Former Everton defender Joleon Lescott has been speaking about the kind of players who are being linked with transfers to the Blues and how David Moyes has evolved as a manager
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Jack Grealish, Thierno Barry, Nick Woltemade and Kyle Walker have all been linked with potential moves to Everton this summer
Jack Grealish, Thierno Barry, Nick Woltemade and Kyle Walker have all been linked with potential moves to Everton this summer
Joleon Lescott believes the number of high-profile players being linked with Everton this summer shows that the club are moving in the right direction. Blues boss David Moyes faces a major overhaul of his squad with 10 senior players (including four of their loan men) from their 2024/25 squad have left Goodison Park and depending on how contract negotiations go with the others whose current deals expire at the end of this month, another four could potentially be heading out.
In their place, Everton have been linked with some big names such as serial winners Jack Grealish and Kyle Walker of Manchester City, UEFA European Under-21 Championship stars Thierno Barry of Villarreal and France, plus Nick Woltemade of Stuttgart and Germany, while Moyes made an unusually public pursuit of Liam Delap when his £30million release clause at Ipswich Town kicked in, discussing a potential move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium with the striker before he chose to join Chelsea instead.
Lescott, who played 143 games for Everton, scoring 17 goals, between 2006-09, reckons the calibre of names being rumoured to be in the mix is a positive though and told betway: “I think it’s a good sign because of the manager they’ve got. I think if it was linked with previous managers – and not to take anything away from them – I don’t think it was as stable and the fans wouldn’t have viewed it as positive. I think, before, Everton have recruited glamorous names and talent without having the right system in place.
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“The calm that David Moyes has brought back to the club allows the fans to be calm and settled. Going into a new stadium, that is a massive thing. I definitely see it as a plus that he’s the man who’s potentially attracting the names and targeting these players, because having known him and worked with David Moyes, these won’t be solely club targets.
“He would have been aware and they would have had to run it by him. In other clubs and even at Everton under other managers, you can recruit players and then say to the manager: ‘this is what squad is going to look like’.”
Known for his diligence in planning when it comes to recruitment, Moyes famously watched Lescott play no fewer than 24 times for Wolverhampton Wanderers before he gave the green light on a highly structured £5million deal to bring him to Goodison Park but would end up selling him to Manchester City for £22million. Now 42 and almost as old as the Scot was when he snapped him up, the Brummie former defender reckons his old gaffer has improved with age.
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Lescott said: “David has definitely changed. I think we all do as we get older and more experienced.
“Having spoken to players and people still at the club, he’s definitely changed and I think is more assured and has more belief in what he can achieve as a manager. He knows exactly what his strengths are.
Joleon Lescott at Goodison Park with David Moyes after signing for Everton in 2006
“When I worked with him, he tended to do everything, every facet, and that can take its toll as a manager and as a human, doing multiple jobs and doing them thoroughly. The year before I joined Everton, he was still taking the warm-ups before the games, which was crazy to me. But that’s who he is, and that’s what’s got him to the success he’s had.
“He’s more aware now of the different cultures and temperaments of players. I think he’s probably the one manager that’s transitioned from a previous generation very well.
“There’s an old-school mentality that came prior to me playing that you could rule with an iron fist and get the outcome you wanted. As time goes on, I think he’s realised that doesn’t work nowadays as much, so maybe recruit and delegate to staff members that have a better connection. It takes a confident man and manager to know to do that, and be willing to do that.”
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Back in 2004/05, Moyes, who steered Everton to nine top-eight finishes during his first spell at the club, took them from finishing 17th on 39 points the previous season to the Blues’ highest-ever Premier League placing of fourth. Although Nottingham Forest weren’t quite able to repeat the feat in 2024/25, eventually coming seventh to secure qualification for the UEFA Conference League, after being in the Champions League places for most of the season – one of Everton’s five away wins under Moyes, 1-0 on April 12 put them off their stride – Lescott reckons the Blues might be able to do something similar next term and be one of the division’s surprise packages.
He said: “They definitely have a chance. I hope they’re competitive.
“I’m sure they believe they will be, and the reason I think they could be is because of Moyes’ style. He accommodates the players he’s got and considers the team he’s playing against, rather than a lot of coaches that just want to play a certain way and don’t consider their own players.”