The Friedkin Group were prepared to sell Harrison Armstrong. To their credit, they U-turned on that decision, but Everton's wantaway owners need fully to reverse their misstep
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 24: Mikel Merino of Arsenal takes on Harrison Armstrong of Everton during the Premier League 2026/27 match between Arsenal FC and Everton at Emirates Stadium on October 24, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Harrison Armstrong, pictured battling for the ball with Mikel Merino, underlined his huge promise with an excellent display for Everton in their defeat at Arsenal
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If Saturday was a wake-up call, if one was needed, of the difficulties the Everton squad will face when confronted by absences, it also served as a reminder of just how bad a decision it would have been by the club's owners to sell Harrison Armstrong.
It's well-documented that it was an abject end to the transfer window for the Blues. Four first-team players were sold on deadline day for £100m-plus, including Iliman Ndiaye and Beto, who accounted for 31% of Everton's goals in the Premier League last season, while just two were brought in, Ainsley Maitland-Niles for £4m from Lyon and Jack Grealish on another loan from Manchester City.
The Friedkin Group (TFG), in their defence, were prepared to sanction a big-money move for Monaco and US World Cup star Folarin Balogun but that deal collapsed in dramatic fashion, leaving David Moyes with just one senior striker, to go along with one senior right-back and one senior left-back, in a first-team squad containing just 18 outfield players.
READ MORE: Who makes David Moyes contract and January transfer window calls with Everton up for sale?
READ MORE: Seamus Coleman slams TFG's Everton transfer shambles - 'Who sells a striker before you get one in?'
Even Seamus Coleman, a modern-day Blues great who is protective of the club he left in the summer but still cares deeply about, was moved to say this week: "Who sells a striker before you get one in?
“We can all have frustrations, and the performances probably weren’t where they should be, but you can’t even take off your striker, who might be tired from running around, to replace him with another one, because you don’t have one. We’re talking about a Premier League-level club. I just don’t understand how that can happen."
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Fortunately for Moyes, his only fit and available frontman, Thierno Barry, has stayed exactly that so far this season.
But the club's failure to add to the manager's squad before the summer window closed reared its head, probably for the first time but unlikely to be the last before it reopens in January, in the weekend's 2-0 defeat at Premier League champions Arsenal, who last night suffered a hugely embarrassing Carabao Cup exit at the hands of League Two Fleetwood Town.
Already missing Jarrad Branthwaite through concussion protocols and Grealish through illness, Moyes then lost his only left-back, Vitalii Mykolenko, to injury during a match in which, in truth, the Gunners cruised to victory in a manner in which they were unable to in last season's corresponding clash.
Should the trio not recover in time, that would leave Everton with just 15 fit and available players for Thursday's important Carabao Cup fourth-round tie at home to Newcastle United. To echo Coleman's words, how can that happen at a Premier League club?
The answer, it appears, is because TFG are already contemplating a future away from Merseyside.
Their statement on October 9 confirmed that the owners are "exploring new investment options for the club, including the potential sale of a controlling interest".
Dan Friedkin owns Everton and Roma
Dan Friedkin owns Everton and Roma(Massimo Insabato/Archivio Massimo Insabato/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
Crucially, TFG also said that their "focus will remain unchanged" and that they "will support the club in all ways necessary to achieve success on the pitch."
Should they remain in charge by January, that means bolstering a squad that simply has to solder on until then. And it also means protecting one of the club's biggest assets - an asset they were prepared to sell.
TFG's willingness to accept Nottingham Forest's £40m offer for Armstrong, despite misgivings from inside the club, two days before the close of the transfer window, and on the morning of the match at Bournemouth, set off alarm bells in the Everton fan base.
And those supporters who made the long trip to the Vitality Stadium certainly made their feelings clear with chants of: “Don’t sell Armstrong, Harrison Armstrong, I just don’t think you understand. If you sell Armstrong, Harrison Armstrong, you’re gonna have a riot on your hands.”
Those protests led to TFG ending talks with Forest about selling the 19-year-old, who has started all eight of the Blues' Premier League fixtures so far this season and underlined his huge promise with an excellent display against an Arsenal side boasting some of the finest players in the world.
Armstrong certainly appreciated the show of support, telling evertontv recently: "The (support) has meant the world to me and my family. In a moment where… I understand it’s part of the game and you’re going to have to experience moments like that, but for a fanbase to get involved and show as much support as they did, is special.
BOURNEMOUTH, ENGLAND - AUGUST 29: Everton's James Tarkowski (right) at the final whistle the fans at the final whistle during the Premier League 2026/27 match between AFC Bournemouth and Everton at Vitality Stadium on August 29, 2026 in Bournemouth, England. (Photo by David Horton - CameraSport via Getty Images)
James Tarkowski, Everton's late hero, hugs Harrison Armstrong after the 1-1 draw at Bournemouth(Image: David Horton - CameraSport via Getty Images)
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“I don’t think I’ve seen that before. I’ve given me confidence, it’s made me feel loved. And it’s cemented that this is the place to be for me.”
Armstrong signed a new three-and-a-half year contract with the club until the end of June 2028, with an option for a further year, in February 2025.
But given the impression he is making - no player, other than Brighton & Hove Albion class-act Pascal Gross (94.1km), has covered more distance than the England Under-21 international (92.7km) in the Premier League this season, for example - it would be no surprise if clubs bigger than Forest come calling in January or next summer.
Armstrong, one of only three teenagers playing in the Premier League to have started every game this season, isn't the finished product. Goals and assists, for instance, are something he needs, and can in time, add to his armoury.
But he is a player Everton need to be building their future around. And if TFG are not around themselves to oversee that future, they can help in that regard by giving Armstrong the contract that reflects his status as a key member of Moyes' paper-thin first-team squad.
While that wouldn't fully erase the memory of that series of extraordinary events at Bournemouth, it would fully reverse a misstep the owners should never have made.