Anyone else interested in what 777 Partners have been doing at Genoa these past 2 years?
Early days since the club was acquired back in September 2021 but it might indicate what’s in store for us if the takeover goes through.
Of course, the ‘glass half-empty’ types will answer: they are a bunch of shysters trying to get Genoa fans to pay for a £5m training facility. There is some truth to this, although it seems to operate as a bond (which creates a degree of fan ownership) rather than a handout. I’m not best placed to go into this any further, but others might be more clued up on these financials.
I’m more interested in how Genoa are faring on the pitch and developing their squad under 777’s ownership.
A quick timeline
Genoa were a poorly resourced club with a very weak squad before being bought by 777 Partners after the summer window closed in 2021. That summer, they had a net spend of about £20M which left them with a squad valued as 16th in Serie A. They finished 18th in the 2021-22 season, and went down to Serie B.
They had a net spend of about -£10M that summer (a relegation clear out) before being promoted as runners up in Serie B in May 2023. This summer, they had a net spend of about £10M – giving them the 13th most valuable squad in the division (where they are currently in 15th place after 8 games). Having returned to Serie A at the first attempt, they’re better placed now, in effect, than they were when 777 Partners took over.
What does this tell us?
Unsurprisingly, 777 Partners will not operate us as a vanity project by throwing money at us. These guys are not sugar daddy owners. The key objective is likely to be survival in order to maintain Premier League revenues, with slow and sustainable progress into the top half of the table.
I can’t imagine they will think it’s worth spending, say, £150M on players just to finish 9th instead of 13th. The transfer budget will be driven largely by player sales, but they will loosen the purse strings sufficiently to ensure the squad is strong enough to stay in the Premier League and achieve immediate goals.
What does recruitment look like?
It seems to fall into a few categories:
Age 26 to 30(+): Some spending here but very low cost. Either free, loan or just a few million here or there on each player.
Examples include a few pretty good players in the form of:
· Malinovsky (AM) from Marseille on loan
· Strootman (DM) from Marseille, free
· Martin (LB) from Mainz, free
· Thorsby (CM) from Union Berlin, loan
· Martinez (GK) from Leipzig, £3.5M.
Up to age 24: This is where the main spending takes place, with players generally costing no more than about £5M, each. This looks like they are generally “doing a Brighton” by hunting out talented young players to develop at low cost, in order to enable future transfer budgets driven by player sales. I suspect Retegui was bought as an exception to the general strategy to help ensure they stay up and because he should increase in value (he’s probably doubled in value already). However, he is probably a bit older and a bit more expensive than they are generally looking for.
· Retegui (24): highly sought after Italian / Argentine striker bought for £12M from Tigres in Argentina.
· Dragusin (21): talented Romanian CB brought in from Juventus for £5.5M.
· Matturro (19): talented teenage Uruguyan CB bought for £3M from Defensor in Uruguay.
· DeWinter (21): talented young Belgian CB brought in on loan from Juventus.
Youth team
Alongside all of this, it’s possible that the most significant business is being done with the youth academy. Over the past couple of seasons, Genoa’s U19 side has bought a lot of players from other clubs in Italy and also from Romania, Switzerland, Sweden, Greece and Serbia. The U19 side also includes players from Bulgaria, Iceland, Portugal, Belgium and Algeria.
It looks like there was a bit of this sort of activity before 777 but it certainly seems like it’s ramped up in volume post-takeover. It looks like another strategic approach to improving the playing staff quality at low cost.
What sort of players might Everton be looking at in summer 2024?
I expect we’re going to be working on the very same lines. Subject to Premier League financial rules, I think 777 might sanction a net spend of up to about £15M summer 2024 but any decent transfer kitty will have to be enabled by player sales.
The categories of players will be along the same lines, with some of the price tags uplifted from Serie A levels to Premier League levels. I think that probably means:
· Apart from the odd exception, fees of no more than about £10M to £15M.
· A focus on buying in young players (up to age 21 ish) for development.
· A much higher volume of teenagers for our academy, and from a much more international network.
· Players over age 26 on loan, free or very low sums only.
· Hunting for value from richer clubs’ benches and lower cost markets like South America.
· No more vanity signings of broken superstars like Rodriguez or Alli.
· No more big spending on average players like Keane, Bolasie, Walcott etc.
· No big transfer fees like Sigurdsson and Richarlison.
· Possibly no more of the deals Thelwell has been doing for the likes of Beto and Onana, where we agree a fairly big fee but only pay on the drip to make it affordable.
What does the future hold?
I think it probably all means that we’ll be a mid-table side for the foreseeable future – but edging further and further away from the drop zone and closer and closer to the European places. Any manager is going to have to materially outperform the level of investment and quality in the squad if we are to win trophies or get into Europe.
On that basis, I would think they consider Sean Dyche to be a good fit for the short to medium term – but ambitions may change once the squad is in better shape and we’re up and running in a glamorous new stadium. This isn’t going to satisfy those who want to keep up with the Joneses, I know, but it should keep us in the Premier League and stop us going bust (which wasn’t assured by any stretch under Moshiri). And there’s a chance of cups and European football in the short term with a bit of luck and a huge amount of hard work.
It might also mean a player like Phillips on loan in January, just to steady the ship from Afcon, but probably not to buy – and maybe the next Branthwaite or Calvert-Lewin emerging for the U21s. Summer 2024, however, could represent a big overhaul of the squad.