David Moyes could sign Everton’s next superstar striker this summer
Everton are hoping to make a splash this transfer window ahead of their move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium and with striker arguably their most dire need, a devalued Premier League wonderkid could be just the player to fire the Toffees back to competing for European qualification.
Once valued at £120 million by Brighton, Evan Ferguson has seen his stock plummet after an injury-riddled 2024 where he missed five months with a cruciate ligament tear and then all of January 2025 with an ankle problem before becoming the latest in a long and illustrious line of strikers to fail miserably at West Ham in an ill-fated loan spell.
The 20-year-old’s most recent club goal came last October so Brighton are considering cashing in on the Irishman while they still can, and Everton could be the perfect destination.
An excellent man-manager, David Moyes would stand as good a chance of anyone of revitalising Ferguson’s career and £45m for him could pay off handsomely as Everton look to put over half a decade of woe behind them and start challenging in the top half of the Premier League again.
Everton are hunting a number nine this summer with another failed loannee returning to his parent club in Armando Broja, Dominic Calvert-Lewin out of contract and looking unlikely to re-sign and Beto attracting interest from other clubs in a summer where Everton don’t have too many valuable assets up for sale. For a club who have been crying out for a true superstar at centre forward since Romelu Lukaku’s departure, Ferguson could be the perfect fit.
Romelu Lukaku-like Evan Ferguson ticks all David Moyes’ boxes
Calvert-Lewin seemed like he could be the answer to David Moyes’ prayers when his opening goal inspired Everton to a memorable first win of the Scot’s second era on at Goodison Park, 3-2 over Tottenham, and afterwards Moyes waxed lyrical about his star striker’s ability to kickstart the Toffees’ season, saying: "People keep telling me he has not been getting many chances. Well, he has had his chances in the last two games, he has his goal.
"The biggest thing today is he played like a proper number nine at times today. He made the centre halves worried, he was a threat, he was challenging, winning a good percentage of his aerial duels. He got involved in everything, a lot of really good things today."
Calvert-Lewin would only play 44 minutes under Moyes as he suffered a hamstring injury a week later (against Brighton, ironically) that put him out for a hundred days and looks to have sealed his fate in royal blue. So Everton have a gaping need at striker and Ferguson would tick the requirements Moyes listed of Calvert-Lewin: strong in the air, leading the line and forcing the central defenders to focus on him, and a clinical finisher having outperformed his xG at Brighton every season since breaking through.
But if Ferguson can rediscover his best form at Everton he’d more than surpass Calvert-Lewin - he’d become the best striker on Merseyside since Lukaku left Goodison Park in 2017.
The Englishman never had the same deadeye shot on him and Ferguson can replicate Lukaku’s hold-up play too despite his slightly smaller stature, while he can beat a man with the ball at his feet on the rare occasion he does drive at the defence - boasting a sensational 57.1% take-on percentage in the 2023/24 Premier League that put him in the top 5% of strikers in the division.
Moyes missed Lukaku by just a few months the first time around but has shown his ability to get the best out of strikers from Wayne Rooney to Andy Johnson to Yakubu to Nikita Jelavic while Iliman Ndiaye has already come on leaps and bounds under the Scotman’s tutelage, and could form a deadly partnership with Ferguson.
Cut-price Evan Ferguson could turn out to be bargain
Transfermarkt valued Ferguson at €65m (£55m) at his peak, but that’s now more than halved to €25m (£21m) and Brighton’s asking price for Ferguson has consistently been just over double that number so it appears a bid of around £45m would tempt the Seagulls into selling.
They certainly don’t need to - The Athletic estimates Brighton have the second-highest allowable Profit and Sustainability Rules loss in the league this summer at £295m and Fabian Hurzeler is planning to accommodate the possible loss of Joao Pedro this summer - but this has always been a winning formula for the team that were League 1 stalwarts less than 15 years ago.
If Ferguson continues to falter they could lose him for relative pennies in 2027 or 2028 ahead of his contract expiring, while a change of scene that’s not a black hole for strikers like West Ham may be just what the Irishman needs to revitalise his career.
He would definitely be a risk given his injury record when a proven Toffee like Richarlison will be available for around the same amount, but Ferguson has the skill set to be world class and if Moyes believes he can get the Irishman firing on all cylinders again Everton will instantly become contenders for European football and could make a 200% profit down the line.
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