Everton’s £22 million transfer miss laid bare by Issa Diop’s West Ham display

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Everton were sent crashing to earth yesterday as West Ham United put them to the sword at Goodison Park. Two goals from Andriy Yarmolenko and a second-half finish from Marko Arnautovic proved enough for a West Ham win, despite Gylfi Sigurdsson’s header.

It was a defensive display of real concern for Everton. Both Jonjoe Kenny and Lucas Digne looked great going forward but struggled defensively. They were not helped by their centre-back comrades. Mason Holgate and Kurt Zouma were dreadful. That’s being kind to the pair. They had no relationship and were constantly out of position. Arnautovic bullied the duo.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the pitch, a West Ham player who was linked with Everton this summer looked assured.

Issa Diop put in arguably his best West Ham performance since his £22 million June move to London.

Prior to making that switch, it appeared Everton were the frontrunners. The former Toulouse man was, according to the London Evening Standard, a centre-back target for the Toffees this summer.

They claimed that West Ham actually convinced Diop to join them ahead of both Everton and Sevilla this summer.

Everton eventually signed Yerry Mina. However, the Colombian is still injured whilst fellow first-choice defender Michael Keane has a fractured skull to recover from.

Based on the performance yesterday, Everton will wish they had won this transfer battle.