Everton are a club notoriously strapped for funds, which was evidenced by the fact that they were the only Premier League club not to make a single addition in January.
This was despite the mammoth £45m sale of Anthony Gordon, which many thought would be instantly reinvested into acquiring the striker they so desperately sought.
However, Frank Lampard and Sean Dyche both could not tempt any new names to Goodison Park, and the latter now faces the run-in with a threadbare squad lacking in confidence.
Having since overseen something of an upturn in form though, the former Burnley boss will likely be looking ahead to ways in which he can mould this outfit in his image rather than the numerous managers that have come before him.
To do so he might need to further cull the current team, and if he is looking at players that are not quite at the level needed, then Ellis Simms might see his time at the club cut short.
How much is Ellis Simms worth?
Having come up through the academy, the young marksman was seemingly forever touted with earning a big breakthrough into the first team which never came.
Instead, the 22-year-old enjoyed three relatively successful loan spells, the last of which was cut short as Lampard desperately scrambled for reinforcements.
Before then, he had scored seven in the Championship for Sunderland, building on his eight goals two years earlier with Blackpool in League One.
Having excelled in the lower leagues it seemed like he was building towards tackling Premier League football, although it remains quite clear that he is far below that level with regard to his technical quality.
Even journalist Tony Scott suggested this, as he spoke to the All Together Now podcast on the young forward: “If] Ellis Simms plays up front – yeah, he’s a big lad, but he’s not good enough. He’s not good enough at this level, we’ve seen that.
“He’d be a physical presence, he’d be annoying, but he’s not going to hold the ball up.”
Whilst in other situations it might be worth persevering with his growth, given how his value has skyrocketed in recent years it might mark the perfect time to seek investment through his sale.
Having been rated by Transfermarkt at just €300k (£265k) back in 2021, Football Transfers now see the apex of his value at €8.2m (£7.2m), marking a 2616% increase.
There is clearly huge amounts of profit to be made on Simms, who is yet to truly showcase his ability at the top level.
His name would attract plenty of suitors in the Championship, whilst allowing Dyche to reinvest whatever funds he might receive in forging his own team.
