Like Tottenham.
I love how everyone is suggesting there were all these other alternatives better, yet never has anyone - maybe one person - offered anyone remotely comparable. The dude is class - already showed it with a wonder goal against Split that saved our collective tails getting us into the Europa group stage. There's plenty more magic from Siggy, just need to give him time.
It isn't about finding someone comparable though. I'd rather have someone totally different. Someone whose stats aren't massively inflated by set pieces. Or how about someone with pace, a proper winger. He just does not have the influence from open play we need. Unfortunately for him he came in after we'd already signed Klaasen and Rooney and Koeman doesn't know how to use them all. Right now he's being shoehorned in because he cost £45 million. This signing appears to have been made with no proper plan for how to utilise him properly and how to use him in combination with all the others.
Of course in an ideal world, we'd have Bolasie available/signed an actual winger. I know it's not Sigurddson's fault we don't have these things. And I know it's not his fault we don't have this elusive "target man" we so desperately apparently need to get the best out of him. But not getting that striker has a big impact on him as well. Who exactly is he supposed to be aiming for when he looks up? Again, not his fault, but when you combine all these things you're left with a club record signing not doing very much.
He's a good player, I don't think people dispute that. But he's not the player we need right now. I don't care about whether the board let Koeman down on a striker or not. We always knew Lukaku was leaving. Not properly replacing him and subsequently spending £45 million on Gylfi whilst somehow leaving what should have been the priority signing till last is just negligence and ineptitude of the highest order. Again, not his fault. But I don't think a player who, as you say yourself, has been in the EPL for years should look this average if he's as good as you make out.
In regards to alternatives, it's not my job or your job, or anyone else's on this forum (I hope) to come up with alternatives. We're not paid to do that. Unlike Steve Walsh who I'm sure is very well paid to do it. I'll flip the question to you- do you think that for £45 million this is the best we could do? To me it's a very lazy, very easy signing to make.
But my first point is still the same- I don't want someone "comparable" to Gylfi. In similar words to Liam Neeson I want someone with a very different set of specific skills. If we'd have signed a proper striker and a winger, by all means splash £45 million on him. But we didn't do that. We needed to sort other areas out first. "Why couldn't we just do both", I hear people ask. Because we're Everton, not Manchester City. We have finite resources, a finite transfer budget. And when you have finite resources you have to be damn sure you use them as best as you can. We haven't done that.