Ronald Koeman became the third Premier League managerial casualty of the season on Monday when he was sacked by Everton. The 54-year-old Dutchman – who guided Everton to seventh in his first season in charge last term – paid the price for a desperate start to the campaign despite having spent £140 million in the close season.

Sunday’s 5-2 humbling at home to Arsenal which saw them drop into the bottom three sealed his fate and despite taking training on Monday he received a visit from club chairman Bill Kenwright.

“Everton Football Club can confirm that Ronald Koeman has left the Club,” read the Everton statement. “Chairman Bill Kenwright, the Board of Directors and Major Shareholder Farhad Moshiri would all like to express their gratitude to Ronald for the service he has given to the Club over the past 16 months and for guiding the Club to seventh place in last season’s Premier League.”

Koeman, who arrived at Goodison Park after a successful spell in charge of Southampton, splashed the money on the likes of Icelandic international Gylfi Sigurdsson in the summer. However, despite also persuading former golden boy Wayne Rooney to return from Manchester United he crucially failed to replace record goalscorer Romelu Lukaku with Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud declining the chance to join them.

Last week, Leicester City sacked Craig Shakespeare four months after handing him a permanent contract to manage the former Premier League champions. In September, Crystal Palace had sacked manager Frank de Boer after a dismal start to the Premier League season.