LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Everton manager David Moyes applauds the fans after the Premier League match between Everton and Southampton at Goodison Park on May 18, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images)
Everton manager David Moyes applauds the fans after the final game of the season
Everton’s summer is up and running. After a lull through most of June, all of a sudden the pace of business has quickened and the momentum is all heading in one way.
The news the club is advancing is of huge significance. Meanwhile, the - while expected - provides a key pillar of stability through what is set to be a summer of major transition.
The coming weeks will feature setbacks and compromises - one transfer window cannot be the antidote to all the problems faced by a squad left threadbare due to years of turmoil. But a solid platform is being laid for and co to build towards progress.
That supporters have much to look forward to has been clear for some time. Over recent seasons the new stadium rising on the banks of the Mersey became a life raft to be clung onto through some desperate moments.
So often have I stood on the platform at Sandhills, hours after a match has finished, and looked across to what is now the Hill Dickinson Stadium and wondered whether the brighter days it represented would ever become a reality. That was particularly true after some of those tough home games in the last season at Goodison Park - the defeats to Brighton, Bournemouth, Southampton in the Carabao Cup and then Nottingham Forest just before the new year.
It was also a feature of post-match musings after defeats such as those to Brighton under and Newcastle under , results that made relegation seem horrendously plausible.
As the waterfront project moved closer to completion the uncertainty became less about whether it would be completed and more about what state the club would be in once it got there.
Well, six weeks or so from the first senior men’s game there, the reality is better than could have been hoped for. The stability provided by new owners is one obvious boost but the momentum built by Moyes since his return has been an added bonus.
The manner in which he led the Blues to safety was incredible and the support he built in the stands along the way meant the surge in confidence that followed was as visible among the fanbase as it was in the players.
The challenge was, and still remains, the extent to which he can take that into the new stadium. So far, the signs are good.
The deal to make a permanent signing was an easy win given the impact he had and how little Flamengo were willing to accept to part ways with the 22-year-old.
The deal to keep at the club, though announced on Friday, also felt like a relatively safe bet. For most of us, any uncertainty about whether he would remain at the club was removed when he left the pitch against Southampton bellowing instructions at his team-mates rather than with a tear in his eye akin to the obvious farewell display of an hour later.
The announcement of the new contract remains a big positive though. Yes, Coleman is 36 and his body has reduced him to a limited role in Moyes’ matchday plans. But he is the embodiment of modern Everton and no player’s character resonates with the fanbase as much as his.
He will not only be a tangible link between the dressing room and the seats at the new stadium, he will also be a trusted ally of Moyes who can set standards and make clear to the many new players who will arrive this summer exactly what it means to wear Royal Blue. To have his voice at a time of such change is useful.
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While Coleman and, to an extent Moyes, represent a thread of Everton history running into the new era, the hope has .
Already a talisman, the club entered this summer like it did the last - desperate to retain his services. The length of his existing contract meant the club, technically, held all the cards.
But to spend another close season telling the world he is too important to sell would have been hollow to the player had new terms not been proposed. It was important Everton squared that circle when they opened talks, as I reported, earlier this month.
Whether they could get the 23-year-old to commit to the club's new project was the big question, given he has attracted interest from Champions League clubs ahead of a year in which he is desperate to make the England squad for the 2026 World Cup but had concerns over whether the Blues would offer him the chance to make a serious play for that role.
That deal has not yet been reached, but talks are advancing well and there is a growing expectation a new contract will be signed.
Ahead of the transfer window intensifying, that is a real coup for Everton and Moyes. The Blues boss wants to build around and the opportunity for the club to enter a new era with one of Europe’s most promising centre-backs at the heart of the defence was one Moyes was desperate to take. Getting it over the line will be a real statement of intent.
Good business has been done in tough circumstances over recent summers. But gone is the almost apologetic manner in which Everton have had to operate in order to stave off the threat of relegation and financial calamity.
There is, of course, no guarantee that the future will be as bright as everyone around the club hopes. But the building blocks, and the work behind them, give legitimate reason for excitement.