Everton face West Ham in their next league match.placeholder image
Everton face West Ham in their next league match. | Getty Images
Everton have enjoyed a solid start to the season but David Moyes has already identified a priority signing for January.
Everton have enjoyed a typically David Moyes start to the season with the sort of consistency that has been missing almost since the day he left to join Man Utd.
The defence is still the strongest area of the Toffees’ play despite attacking additions and signing of flair players like Jack Grealish and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall with the manager still not entirely keen to let the handbrake completely off. After losing so many players at the end of last season though, he has worked minor miracles with the recruitment team to build a squad capable of challenging for European places once again.
Everton identify priority January signing
There is still a lot of work to do though with TEAMtalk reporting that one position in particular has been highlighted as a priority after the 1-1 draw with West Ham United at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. Jake O’Brien is doing a good job out of his natural centre-half position, however, Moyes is now said to be looking for an upgrade with an Everton insider confirming to TEAMtalk: “That is one of the areas we are looking at”.
It wasn’t for the want of trying in the summer with Moyes trying to persuade Kyle Walker, Fulham’s Kenny Tete and Kyle Walker-Peters all being mentioned as possible targets with Seamus Coleman’s body no longer capable of matching what he brings to the squad in terms of leadership. What it also means is that the future of Nathan Patterson continues to look bleak who just hasn’t been able to settle on Merseyside after his £16m move from Rangers.
Caught in a vicious cycle of not being able to get a run of games because he can’t stay fit, the Scotland international looked all set to join Sevilla on loan in the summer only for Everton’s inability to secure a replacement to cause the deal to fall through. Patterson has returned to fitness but after missing some of pre-season will be short of match sharpness despite his place on the bench over the last three Premier League games.
What Moyes has said about the need for defensive reinforcements
Speaking via The Independent before the window shut after beating Mansfield in the Carabao Cup, Moyes was fully aware of the situation and had spoken about the difficulty Everton had in persuading players to sign: “We wanted to try and give as many players (as possible) a game. I’ve not got any defenders. I’m very limited to what I can choose defensive-wise. It already has changed a lot of my plans because, obviously, we’re without Jarrad and we have been without Myko for, certainly, the first couple of games. We had this at the end of last season as well, we’ve had it all through the summer. It’s not as if we’ve necessarily got it better.
“We’ve got people back, but others are injured. We’ve just got to make sure that we’re not short again if we can help it – and certainly we were short for the first two games in the Premier League.” What Moyes will be hoping, is that the current form continues and that Everton are competing for a place in Europe with the sort of league position and stability that should make it easier to attract new signings. The majority of the hard work has been done in terms of rebuilding the squad, with only one or two specific positions needed, January shouldn’t be quite as stressful.
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