Everton supporters will be absolutely baffled by Coventry City FA Cup win: View | OneFootball

Everton supporters can be forgiven for being baffled when they watched Coventry City progress to the FA Cup semi-final with a win away to Wolves on Saturday.

With the Toffees fighting for their lives towards the bottom of the Premier League table, they watched one of their academy graduates, Ellis Simms, score twice and record an assist away to a top-half Premier League side, and will have supporters begging the question of why on earth they let him leave.

It's been far from an easy ride for Simms at Coventry this season, but he's beginning to find form at the right time and Everton's supporters will rightly be baffled and probably annoyed that the 23-year-old was allowed to leave at a time when the Toffees are doing so poorly.

Ellis Simms' move from Everton to Coventry City

After a relatively successful loan spell at Sunderland during the first-half of last season, Simms was recalled by Everton in January 2023 in a bid to address their shortage of goals.

Simms would only find the back of the net once in 11 Premier League games for the Toffees, but given his lack of experience at that level and playing in a poor side, it wasn't a disastrous return for the Oldham-born striker.

This seemed like the first of many Premier League campaigns for Simms, but instead the club made the decision to sell him to Coventry City for £8million in a deal that raised eyebrows.

We know now that Everton were in trouble with financial fair play (FFP), so they needed to make money, but in hindsight they may have been better off selling some of the older, more experienced players who had led them to relegation battles for two consecutive seasons, particularly when they are lacking a focal point up-front.

Since his move to Coventry, Simms has scored 14 times and registered three assists in 43 games, and the 23-year-old will presumably get better with age.

Incredibly, Simms has played every single game for the Sky Blues across all competitions this season, and despite a rocky start, he has impressed in recent weeks, particularly in the FA Cup.

His two goals and an assist at Molineux on Saturday would have had Everton supporters scratching their heads. He might've missed a sitter, but his anticipation to find himself in the right place at the right time for his two goals was fantastic, as was his lay-off for the Haji Wright winner. Other parts of his game, too, had Wolves defenders struggling.

The Toffees had a seemingly Premier League-standard player on their books but allowed him to leave, in a move that the club will probably come to regret if they aren't already.

Ellis Simms could have solved Everton's goal problems

Everton have only scored 29 league goals in 28 games, which is one of the worst records in the Premier League.

Only basement boys Sheffield United have scored less (24), whilst Burnley, in 19th, have scored the same number of goals as the Toffees.

Everton's top goalscorer is Abdoulaye Doucoure, who has only found the back of the net six times this season, and summer striker signing Beto has scored just four times in all competitions.

Simms has notched 14 for Coventry, and obviously he's playing in a lower division, but given his performance against Wolves on Saturday, there's no reason to suggest why he couldn't have found the back of the net for Everton in the Premier League this season.

If Everton were in the top-half of the Premier League and had prolific strikers, then the decision to sell Simms would have been understandable, but given their current situation, it really does seem a baffling move to allow a promising young striker to leave the club.