David Moyes currently has just 15 senior players to call upon - 17 if you include Harry Tyrer and Harrison Armstrong - as pre-season steps up
Everton manager David Moyes looks on during the Premier League win at Newcastle United. Photo by Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images
Everton manager David Moyes looks on during the Premier League win at Newcastle United. Photo by Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images
Everton kick-off their pre-season friendlies with a trip to Accrington Stanley next week.
Days later, David Moyes will take his side to Ewood Park to face Blackburn Rovers before the first team squad travels to the USA for the Premier League Summer Series event.
With the close season now behind the club, work is now focused on preparations for an historic first season at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. This is how Moyes’ squad, which could not fill a 20-man Premier League matchday allocation without academy youngsters, currently looks.
Two senior goalkeepers on the books
The first team squad now boasts 17 players if goalkeeper Harry Tyrer is counted within it. The 23-year-old has not made a senior outing for Everton but does have consecutive seasons of loan experience behind him, having had successful spells at Chesterfield then Blackpool.
Moyes will no doubt want at least one signing with greater experience to provide cover for Jordan Pickford but, as it stands, Tyrer would be in line for the squad next week. Everton do have talent in their academy in this position - George Pickford had a good year in the Under-21s last season and teenager Douglass Lukjanciks is a highly-rated England youth international. Both are with the squad in Scotland for a pre-season training camp this week.
But Tyrer looks set to be the backup in these early days of training ground work.
Is Jake O’Brien currently first choice right back?
Centre back is one of the only positions in which Everton are well stocked, following the new deal reached with Michael Keane. Moyes wants to build around the partnership of Jarrad Branthwaite and James Tarkowski but should the latter, who suffered a serious hamstring issue in April, need additional time for rehabilitation he has both Keane and Jake O’Brien to call upon.
O’Brien’s performances at right back last season and the club’s long-term struggles in that position mean there is a chance he gets pulled out wide. This meant a fourth option was viewed as essential and, when there was a chance Keane might leave, the Blues lined a replacement up. Moyes pushed to re-engage with Keane though and he signed a 12 month contract last week.
Everton are still in the market for a right back after losing out on Kenny Tete, who the club held talks with only to see him take on a new deal at Fulham. Seamus Coleman and Nathan Patterson could both make a play for that spot but the troubling injury records of both players makes it tough for the club to comprehend another campaign without addressing it. Cover and competition for Vitalii Mykolenko on the left would also be welcome.
With Accrington potentially coming too soon for Tarkowski to play, Moyes will give an early indication of how he assesses his options at the back in his decision over whether O’Brien starts in the middle or on the right.
Work to do in the middle - even with Idrissa Gueye deal expected
The central midfield needs work this summer. It was an area Moyes highlighted as needing support when he arrived in January - and that was before Orel Mangala suffered his terrible knee injury at Brighton. Abdoulaye Doucoure has since departed, leaving teen starlet Harrison Armstrong, Tim Iroegbunam and James Garner as the only central midfielders officially on the books. That is likely to change, with Idrissa Gueye expected to be part of the club’s plans going forward. But it is an area in need of strengthening.
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The desperate need for right wing options
The greatest area of need is on the right wing, however. Last season saw Jack Harrison and Jesper Lindstrom share duties in this area and both loanees have since returned to their parent clubs.
Moyes could look at Dwight McNeil or Iliman Ndiaye on that side of the pitch but both appear more at home on the left which, with Carlos Alcaraz also having spent minutes there, is the only position alongside centre back where Moyes has genuine options and backup.
Beto set to lead the line - for now at least
Up top, Beto is the club’s first-choice striker following the departure of Dominic Calvert-Lewin. His goals in the second half of last season were crucial to the form that carried Everton away from trouble and, with Youssef Chermiti so relatively inexperienced after a year of injury, the Guinea Bissau international has an opportunity to lead the forward line heading into the first season on the waterfront.
Both players may soon have competition from Thierno Barry, should a deal for the Villarreal forward get over the line. But, for now, the crown belongs to Beto.