Will Wayne Rooney have a successful European debut for Everton when they take on MFK Ruzomberok at 8.05pm on ITV4?

Like most of the Premier League the Toffees have been splashing the cash this summer – and this is before the £75 million windfall following Romelu Lukaku’s long-coming exit. The three most expensive acquisitions have all been around the £25 million mark: Ajax’s Davy Klaassen, the 2015-16 Dutch Player of the Year; Sunderland keeper Jordan Pickford, fresh off England U21s’ semi-final showing at the Euros; and Burnley’s 24-year old centre back Michael Keane, who made his senior international debut back in March. That’s in addition to returning prodigal son Rooney, who is back at his boyhood club 13 years after heading to Manchester. 



What none of those transfers fix, however, is the black hole-sized gap left by the absence Lukaku up front. The newest Red Devil scored more than a third of Everton’s entire output last season, no-one coming anywhere near his 26 goals in all competitions. What’s really worrying for the Toffees is that Ross Barkley – who was second to the Belgian with just 6 goals – is also likely to leave after rejecting Everton’s latest offer. It’s nice that Rooney has come home, but his paltry tally for United in 2016/17 suggests he isn’t exactly what Ronald Koeman needs right now. Sandro Ramirez, a £5.2 million buy from Malaga, on the other hand, might be, the Spaniard sitting at a Super Mega PGM of 64-74.

Luckily MFK Ruzomberok – bronze medallists in the Slovakian Fortuna Liga – shouldn’t pose too much of a problem for Everton, with or without an in-form forward. Ruzomberok have been in Europa League qualifying since the very beginning, beating Serbia’s Vojvodina and Norway’s Brann in the 1st and 2nd rounds respectively.

Yet the 3rd round is where the bigger boys stub out their fags and come into slide tackle the under-12s in the park, so Everton should be fine. Our traders think so, at least, offering an Everton/MFK Ruzomberok Goal Supremacy spread of 2.4-2.6 alongside a Total Goals spread of 3.1-3.3.