I can understand why we signed both players though. Rooney was always going to come back and I think that was nailed on from more than just a footballing perspective, rightly or wrongly.
We knew Barkley wasn't signing another contract so was likely leaving in the summer, which was leaving us short in that area. Yes we overpaid for Sig and Barkley turned down a £35m move in the same window, which left us seriously out of pocket on those two deals and which was unfortunate.
It was the Klaassan signing that really screwed it up. That was £25m which could have been put to much better use elsewhere, £35m if you count Vlasic who again plays in the same position and has been kicking his heels.
Just really poor all round really, which seems to be typical Everton at the moment.
You're right, the Klaassen deal wasn't the best and probably as it stands, the worst decision of the 3. The Vlasic situation remains a bit odd too.
I dunno, the Rooney deal remains to me the height of hubris of the summer dealings. That we can get better out of him than Man United. I suppose, in of itself any one of these transfers if they happened in isolation were ok. Rooney, Sigurdsson, Klaassen, it wouldn't have mattered if the rest of the recruitment was right.
Where to from here though? Yes these players could play better together, but will they ever get even close to what we need..? I'm really doubtful that they do.
I still think this ends much like the misspent Bale money Spurs brought in, with all but 1 or 2 players we've signed remaining from this summer. I think in Spurs' case they were left with Eriksen and Lamela(?) and the latter is probably only still there because of his injuries. I just hope we find our own Pochettino who gets it right.