What Everton’s dream £206m starting XI will look like next season – if transfer rumours are trueWhat Everton’s dream £206m starting XI will look like next season – if transfer rumours are true
What Everton’s dream £206m starting XI will look like next season – if transfer rumours are true | Getty Images
What will Everton’s squad look like next season? We look at their likely summer transfers to work it out...
This is going to be a summer of change for Everton. Not only are they leaving their Goodison Park home forever, but the new owners seem primed to back manager David Moyes in the transfer market as they work to build a squad fitting for their fancy new home on Bramley Moore Dock.
For once, Everton, whose willingness to spend rather atrophied over the last few years of Farhad Moshiri’s benighted reign, will be pretty busy over the summer – but what might their squad look like next season? Based on some of the more plausible and persistent transfer rumours doing the rounds, we’ve drawn up a possible starting XI for the 2025/26 campaign, featuring £206m of talent and one big omission…
Change at the back as Branthwaite nears departure
GK: Jordan Pickford (£30m); LB: Vitalii Mykolenko (£17m); CB: James Tarkowski (free), Joel Ordóñez (£40m); RB: Jake O’Brien (£17m)
It’s perhaps a little unfortunate for Everton that for all of the spending they’re liable to do, the single biggest story of the summer could concern whether star centre-half Jarrad Branthwaite leaves or not, amid alleged interest from Real Madrid, Manchester United and more.
He hung around last summer but we wouldn’t be surprised if the time finally came for the England defender to head on to pastures new. Fortunately, the cash that his sale will generate would help the Toffees to make a splash at centre-back, with Club Brugge defender Joel Ordóñez a name that’s cropping up more and more.
We also expect the club to do something to freshen up an ageing cast at full-back, if only because Seamus Coleman and Ashley Young can’t go on forever – but we’ve seen oddly few rumours linking them with a right-back and while Sunderland’s Dennis Cirkin seems to be an option down the left, we suspect Mykolenko might hold on to the starting job there.
Midfield investment may be required
DM: Tim Iroegbunam (£9m), James Garner (£15m); AM: Charly Alcaraz (£13m)
We’re assuming that Moyes is going to stick with the 4-2-3-1 formation that he’s preferred both this season and in his previous role with West Ham, so we’re looking at another year of a double pivot with a more advanced midfielder providing attacking support – but we’re seeing very few tangible links with new players.
Alcaraz is currently on loan from Brazilian side Flamengo but a clause in the deal will reportedly oblige Everton to sign for a fee starting at around £13m should he make enough appearances, and judging by his recent form we expect that to happen.
But further back there will be some changes, with both Idrissa Gueye and Abdoulaye Doucouré liable to leave this summer – so while we’ve stuck with Garner and young defensive midfielder Iroegbunam for now, we’d be surprised if someone else wasn’t signed to start here. Short of evidence as to who that might be, however, we’ve avoided making any wild predictions.
All change up front
LW: Dwight McNeil (£20m); RW: Tom Fellows (£20m); CF: Emanuel Emegha (£25m)
One area that will definitely see some investment is the front three – while Beto might have found a little form of late, there’s still a need for more depth and more goals, especially with long-serving striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin likely to leave as a free agent.
Dwight McNeil and Iliman Ndiaye will remain a part of the rotation, but we’ve given rumoured target Tom Fellows a start here to highlight his signing – Everton reputedly had a bid of around £15m turned down by West Bromwich Albion over the winter but an expanded offer could get the job done. Marseille’s Luís Henriques is another possibility out wide.
Up front, we think an oft-repeated link to Strasbourg’s Emanuel Emegha may well hold up. The 6’5” forward has scored 11 goals in 22 games in France this season and has some frightening physical attributes, making him precisely the sort of striker that Moyes is likely to value.
We’re currently betting against the reports which hint that Richarlison could be sent to enjoy a romantic reunion with his old team, if only because Spurs supposedly want a hefty £40m for him – but if the price comes down, who knows?