(Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
At the end of the season, I wrote about the need for Everton to act with decisiveness and urgency this summer.
Three weeks on, the World Cup is well under way and the transfer window is now officially open, yet Everton’s squad remains the same as it was at the end of the campaign. Technically, you could say it’s weaker.
The early signs, in all fairness, were generally positive.
A move for Middlesbrough’s Hayden Hackney was launched, but that deal now seems to have reached an impasse. I still think it’s likely Hackney ends up as an Everton player, but then again I harbour doubts over whether he should be the priority in midfield.
Transfer windows don’t work in a linear way, though, and clubs have to be ready to pounce on opportunities when they come up.
And it seemed as though there was a confidence that the deal for Hackney would be able to be wrapped up quickly, around Everton’s valuation (which is reportedly in the £15M ballpark).
However, Middlesbrough do not appear to be willing to play ball, at least just yet, and are holding firm on a valuation that is higher than Everton are currently willing to meet.
It also seemed Everton were very much advancing on potential right-back targets, with the initial talk being that the Toffees were very keen to get at least one player, if not two, in before the World Cup got going.
That deadline has now passed, and no players are in the door.
To add to the frustration, there is still no further progress — at least, progress that has become public knowledge — on deals for Jack Grealish or Tyrique George.
In both instances, it seems as though Everton are attempting to negotiate the best deal for the club, which is absolutely what they should be doing.
But, there are decent counterpoints.
The situation with Grealish, in this writer’s opinion, could have been resolved earlier. Sure, it did not help that he has been injured, but the 30-year-old was not that far away from returning by the time the end of the campaign.
If he is so integral to the project, and seen as such a key acquisition, surely there’s a good argument to say that Everton should already have struck a deal with Manchester City to get Grealish in the door well in advance of pre-season, and provide a timely boost.
In George’s case, Everton hold an option. Yet they do not seem willing to exercise it.
That stems from David Moyes’ failure to give George more minutes, and therefore it has made it harder to judge whether the 20-year-old is worth a reported £22-25M outlay right now.
There’ll be those who just want Everton to pay the money, and those who feel it is absolutely right to try and pinch every penny.
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, and the worry is that Everton let a prime opportunity to sign not only a talented youngster, but one who has settled well at the club and provides the attributes the team sorely lack in wide areas, slip through their fingers. That option won’t be there forever — can they really afford to not take it?
Then there is the contractual situation with Idrissa Gueye, with Everton confirming last week that talks are continuing with the Senegal international’s representatives. But the sense I get is he may well be edging towards the exit door.
With the World Cup going on, and focus on Everton now having to pay close to £40M to Burnley in compensation (subject to an appeal, which is likely to drag on into next season), the cynics among the fanbase may suggest there are some convenient excuses flying around for the powers that be not to have acted sooner.
I do not quite fall into that camp just yet, but it is certainly frustrating.
Everton, I feel, did show an eagerness to act with some urgency, yet so far, the results are more of the same. They cannot allow June to drag on too much longer before doing business, and the pressure has to be on Everton’s deal-makers to get those deals done at the right price for the club, without them dragging on much longer.
There is simply too much to do this summer, both in terms of ins and outs, for the wheels not to start turning very soon.
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