It has been a remarkably sour theme to the Farhad Moshiri regime at Goodison Park with a ludicrous amount of money -  nearly £700m in fact - being wasted. Enormous amounts of investment have been ploughed into the club but they have seen little aside from a plethora of managers in return. Very few have been able to get a tune out of the team since David Moyes left all those years ago with two successive relegation battles now to show for their troubles. Spending now happens to be less frequent but after receiving £40m for Anthony Gordon, there is a hope that should Sean Dyche keep them in the division, money will be reinvested wisely into the squad. What Everton will hope to avoid again is bringing in players like Morgan Schneiderlin, who simply failed to set the world alight in Merseyside.

When did Everton sign Schneiderlin?

The Toffees battled hard to secure the acquisition of the Frenchman back in January 2017, eventually paying Manchester United £24m for his signature. Unfortunately, that turned out to be money wasted as far as the hierarchy are concerned with the 6 foot 1 battler in his own words “regretting” leaving Old Trafford behind. He is unlikely to be the only one feeling regret either, with the former Southampton man playing 88 times across a three-and-a-half-year period. In that time, the now 33-year-old found the net just once while offering a return of two assists. Discipline was a problem as Schneiderlin entered the referee’s notebook 15 times, once every six matches, and was shown a red card on three occasions. A knee injury later ensured that he ended his time at Everton on the treatment table with that fact rather typical of his stay at the club, but also potentially a blessing in disguise for supporters.

Where is Morgan Schneiderlin now?

The now 33-year-old left the Toffees in the summer of 2020, heading back to his homeland where he was handed an opportunity to get his career back on track. Sadly, it’s been another tail of woe with the combative ace failing to score in 59 outings for Nice while picking up 13 yellows, a card every 4.5 games, in what represents an even poorer average compared to his last few campaigns in England. As such, he has been exiled from the first team picture and was told to find pastures new in January 2023. His destination? Australia. Schneiderlin’s time at the top level, therefore, would appear to be done and dusted with the A-League a considerable drop off from one of Europe’s top five divisions. Since joining Western Sydney Wanderers on loan, he has started just one match and played on three occasions. His statistics? You guessed it, a yellow card. However, that is combined with a goal and assist apiece following his first attacking contributions on Saturday. The French midfielder has only just arrived in a new country and thus will take some adjusting, but his fall from grace since departing United has been a rather alarming one. Consequently, is it ever a surprise that BBC reporter Phil McNulty once dubbed him “shocking”? Those words certainly weren’t true during his formative years in the Premier League but that was about as good as it ever got for Schneiderlin throughout his playing career to date. Indeed, his move to Everton was a failure for all involved and arguably, he is still picking up the pieces from that stint.