Everton shouldn't regret selling Chermiti | OneFootball

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Last summer, Everton were keen to get Youssef Chermiti out on loan.

The plan had been to send Chermiti out on loan ahead of the 2024-25 season — in fact, a deal was pretty much lined up for the striker to head out to Watford, managed then by former Everton player Tom Cleverley, for the duration of the campaign.

Chermiti had looked sharp in the early stages of pre-season and it was thought a season in the Championship would do his development plenty of good.

However, at the crucial moment, Chermiti broke down with a long-term injury. The loan move was scrapped, and the forward needed half a season to get back to action.

He wasn’t judged fit enough to go out on loan in the January window in 2025, and he made just four appearances — all of them coming from the bench, for a total of just 42 minutes — and bar a decent cameo against West Ham in March of that season, none of those stick in the mind as being particularly impactful.

The consensus seemed to be that Chermiti was a decent prospect who now needed regular minutes to develop.

Chermiti, at that stage, had 2 years left to run on his contract and when a move to Rangers came up as a possibility, with Kevin Thelwell keen for a reunion with the Portuguese, it seemed like the logical next step. A loan to one of Scotland’s biggest clubs, with gametime pretty much guaranteed.

However, during negotiations, it seemingly became clear that Everton were open to a sale. And so, a deal was struck at around £8M, with the fee possibly reaching £10M with add-ons.

Now, at the time, I found nothing wrong with the move, and even with the benefit of hindsight, I can still fully understand why Everton elected to cash in. They had signed Thierno Barry and still had Beto. They also wanted to bring in a more senior forward.

However, that senior player never arrived, and Everton ultimately left themselves with two centre-forwards, both with their consistency issues.

But Chermiti was hardly an instant hit with Rangers. In fact, he was seen as a total flop for large chunks of the first half of the season, as the club’s demanding fanbase ended up forcing Thelwell out of his role.

Chermiti scored just once across his first 18 Rangers appearances. In fairness, though, Barry was having similar troubles at Everton, while Beto was also underperforming.

Matters started to turn for Chermiti at Rangers under Danny Röhl, though, and he finished the campaign with 15 goals in 41 games, including two braces against Celtic, and hat-tricks against Hearts and Falkirk.

All in all, it was a decent first season, but some readers may be surprised to learn Rangers rebuffed an offer for Chermiti in January, and were demanding a fee of £20M for the 22-year-old.

It now looks like Lyon have firmed up their interest in Chermiti with an offer, but are again unwilling to match Rangers’ valuation.

With Everton having had their striker troubles last season, it’s probably fair to ask whether they made a mistake with Chermiti. Did they blink too soon? Should they have stuck to the plan and loaned him out, and then had him back as an option for 2026-27?

There’s a case to be made, but really, would Evertonians be happy if their next striker signing was a youngster with just 15 goals under his belt after a full season playing for one of Scotland’s dominant teams?

Chermiti has talent, but I’ve never quite bought into the idea he is going to be a top-class player down the line. A lot has been made of how highly rated he was in Portugal, during his time at Sporting CP. I did some interviews with Sporting fans and pundits at the time of Chermiti’s switch to Everton, though, and this could not really have been further away from the truth.

That’s not to say he is a bad player, by any means, but sometimes it is fair to cash in if an opportunity presents itself.

Chermiti could well go on to prove me, and the club, wrong, though, and Everton were sensible enough to insert a sell-on clause into the deal, so that they would receive some financial compensation should Rangers make a profit on him.

It does go to show the madness of the market, too, plus the scarcity of decent strikers on offer, that Chermiti is valued so highly.

As Everton look to the future, though, they do need to ensure that younger players get that proper development path, and the patience required. Chermiti was unfortunate — due to circumstance and injuries, he was never able to truly cement himself in the team, but that doesn’t mean the Toffees should regret moving him on, either.