Everton sold Duffy for a pittance before spending millions on centre-halves

By Sam Preston

Everton’s ageing backline has been a cause for concern for both Ronald Koeman and Marco Silva.

These days, a mobile, athletic defence is a pre-requisite trying to play the expansive football Everton want to adopt; the likes of Phil Jagielka, Ashley Williams and Leighton Baines will not cut the mustard for too much longer.

With the new-found Goodison millions, plenty of money has been thrown at the problem, especially at centre-half.

Michael Keane was Koeman’s big gamble to solve the problems. Unfortunately, the former Burnley defender looked much more comfortable in the deep, uncomplicated defensive block preferred at Turf Moor.

That pushed Silva into the market this summer to procure a new-look defence; he eventually secured Yerry Mina and Kurt Zouma to be the bedrock of his Goodison revolution.

(Photo By Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

But Liam Brady’s recent comments shine a light on one man that could have saved Everton a lot of time and money; Shane Duffy.

Duffy was sold to Blackburn on the cheap in 2014 but has now developed into a reliable Premier League and international defender with Brighton and the Republic of Ireland.

That lack of foresight has cost Everton lots of money in the long run; are any of their current options better than Duffy?