How Gylfi Sigurdsson Defines the End of an Era
Gylfi Sigurdsson’s middle name is Thor. No really, that’s his middle name. But when Swansea City sold the Icelandic man in the Summer of 2017, they deemed him worthy of joining Everton at a price of £45 million (please hold the applause until after the tour). This remains the highest amount of money Everton have paid for a single player, but it came in a transfer window where they spent over £180 million total — which led to some… interesting predictions.
Swansea reinvested the money by bringing in Roque Mesa (£11m), Sam Clucas (£14m) and Wilfried Bony returned from Manchester City (£11.25m). Andre Ayew would also return from West Ham (£18m) in January that season for a total spend of roughly £54m.
But, along with the sale of striker Fernando Llorente to Tottenham (£13.5m), Swansea would not survive in the Premier League without their two talismanic figures.
In the previous season, Swansea finished 15th. Their great escape, in which they gained 13 points from the last 15 available, was very much led by the partnership between Sigurdsson and Llorente.
At least one of the pair was involved in every points-earning goal during these final few games. They linked up to put the Swans 1–0 up against Stoke City and Sunderland. Sigurdsson would score the free kick in their 1–1 draw at Old Trafford and Llorente would get two assists and one goal for the strikes that beat Everton (1–0) and West Brom (2–1). Their importance to the side was immeasurable.
Except, it turned out, it was measurable.
The £13.5m fee for Llorente was an understandable sale from Swansea’s point of view. While the Spaniard was a quality striker for that level, he was also 32 and didn’t have much resale value beyond a deadline day panic buy from one of the big clubs. To cash in and go back to the well for Bony, 28, made sense.
However, the deal that took Sigurdsson to Merseyside now looks to be one that will define the end of an era in the Premier League’s transfer market trends. Llorente absolutely chipped in with his fair share of important goals, but Swansea would not have stayed up that season without Sigurdsson’s contribution.
Nine goals and 13 assists for the side that finished only seven points off the drop is a very impressive standard to set, and it’s no wonder that Everton were interested in his services. £45 million is a lot of money for Swansea to ever turn down, the player wanted the move and thus the Welsh club relented after putting up a stern fight to keep their man.
But how do you replace a man that scored their second most amount of goals and got the most amount of assists? The answer is they didn’t.
In that season, the next best assister was shared by Federico Fernandez, Tom Carroll and Leroy Fer, all bagging two each so someone was being asked to massively step up or one of the new signings would really have to hit the ground running.
Those same three men would once again achieve six assists between them the following season, but new signings Mesa and Clucas would completely fail to fill the void left by Sigurdsson. Clucas scored three and assisted one from 2,044 minutes played.
Meanwhile Mesa, who vowed he wouldn’t shave his moustache until he was called up to the Spain squad, would get zero goal contributions from a measly 754 minutes. You reckon he still has the ‘tashe?
Swansea were, rather predictably, relegated having only managed 33 points from three different permanent managers.
But the true tragedy of it all, is that Sigurdsson endured a miserable first campaign with Everton. Ronald Koeman (where’s he now?) was sacked by the club that October having left the club in the relegation zone following a humiliating 5–2 defeat at home to Arsenal.
Sigurdsson would manage four goals and three assists in a season that ultimately saw the Toffees finish 8th, on 49 points. Their saving grace was that those around them weren’t much better. Burnley finished seventh that season, perhaps it was truly a nadir for Premier League mid table mediocrity.
Since then, Swansea have become entrenched in the chaos of the Championship with only one play-off appearance to show for it. All the while, Sigurdsson has had four permanent managers at Everton in three years at the club.
Sigurdsson’s form improved the following season, with 13 goals and six assists to his name, but his form under Carlo Ancelotti is nothing close to the glory days of his Swansea heroics.
All that is left is a lesson. A warning to clubs like Aston Villa or Crystal Palace that valuable players such as Jack Grealish and Wilfried Zaha are better off staying at their clubs. The Price tag set of £80 million by both for either player don’t necessarily represent their real market value, but it does represent a Sigurdsson hike. A Thor tax, if you will.
The value of Premier League survival is worth more than any transfer sale that isn’t beyond all total sense and logic. £80 million for one player isn’t worth the pain of losing £110+ million earned simply by being among the mighty Gods of Valhalla.
Note: Figures and stats came from Transfermarkt and FBref.
