LONDON: Ronald Koeman became the third Premier League managerial casualty of the season on Monday when he was sacked by Everton.
The 54-year-old Dutchman — who guided Everton to seventh in his first season in charge last term — paid the price for a desperate start to the campaign despite having spent £140million ($185mn) in the close season.
Sunday’s 5-2 humbling at home to Arsenal which saw them drop into the bottom three sealed his fate and despite taking training on Monday he received a visit from club chairman Bill Kenwright.
“Everton Football Club can confirm that Ronald Koeman has left the Club,” read the Everton statement.
“Chairman Bill Kenwright, the Board of Directors and Major Shareholder Farhad Moshiri would all like to express their gratitude to Ronald for the service he has given to the Club over the past 16 months and for guiding the Club to seventh place in last season’s Premier League.”
Koeman, who arrived at Goodison Park after a successful spell in charge of Southampton, splashed the money on the likes of Icelandic international Gylfi Sigurdsson in the summer.
However, despite also persuading former golden boy Wayne Rooney to return from Manchester United he crucially failed to replace record goalscorer Romelu Lukaku with Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud declining the chance to join them.
Koeman joins compatriot Frank de Boer — sacked by Crystal Palace after just four Premier League games — and Craig Shakespeare dismissed by Leicester last week as top-level managers to have departed this season.
Everton sack manager Ronald Koeman
Everton sack manager Ronald Koeman
Liverpool’s Wirtz will score many more after Wolves winner, says Slot
- Liverpool signed Florian Wirtz in June for a reported fee of £100 million, with a further £16 million in potential bonuses
- The 22-year-old had failed to find the net in more than 20 appearances for Liverpool before scoring the winner in Saturday’s match
Florian Wirtz is beginning to find his feet at Liverpool and will keep getting better, manager Arne Slot said after the German midfielder scored his first goal for the Premier League champions in their 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Liverpool signed Wirtz in June for a reported fee of 100 million pounds ($135 million), with a further 16 million pounds in potential bonuses.
The 22-year-old had failed to find the net in more than 20 appearances for Liverpool before scoring the winner in Saturday’s match, and Slot said his performances had been undervalued due to football’s obsession with statistics.
“I’m quite sure it was a relief for him. This I could see after his reaction after he scored the goal – and the same I saw with his teammates. I think they were really happy for him,” Slot told reporters.
“In football – rightly so, maybe – we mainly get judged on results, and individuals mainly get judged on goals and assists. Sometimes we tend to forget what else there is to do during a game.”
The Dutch manager called on Wirtz to keep going after ending his drought.
“He’s had multiple good games for us but I also feel he gets better and better every single game he is playing for us. He gets fitter and fitter and was getting closer and closer to his first goal,” he added.
“Then it was not a surprise to me that he scored one today, but he would probably be the first one to understand that one goal is not enough.
“He will score many more goals for us than only this one, but I also liked his performance during large parts of the game today. I think he was special in a lot of moments.”
Liverpool, fourth in the standings, next host 16th-placed Leeds United in a league match on January 1.
