Everton have been forced to offload plenty of their top stars in recent years, as their pursuit in waking the sleeping giant has continued to fail.
The Toffees have arguably regressed despite their initial model which saw them produce high-quality talent only to sell them on for huge profits, and now also find themselves in an all-out war for survival amidst their impending sanction for financial misconduct.
It draws the question as to how exactly the club got into such a mess, given the immense backing Farhad Moshiri had promised alongside these key sales.
Romelu Lukaku left for £75m in 2017, and John Stones had gone the year earlier for £47.5m; even Richarlison's £60m sale last summer has not kept them financially viable, exacerbating the woeful running of the club.
This is not a new development however, as exploits such as this can be traced back as far as 2004 when Manchester United snatched the crown jewel from the Merseyside club's academy: Wayne Rooney.
A £27m fee at the time was nothing to smirk at, but the glittering career that the Liverpool-born legend would go on to have with the Red Devils has always left a bad taste in the mouths of Evertonians.
It seems like this same misery is set to be repeated with the aforementioned Stones, who only goes from strength to strength in a Manchester City side that seeks to win it all every season.
What has John Stones won at Manchester City?
Having been at the club for approaching seven years, the England international unsurprisingly flourished under Pep Guardiola. Even during his time at Goodison Park, the defender's innate desire to play out from the back, often to his detriment, set him apart from the rest as a truly great modern centre-back in the making.
However, under the Spaniard is where he has truly exploded.
Their shared success has spurred on four Premier League titles, four EFL Cup victories and a sole FA Cup, whilst the Champions League continues to evade them. This is a competition they seem on course to challenge for again this year though, with Stones' new midfield role playing a key role in their blistering form that has encouraged nine straight wins in all competitions.
Journalist Lewis Steele had even branded the 6 foot 2 defender a "Rolls-Royce" for his quality in that new position.
For comparison, Rooney had only managed to win five league titles, four EFL Cups, one FA Cup and a Champions League; a tally the 28-year-old will seek to eclipse.
Should the former Barnsley ace do so, it would likely mark Everton's biggest transfer blunder since the sale of their academy superstar. Such immense success with accumulating silverware is something which Sean Dyche's outfit could only dream to achieve, but watching former players attain it after leaving often makes it even harder to swallow.
Ronald Koeman made plenty of errors during his spell in the Goodison Park dugout, but given how Stones' career has soared since leaving, few stacks up to this mistake. The near-£50m fee gathered barely scratches the surface of what he would be worth today.
