Summary Everton's poor recruitment under departing owner Farhad Moshiri has been one of the main reasons for the club's decline. One transfer flop signed for £13.5m in 2016, turned out to be a huge disappointment for the Toffees, scoring more goals for the youth team than the first team. His career has since taken an even more downward turn since leaving Everton, struggling to find a new club after his release in the lower doldrums of the EFL, and thus proving to be a waste of money for the club.
It has been a difficult couple of years for Everton fans, as they’ve seen their side reach the top of the league in 2020 with Carlo Ancelotti at the helm, to now battling to avoid relegation year after year.
The Toffees haven’t finished in the top half of the Premier League since the 2018/19 season under Marco Silva, and in the last three years, they’ve finished 16th, 17th and 18th.
Last season Everton came their closest to relegation as they only secured their survival on the last day, following a massive 1-0 over Bournemouth.
One of the reasons for Everton’s fall from grace is their poor recruitment under owner Farhad Moshiri – luckily, though, it appears there's a new era on the horizon with 777 Partners signing an agreement to buy the British-Iranian's full 94.1% stake in the Toffees.
Since becoming an initial 49.9% shareholder in 2016, Moshiri has spent £530m on 31 players and by 2022, £130m worth of players have been sold for free.
One of these huge flops was Oumar Niasse, who left Everton for free in July 2020 after signing in 2016.
How much did Everton pay for Oumar Niasse?
Prior to the striker's arrival in January 2016, Everton and manager Roberto Martínez had endured a difficult start to the Premier League season, only winning six games out of 23.
Following the poor opening games Everton spent £19m in the January transfer window, with £13.5m being used on the Senegalese forward, making him Everton’s third-most expensive signing at the time, behind Romelu Lukaku and Marouane Fellaini.
After moving to the Merseyside outfit, the 33-year-old was ecstatic to sign for the Toffees.
He said:
"It's a great day for me, a big dream to play in the Premier League and a big dream to play for Everton.
"Everton is one of the best teams in the Premier League and the Premier League is one of the best leagues in the world.
"I know Everton is one of the big clubs here in England with history, the fans and the great players, so I'm very excited and happy to be here.
"I started to watch Everton more since the beginning of October because I had heard about their interest. I was interested to see how they play and how they have good young players.
Why did Everton buy Oumar Niasse?
Before signing for Everton, Niasse enjoyed an impressive spell playing for Lokomotiv Moscow in Russia, where he made 40 appearances, scoring 19 goals and providing 14 assists, meaning he averaged a goal contribution every 0.82 games.
The Senegal international also proved himself in the Europa League by scoring four goals and registering three assists in only six games, this earned him an average rating on Sofascore of 7.22, the highest in the squad.
His attacking prowess was also backed up by his stats as in Europe for the Russian side, per game he had the most shots (3.5), the most successful dribbles (1.5), the second most key passes (1.3) and the second most shots on target (1.3).
What happened to Oumar Niasse after joining Everton?
Niasse suffered a pretty torrid time throughout his four years with Everton as his most successful games in the famous blue shirt came when he played for the U23s, as during his time with them, he played 10 games and scored 12 goals.
However, while playing for the first team he was incredibly disappointing, in his 42 appearances he only managed nine goals and four assists in all competitions, meaning he scored more for the youth teams.
Furthermore, during his first season at Everton Niasse had the 26th-worst Sofascore rating in the Everton squad with 6.54.
While playing under Dutch manager Ronald Koeman, after Martinez's sacking, the striker revealed that he was exiled from the squad and his locker was removed.
While speaking to the Guardian he said:
“It’s sad, it’s really sad.
“And, to be honest, I think I don’t deserve this but what I can do is just keep my head and fight to change things. I’m not going to make a drama over this. I just deal with it.
“I know it’s just one period.
“Koeman said: ‘You have to leave.’
“I couldn’t understand how that decision could have been made after 45 minutes but I just said: ‘OK.’
“I’m in the dressing room with the under-23s but I don’t have a locker.
“The other players have where they put their stuff but I don’t.
“I come with my bag and I just have a place I know. I put my bag down, I train and after, I put everything in my car and go home.
“He took my shirt number, and he told me I wasn’t allowed to be in the dressing room for the first team; that I wasn’t going to train with them. I had to go with the second team.”
Although his career in England did get a little better during the 2017/18 season after Koeman’s exit, as under new manager Sam Allardyce the striker’s Sofascore rating improved to 6.85, the 12th-best in the squad.
This prompted the English manager to confirm in 2018 that Niasse's position had never been stronger.
He said:
“I think Oumar’s position at Everton has never really been as good as it is at the moment.
“He’s put himself in a position to shine and score goals. He’s got goals and assists to his name and he’s starting games on a regular basis.
“Oumar’s grasped that position at the moment, making assists, scoring goals, holding it up well, so it’s made it difficult for me to replace him.”
However, the eight goals he would score for Allardyce that season would be his last for the club as at the end of the 2019/20 season he would be released and since then his career has gone even further downhill.
In February 2022, after a disappointing move to Huddersfield where he didn't play, Niasse joined League One side Burton Albion where he would make just 12 appearances and score three goals before being released just five months later.
It would take the nine-cap international eight months before he found a new club, this time he would join fellow League One side Morecambe for another disappointing spell, where he made just 10 appearances and scored one goal before being released in July this year.
Oumar Niasse's career, via Transfermarkt
Club
Appearances
Goals
SK Brann
4
0
Akhisarspor
40
15
Lokomotiv Moscow
40
19
Everton
42
9
Hull
19
5
Cardiff
13
0
Huddersfield
0
0
Burton Albion
12
3
Morecambe
10
1
Since leaving the English third division side the centre forward is still yet to find a new club, proving what a waste of money he was for Everton.