Chris Beesley examines a talking point from Everton's 1-1 draw at Accrington Stanley
ECHO Everton reporter Chris Beesley has covered Everton and Liverpool both in the Premier League and abroad since 2005. He cut his teeth in professional sports journalism at the Ellesmere Port Pioneer and then the Welsh edition of the Daily Post, where he also covered Manchester United. Prior to that he worked on the student newspaper Pluto at the University of Central Lancashire, a role in which he first encountered David Moyes. Chris is well-known for his sartorial elegance and the aforementioned Scottish manager once enquired of him at a press conference: "Is that your dad's suit you've got on?" while the tradition continued in 2023 with new Blues boss Sean Dyche complimenting him on his smart appearance.
It took a late penalty from substitute Beto to spare Everton from defeat in their opening pre-season friendly of the summer at Accrington Stanley. But while David Moyes named a side that was close to being the strongest available to him at the time, his starting line-up was still missing a crucial element.
With the likes of Jordan Pickford, James Tarkowski, Idrissa Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye, plus new signing Thierno Barry, all yet to return, the cavalry remains on the horizon for the Blues, but Moyes still picked an XI at the Wham Stadium that had cost the club over £116million in the transfer market to face their League Two opponents.
Although he was actually the most expensive acquisition among that group having cost Everton £25m back in their big-spending summer of 2017, Michael Keane was not brought to Merseyside for his scoring prowess.
While it’s long been a quip – with tongues only slight in cheek – that Keane, who played up front as a schoolboy footballer, remains one of the best finishers at the club, the fact is that with 16 goals over his previous eight years with Everton (averaging two per season), he was the leading scorer for the club in the team that Moyes selected.
Next up was another former Burnley man, Dwight McNeil, duly the second most expensive signing in the team at £20m, who currently sits one goal behind Keane on 15 goals.
After that, another couple of defenders, Jarrad Branthwaite and Vitalii Mykolenko, each have four goals a piece, while midfielders Charly Alcaraz and James Garner both have two to their name. Then, among the outfielders, Nathan Patterson, Tim Iroegbunam, teenager Harrison Armstrong and – somewhat tellingly – Youssef Chermiti, who spearheaded the attack, have never found the net between them.
Since joining from Sporting CP in August 2023, the Azores-born frontman’s progress has been punctuated, with injuries hampering his progress, especially last season.
While Chermiti’s failure to break his scoring duck in 24 matches looks lamentable on face value, the majority of his outings have been brief cameos and his total first team minutes on the pitch total a mere 295, which is little over three full games and there were just 42 in 2024/25.
Although Chermiti is a towering presence at 6ft 4in, the same height as Beto, and just an inch less than new boy Barry at 6ft 5in, his natural game revolves less around physical strength, but almost two years on from his arrival, he appears to be toughening up and at the Wham Stadium he found himself embroiled in a dingdong battle with Accrington’s burly centre-half Farrend Rawson.
The striker – whose late brace at Sligo Rovers in Everton’s first friendly last summer spared their blushes in the west of Ireland – got himself on the end of a couple of inviting chances, as a diving header was tipped away by home keeper Ollie Wright before sliding in for a close range effort that was deflected wide.
It remains to be seen whether the Blues choose to loan out Chermiti this season to continue his development – a fate that could also come the way of Armstrong, who looked their most polished performer in Lancashire, but at just 18 might benefit from being sent on another temporary stint to the Championship to build on the progress he made when impressing Derby County fans in the second half of last term – but even at this early stage of pre-season it’s clear that the team desperately requires more firepower.
Moyes himself, who has made no secret of this need since the moment he first came back to the club in January, is understood to be eager to get more recruits through the door before his squad fly out to the USA next week.
However, while the need for new faces remains acute, an ability to deliver in the final third is also essential so it is crucial that the recruitment team also identify the right players with the right characters at the right price to avoid repeating the mistakes of the previous regime.