Signed for £30m: Everton must regret buying flop who’s now worth just £7m

Away from the pitch, things are starting to happen at Everton. The construction of the new stadium is edging closer to completion and The Friedkin Group’s majority takeover from Farhad Moshiri is also seeing progress.

On the pitch, there’s also been progress, to be fair, with Sean Dyche claiming five points from three in the Premier League after the Goodison outfit lost each of their opening four fixtures.

Jarrad Branthwaite‘s imminent return will shore up the shaky defence, but Dominic Calvert-Lewin needs to do more (aside from staying fit) to provide the Toffees with the central focal point that can guide them away from relegation danger.

After all, Beto’s not proven himself to be the perfect foil at number nine.

Why Everton signed Beto

Everton signed Beto from Italian outfit Udinese in August 2023 for a fee rising to £30m, with Dyche unconvinced by Calvert-Lewin’s fitness record and looking for a reliable centre-forward to spearhead his system.

The 27-year-old is now fit as a fiddle and starting every week, leaving Beto to feed off scraps in the Carabao Cup and as a substitute, scoring against Doncaster Rovers in the second round of the cup competition but failing to impress against Southampton in the following round, hooked after an hour and branded with a 5/10 match rating by the Liverpool Echo, watching on as his team lost on penalties.

It has not been the start that he – or Dyche, for that matter – would have wanted after hitting such middling ground last term, scoring three Premier League goals across 33 matches, only starting nine times.

It’s not exactly surprising that his market value has suffered a depreciation.

Beto’s transfer value has fallen dramatically

Beto cost a pretty penny but he’s hardly living up to the price tag. Given that the 26-year-old also earns £50k per week, Everton’s failed attempt to strengthen their frontline is only accentuated.

He does have his qualities, ranking among the top 4% of centre-forwards across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for tackles and the top 11% for aerial battles won per 90, as per FBref. Such metrics underscore his combative profile and the reason that Dyche signed him in the first place, effectively slotting into a Calvert-Lewin-shaped hole up front.

But he’s profligate and ineffective as the star goalscorer, and so it’s no surprise that Football Transfers have recorded his current market value at just £7m, which marks a £23m plummet and a failed effort at succeeding in the Premier League.

Sky Sports’ Dharmesh Sheth even reported that Beto could be on the move this summer, with Bologna interested in bringing him back to Serie A, but nothing occurred and the Portuguese continues to sit on the periphery at Goodison Park.

There’s no question that Beto’s a good striker, for he impressed in Italy and carries the athletic and link-up qualities that make a striker succeed in the Premier League.

But he’s also failed to harness his prolific edge across his 14 months in English football. Should Calvert-Lewin fall to a long-term injury again, is Beto reliable enough to serve as Everton’s focal frontman?

His diminished market value reflects his struggles on Merseyside, and something will need to change quickly if Everton want to either get their money’s worth or indeed ship him on for anything more than a paltry pay packet.