Everton's owners, The Friedkin Group, has officially pulled the plug on a deal that would have sold 19-year-old midfielder Harrison Armstrong to Nottingham Forest, supposedly following a massive wave of fan opposition.
According to reports from The Athletic, Nottingham Forest had advanced to late-stage discussions over a transfer package worth £40M plus a future sell-on clause. However, Everton’s board — led by Dan Friedkin and The Friedkin Group — made a unanimous decision over the weekend to keep the academy graduate on Merseyside, viewing him as a vital piece of the club's long-term project.
The Transfer Saga and Fan Reaction
Advanced Talks: According to David Ornstein, Forest had emerged as serious suitors on Saturday morning, bidding to make a shock permanent move for the England youth international midfielder.
Supporter Backlash: News of the potential departure triggered immediate and vocal anger across the Everton fanbase. Travelling Blues at the Vitality Stadium chanted Armstrong's name continuously throughout Saturday's 1-1 draw against Bournemouth, explicitly demanding the hierarchy refuse any deal.
Ownership Intervention: David Ornstien now claims the fan reaction served as a major factor in the decision to U-turn on the deal. Talks held late into Saturday resulted in The Friedkin Group pulling out of negotiations and reaffirming Armstrong's status as a core homegrown asset.
David Moyes on Matchday
Manager David Moyes addressed the situation after Saturday's match at Bournemouth, reiterating his desire to retain the squad's best talents and acknowledging the voice of the supporters:
"You always have to consider supporters; supporters aren't always wrong... I don't think we can afford to lose any players, certainly not our better ones."
Despite the off-pitch noise, it seemed a very deliberate act under the circumstances for David Moyes to select Armstrong in midfield against Bournemouth, despite Ornstein himself saying earlier that Armstrong would not be in the Everton squad. Armstrong put in an energetic 87-minute shift before James Tarkowski bagged a late stoppage-time equalizer to rescue a point for Everton.
Reality Bites for TFG?
The decision to retain Armstrong marks an important moment for The Friedkin Group early in their custodianship of Everton Football Club. The prospect that they would even consider selling one of Everton's brightest homegrown talents only intensified a deep distrust that has been building for a long time among many in the fanbase.
The Friedkin Group has been noticeable in its perplexing absence from any Everton game since the financially critical takeover from Farhad Moshiri's disastrous regime.
By finally rejecting Forest's £40M proposal, the board may be hoping to send a message that elite academy progression takes priority over short-term financial gains as the club builds towards its future. But the very thought that such a move was seriously considered in any event will remain a serious concern for many Evertonians.
Quotes sourced from The Athletic [£]
Reader Comments (22)
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer ()
I need to say a massive thank you to our fans who sang their hearts out at the Vitality because it would seem that they have single-handedly changed our board's decision to sell Harrison.
I am not a fan of Moyes but I also have to thank him for standing with us and showing his clear frustration when answering the questions at his post-match press conference. It was clear that he was standing over his sword when he made his comments and I felt that he was about to distance himself from the hierarchy.
Maybe I've read it wrong but I think they were definitely going to sanction Harrison's departure... but our fans, at the 11th hour, changed our board's minds by making their point heard.
Kinnear is clearly out if step with Moyes and I suspect we have not heard the last of this. Chuffed to bits Harrison Armstrong is staying. A future captain of the club in the making. Feels like a watershed. UTFTs
2 Posted 30/08/2026 at 10:58:08
Doesn't all this palaver just pile even more pressure on Armstrong?
He should have just had a nice season bedding in to life as a Premier League footballer now... unless he turns out to be the next Messi -- God help him!
3 Posted 30/08/2026 at 11:13:11
Everton have knocked Forest back, they have told them Armstrong is not for sale.
As for Tete he knocked us back last season, so why go for him again, he is another year older and injury prone
4 Posted 30/08/2026 at 11:17:24
More rumours about us and Forest. We were trying to buy their right-back Aina but that deal has now collapsed together with Harrison transfer.
5 Posted 30/08/2026 at 11:20:50
Common sense prevails, with a lot of help from the support
Admittedly every player in every Club has a price but unless we are close to falling foul again financially we have to do everything we can to keep our better present and future players
Might be the right time to put young Armstrong on a deal more in line with other team mates.
I suspect he’s a long way below Hackney, George, Dibbling, Rohl and Johnstone
6 Posted 30/08/2026 at 11:48:22
TFG have shown their cards and they're not good at bluffing. I fear any trust in them has gone beyond repair regardless of who is brought in by deadline day.
The fact the Armstrong sale was even being considered by them has left a toxic atmosphere with the fans. Dan Friedman needs to stand up and be recorded saying we will not be selling our best talent... but they won't give guarantees.
The great thing about this sorry episode is that the Evertonians have stood up to the owners and made their feelings clear -- no fan support, no club! is something TFG need to understand and quickly. Well done to the supporters, the new owners are going to be scrutinised very closely and be kept in close sight.
7 Posted 30/08/2026 at 12:41:18
I see that it's now being reported that Everton will now reject the offer for Armstrong after the push back from our fanbase. It also added that Harrison's preference is to stay at Everton. Some good news at least.
8 Posted 30/08/2026 at 12:45:39
"However, Everton’s board — led by Dan Friedkin and The Friedkin Group — made a unanimous decision over the weekend to keep the academy graduate on Merseyside, viewing him as a vital piece of the club's long-term project"
They didn't view him as a vital piece of a long term project until the fan backlash yesterday.
Bollocks, they caved under pressure
9 Posted 30/08/2026 at 13:03:24
It’s good to see that we can influence our owners. It’s just a shame we had to kick up a fuss to stop them from making such a crazy decision.
Sod’s Law says that Armstrong gets crocked against United and doesn’t play again til March!
10 Posted 30/08/2026 at 13:04:44
The Friedkin Group showed their true colours yesterday, and only for the fans' backlash, Armstrong would have been sold.
Selling Ndiaye today shows they have no ambition in moving us forward, and reportedly trying to sign the Fulham reserve, says everything about Kinnear.
11 Posted 30/08/2026 at 13:14:26
On another note, if we have to lose somebody id rather it was iliman, as hes a little inconsistent, lacks end product and doesn't score enough for his talent. There's a reason he moves from club to club. Utft
12 Posted 30/08/2026 at 13:26:50
Agree with the general sentiment here. The owners have just lost the fans. It will be very hard to repair.
They’ve shown that they just don’t understand the fundamental basics of Everton Football Club. They’ve shown that they’re nowhere near as intelligent or competent as we’d hoped. They’ve shown that they have no real plan and seem to have a ‘club policy’ completely at odds with the manager's skill-set.
Morale has been low all summer and is getting worse.
13 Posted 30/08/2026 at 13:40:02
I am absolutely convinced that the climbdown by the owners was because of the backlash from the fans, making this a watershed moment in our history.
Well done to the away fans yesterday who played a huge part in preventing our brightest prospect from being sold. I would also like to acknowledge the influential role played by journalists like Phil McNulty and others.
Not sure if Moyes deserves any credit here, because he seemed to be on the wall, but his obvious displeasure at losing players maybe tilted the balance in favour of keeping Armstrong.
14 Posted 30/08/2026 at 13:40:50
Piss weak owners who need fucking off imo.
Wanted to take the money for Armstrong, now looking to move Ndiaye on, why after barely spending a penny do we have to sell anyone?
We should be buying Richalison, keeping all our best players, and cashing in on fringe players like Keane, Patterson and Beto in order to compete.
Unfortunately, the owners do not give a fuck about us... much more interested in Roma.
15 Posted 30/08/2026 at 13:50:18
Everton's away support is the best in the league. So many times they've dragged us to a result. But yesterday outshone anything they've done before. Thank you boys and girls. You have pulled off a marvel.
Don't be slagging off TFG though. I can think of plenty of club ownerships who would not have done this U-turn. And maybe Moyes had a hand in the machinations behind closed doors last night, so don't presume he had nothing to do with it.
Question marks still over Kinnear though. Would he really have done the deed? Let's just hope the financial situation isn't as bleak as some have said or we may just have postponed the inevitable, albeit not for a handful of beans to Forest.
16 Posted 30/08/2026 at 13:53:56
"However, Everton’s board — led by Dan Friedkin and The Friedkin Group — made a unanimous decision over the weekend to keep the academy graduate on Merseyside, viewing him as a vital piece of the club's long-term project."
"By finally rejecting Forest's £40M proposal, the board may be hoping to send a message that elite academy progression takes priority over short-term financial gains as the club builds towards its future."
Bollocks they do, if he was a vital piece of the jigsaw they wouldn't have gotten anywhere near advanced talks, they'd have laughed down the 'phone at the first call and hung up.
He's just another asset on the spreadsheet.
17 Posted 30/08/2026 at 13:54:30
I think there is a huge positive here, are the owners weak? Yes. Does the CEO lie through his teeth? Yes, of course he does. Is Moyes frustrating as hell, but capable? Yes.
But look what fans can do, pressure owners into making the right decision. As far as I am concerned, it's a big win, we beat them. It's our club, they are just custodians and nothing else.
18 Posted 30/08/2026 at 13:56:33
Maybe I don’t fully understand how these decisions are made — does anyone? — but while this was madness to contemplate in the first place, I hope that when the dust settles that as much anger is directed at Kinnear and his team as the owners.
Somebody help me out here. Whom does Forest contact first when tabling a bid? I assume it’s not TFG. Lost in some of this, as much as we don’t want to acknowledge it, is that Armstrong and his agent had to sign off on this. Maybe that’s left for another discussion, and maybe he’s been rejecting improved contract offers, or asking for improved terms and not getting them. Or maybe he just wasn’t willing to turn down £100,000/week at his age, playing for a basket case of a club (and was willing to leave for another one). But back to the bid.
I would think Kinnear and his team get word of the bid, then bring it to ownership, since they’re the football men, ownership the money men. Their recommendation to TFG should’ve been to tell Forest to fuck off. Unless of course we’re so hard up for money that they were recommending the move, say, to allow for us to bring in a not-Kenny Tete RB, plus Balogun or a not-aging Richy forward, plus Grealish, plus LB. Which on the face of it is still madness from a club perspective, but from a footballing perspective might make sense to aim for Europe this season, given how many central midfielders we already have and how much we need to improve in other areas, especially knowing we’re losing Ndiaye.
TFG I’m guessing don’t know much about our squad, our fan base, our culture. They don’t seem to give a shit about our club besides making money. That’s probably true of a good number of owners, and we’d be careful to wish for otherwise, especially given what we went through with our last ownership group. That’s not an defenss of them, but just the sad truth. All of which makes me wonder whether we’ve been totally bullshitted about our finances.
Because the alternative to me is that Kinnear and the recruitment team, who at least understand English football, thought selling our best young local player in a generation, was a good idea that wouldn’t generate immense backlash. And I shudder to think our leadership team, or whatever the fuck we’re calling them, are that fucking stupid.
19 Posted 30/08/2026 at 13:58:44
Look...Armstrong situation was a BIG mistake and they've backed down, Illie wants to go, so fuck him...Richie is light years ahead of our other 2 strikers, even at his age.
Patterson may move on because Moyes obviously doesn't fancy him. Keto, is an unknown, let's see how he fares.
Strange times but they may be thinking that Moyes contract will not be renewed so won't back him with big money, I don't know, I'm guessing.
21 Posted 30/08/2026 at 14:24:21
Who says Ndiaye wants to go ?
He's not put in a request, he has 3 years on his deal, he gave 100% yesterday so why sell him ?
Piss weak ownership.
22 Posted 30/08/2026 at 14:24:46
We have the right result, however, let’s get it right, it should never have come to this
Forest have every right to make an offer 1000%. The arseholes running the Club should have immediately rejected the bid and made it known
I do not know how much influence this CEO has in decisions but obviously he has very little or is a complete non entity
Get this kid signed up on a decent contract and tell everyone he’s ours. Similarly Illy.
Tell City to F off or match what the paid for Grealish
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
» Log in now
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site.