
This is hardly surprising given that Everton have spent £526m on transfer since 2016-17, according to data from TransferMarkt.
The club have made just £270.70m in sales the same period and Maguire believes that leaves them at risk of breaching Financial Fair Play regulations.
Therefore, he says, inexpensive try-before-you-buy deals such as the one tabled for Zirzkee are the way forward.
Asked whether he thought a deferred payment deal for Zirkzee was a sensible option, Maguire was emphatic: “Definitely. With try-before-you-buy, there’s no downside.
“I think it would be great, provided the fee isn’t variable, providing the fee is fixed, then that should be fine. It could be that they’re paying a loan fee on top of that, but if the loan fee is reasonable then it’s a no-brainer.
“And if you take a look at Everton’s spending in recent years, they’re probably reaching the point now where they are limited as to what they can spend in terms of big transfers because Financial Fair Play is starting to creep up on them.
“They lost over £100m in the each of the past two seasons and they cannot continue in that environment indefinitely.”
Financial Fair Play was introduced by UEFA ahead of the 2010-11 season to prevent clubs dangerously overspending.
Critics, however, say the scheme is designed to maintain the status quo and stop clubs like Everton from joining Europe’s financial elite.
In other news, an Everton player looks to be on his way from Goodison Park after a Championship club re-entered talks with him.