Ronald Koeman was finally appointed as the new Everton manager on Tuesday and now will immediately turn his attention to spending the large transfer budget that he has been given by the majority shareholder, Farhad Moshiri.
Koeman has a history of bringing players he knows to his new clubs.
At Southampton he brought in Graziano Pelle and Jordy Clasie, both from his former club, Feyenoord. He also bought in Dusan Tadic from fellow Eredivisie side, FC Twente.
With that history Koeman will probably look to Saints for a few signings during his first summer at Goodison Park.
Koeman never really handed youth a real chance at Southampton, only sticking with those young players who had already broken into the first team, such as James Ward-Prowse and Matt Targett, but he will have a great knowledge of those youngsters that could do a job at Everton.
Our landlord here in the Transfer Tavern has suggested FIVE players that could follow Ronald Koeman to Everton…..
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PRESS THE IMAGE BELOW TO SEE 5 PLAYERS WHO COULD FOLLOW KOEMAN TO EVERTON!
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Virgil Van Dijk
Van Dijk was bought to Saints from Celtic by Koeman at the start of last season after Toby Alderweireld chose Tottenham over Saints after a loan spell on the South Coast.
The Dutch centre-half has done nothing but impress this season and rightfully won both Fan’s and Player’s Player of the Season Awards, after one season at the club.
Van Dijk has just signed an new six-year deal at Southampton, but the money that Koeman has to spend at Everton could well be enough to entice Van Dijk to the North West.
James Ward-Prowse
Ward-Prowse hasn’t quite realised his full potential at Southampton yet but improved a lot under the guidance of Ronald Koeman at Southampton. The faith that the Dutch manager showed in the 21-year-old saw him score his first ever league goal for the club.
Having been at Southampton since the age of eight, Ward-Prowse could feel that moving to Everton to continue his work with Koeman could see him become and integral part of the first team at Goodison Park.
However, Ward-Prowse has previously stated that, at some stage, he wants to captain the club he has been with his whole career, a refreshing claim in modern football.
Matt Targett
Another youngster who has flourished under the guidance of Ronald Koeman is the England U-21 full-back, Matthew Targett who, when playing a 5-3-2 formation impressed as a wing-back.
Koeman favoured this particular formation for large spells last season and stuck by Targett when the formation was deployed, moving first choice left-back, Ryan Bertrand into a more central position in the back line.
Bertrand is likely to hold his spot in the Southampton starting XI next season after and impressive campaign which earned him a spot in Roy Hodgson’s EURO 2016 squad, meaning that Targett could look elsewhere for first team football.
Steven Davis
The Northern Ireland captain, Steven Davis, had a superb campaign last season, scoring a career high league goals under Koeman.
Over the season Davis was consistently impressive in midfield and his composure in any situation could really add to Everton’s midfield.
The 31-year-old still has a couple of good seasons left in him and could well be the catalyst in pushing Everton to higher climbs in the table.
Fraser Forster
The England goalkeeper had a sensational season for Saints after returning from a long term injury half-way through the season, keeping six clean sheets in 18 appearances since mid-January.
A goalkeeper will be a priority for Koeman and he could not do much better than this towering Englishman who kept Saints in many a game last season.
Forster will not come cheap though as Saints will be desperate to keep hold of one of their best players, however every player has their price and Koeman has money to spend. Should Saints and England goalkeeping coach, Dave Watson follow Koeman to Everton that could also be a large factor in persuading Forster.
