Buying players willy nilly this summer, Everton and Ronald Koeman are making it clear they mean business, even planning for the future with the purchase of Henry Onyekuru.
The young Nigerian starlet was one of the most wanted youngsters in Europe when the season came to an end, with a stream of clubs wanting his services for around €8m.
Everton eventually came out top of the lot after seeing off, according to Herman Van Holsbeeck, Anderlecht’s director of football, 47 other interested clubs, and, for work permit reasons, sent him on loan to Anderlecht.
How did they do it? Well, the Belgian magazine say it was just a case of Farhad Moshiri knowing the right people.
The man to thank in all of this is Christophe Henrotay, Belgium’s biggest agent and one Everton know well from their previous dealings with him.
Henrotay, who represents Youri Tielemans, organised a meeting between Moshiri and Herman Van Holsbeeck, when the Toffees were interested in the young Belgian midfielder, who eventually went to Monaco.
A few weeks later, Moshiri is said to have called Henrotay to tell him he wanted Onyekuru, but was planning on sending him on loan to Anderlecht.
At this point, the Belgian agent called Anderlecht’s director of football, who forwarded him to Mogi Bayat, another agent who was hired by KAS Eupen to sort out the Onyekuru deal.
Keeping up?
That same evening, Henrotay sorted out a plane for Bayat, Onyekuru’s “official” agent and a lawyer and the next day the deal taking the Nigerian starlet to Everton was signed without Anderlecht ever having to move.
Why did it happen so quickly towards the end? Because bigger clubs started circulating, including Paris Saint-Germain, who had a similar plan to Everton, but with Antwerp.
As for Anderlecht, they are taking on the entirety of Onyekuru’s wages for the duration of the loan.
See? Agents aren’t always evil. All’s well that ends well. Sometimes.
