Youssef Chermiti: did Everton let him go to Rangers too soon?

It counted for little in the end as the Ibrox club finished trophyless and a distant third in the title race but there was enough evidence in the second half of the season to suggest Chermiti could become the prolific marksman his team hoped he would be when they shelled out in the region of £9 million to sign him from Everton.

It took the Portuguese forward until October 26 to score for Rangers and by the end of 2025 he only had two goals to his name. But a double in the draw with Celtic on January 3, including a stunning overhead kick, galvanised him and he netted 13 times after Christmas to send the season with 15 goals in the Premiership, one more than Maeda and Braga, such key players for Celtic and Hearts, respectively.

Such was Chermiti’s surge in form that some Everton supporters questioned whether the club were right to let him go.

“Chermiti came in, showed promise, but couldn't really get into the team on a regular basis,” said Graeme Sharp, one of Everton’s greatest ever players. “And he's obviously looked at Rangers coming along and saying ‘listen we'll give you the opportunity’.

“Some people are trying to compare Chermiti to the boy [Thierno] Barry and Beto now, was it right to let him go? So this question has been asked about Chermiti, Everton fans saying should we have let him go? Should we have kept him?”

Fans are demanding

Signed from Sporting Lisbon for £11m in summer 2023 on a four-year deal, Chermiti spent just two seasons in Merseyside before Rangers swooped. He didn’t score in 22 Premier League appearances for the Toffees but 21 of those were from the bench.

His age should also be taken into account. Chermiti turned 22 last month and is still growing as a player but there is an expectation that he would hit the ground running, both at Everton and Rangers.

“I'm not just saying it's at Everton but any club, it's demanding, and the fans at Everton they're really demanding,” said Sharp. “If you come in and do well they'll get behind you, if you struggle they're on your back and it's whether you're strong enough.

“I found it myself when I was growing up and even the boy now, Barry, who's at Everton who's struggling. You can see that they're young and the boy [Tyler] Dibling’s another one, they're young and they've all of a sudden been catapulted into this cauldron where you have to perform.

“With Everton fans you know you have to be at it right from the start. I think it's been difficult for them. They've come in and they haven't hit the ground running and then they get a little bit of criticism and it's how they react to that.”

Sharp reacted in the best possible way during his glory days at Goodison Park in the 1980s. Signed from Dumbarton for £120,000 by Gordon Lee in 1980, Sharp took time to settle but flourished under Lee’s successor, Howard Kendall, and was the focal point in attack as Everton flourished at home and in Europe in a golden era for the club.

Two league titles, an FA Cup and European glory

With 160 goals in 447 appearances, Sharp is second on the club’s all-time top scorers list and his prolificity helped Everton win two league titles, the FA Cup and the European Cup-Winners’ Cup. Although he was much more than a goalscorer, Sharp recognises that forwards are still judged on their strike rate, even if the role of the frontman has changed since his heyday. Chermiti ended the campaign with a decent enough haul but more will be expected next season.

“I think he's done well at Rangers but if you go back to my generation, to be a centre forward you need to be tough, aggressive, running ability, tackling, passion everything else,” said Sharp.

“I don't think that's what's needed nowadays. I think the game's changed that much and it's a different way people look at things. But at the end of the day you'll still get judged on the goals you score and I think Chermiti and the boy Barry, they're goalscorers.

“I got as much enjoyment out of making goals as I did scoring them but I think Chermiti is a goalscorer so he'll be judged on that.

Ability is not in doubt

“I think the boy Barry at 21, moving to a big club, and Everton are a big club. Okay, they haven't won any trophies for a while but they're a big club, and it's whether these young guys can live up to these expectations. Some fall by the wayside, some grasp it. You look at Rooney when he came in, grasped the opportunity

“I just think sometimes the club can be too big, especially for young guys coming over and not really knowing the country and knowing the makeup and the way the English football is, Scottish football as well.

“It’s difficult for them and going into Rangers and the way things were with the board and everything else and the turmoil it wasn't a nice time to play football [at the start of the season]. Especially if you're a new signing and not producing you're going to get battered.

“The boy's got ability but it's how he sees his next step. Does he want to stay at Rangers and be successful and be like an Ally McCoist and be a hero? He's come good at the end, scored some important goals, and it's important that he hits the new season running. Start scoring goals and I think they may well have a player there.

“But if he starts the season poorly and there’s pressure and everything else… I always try and stress that, to play for a big team it's tough and it's not just what you do on the pitch it's mentality and everything else. You've got to have the right mentality as a player to make it a big club. Now that'll be tested for the boy Barry at Everton and for Chermiti at Rangers.”

Sharp, now an ambassador for Everton, was in Scotland last week to help promote the club’s pre-season match with Newcastle United which will be played at Murrayfield on August 12. He hopes the game in Edinburgh will attract a big turnout of Scottish-based Evertonians as well as travelling fans.

“Oh absolutely. We’ve got some good supporters clubs up here you know there's a big Glasgow supporters club and I think there's one in Edinburgh,” said Sharp.

“Coming to Murrayfield is a new one for them and it’s a fantastic stadium.”

See Premier League rivals Newcastle United and Everton clash at Edinburgh’s iconic Scottish Gas Murrayfield on 12 August. Tickets available now at Ticketmaster.