Everton will return to Finch Farm from America this week amid an underlying sense of concern and frustration around the club over a lack of transfer business.
The pre-season performances, so far, have been mixed due to a depleted squad and a couple of key injuries. And while fitness is the overriding aim of these games, the fanbase is agitated.
David Moyes too has not been able to hide his increasing frustration at the lack of deals being done by the club.
It also appears it’s not for the want of trying, with Everton having a serious interest in Takefusa Kubo, Malick Fofana, Jack Grealish, Douglas Luiz, Tyler Dibling and James McAtee to name a few, but every deal carries similar issues. The players have other options in the transfer market, they are at clubs that can demand what they want for them and, crucially, have the luxury of being able to wait it out. Moyes himself admitted recently that signing players has been tricky, saying:
“The club are trying really hard to get the players I want but have found it really difficult”.
Manchester City winger Jack Grealish.
Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images
New owners, a fantastic new stadium and a promising end to last season will only get you so far when trying to convince top players to join the club. However, that is what the new recruitment committee has at its disposal, and while all of the above are positives, clubs that can boast European football will always have a head start when the negotiating begins.
How Everton’s structural changes have stalled transfer business in summer window
This summer’s recruitment drive was never going to be easy, and a big reason for that is the reality of a number of new relationships within the club that have to be formed and understood.
Everton have relatively new owners, manager, CEO and recruitment strategy – the club previously had a director of football model which covered many areas of the operation under one umbrella. That system was replaced by a different, more diverse approach, neither are right nor wrong, just different. There is now a larger collaborative process, where a number of people will have a view, and once discussed, the aim is that a consensus is reached; it’s a practice that works well at many clubs.
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However, these ‘committees’ for want of a better term, take time to establish themselves and also to find a common ground where agreement can be achieved in the required timeframe. There has been a coming together of people that didn’t previously know each other and in football, as in life, you can’t just expect that to click into place.
Of course the worrying thing is that time is of the essence during a transfer window, especially one where so much work has to be done. While change was happening at the top end of the club there was also a lot of change on the pitch, more than you would probably like.
Everton lost several players at the end of last season for various reasons. Dominic Calvert Lewin decided not to agree a new deal with the club, Ashley Young it seemed wasn’t offered one, Abdoulaye Doucoure departed along with back-up goalkeeper Asmir Begovic and loan players Jack Harrison and Jesper Lindstrom.
On top of these Armando Broja, Neal Maupay, Mason Holgate and Joao Virginia also left Everton.
Several of these players played little, if any, part in the resurgence of the team under David Moyes last season, and a few have already been replaced.
Thierno Barry among signings, but David Moyes needs six more new players to compete
Thierno Barry, a highly-rated forward who has arrived for around £27m, could be seen, in part, as a replacement for Calvert-Lewin. Carlos Alcaraz, although at the club on loan last season, has been signed permanently which could be viewed as a replacement for Doucoure – though that means another player is still required at least on loan. Mark Travers has effectively replaced Begovic, and highly-rated Adam Aznou has been recruited at left back and will be competition for Vitaly Mykolenko.
There were new contracts for arguably Everton’s two best players last season with Idrissa Gueye and Jarrad Branthwaite putting pen to paper, while Seamus Coleman and Michael Keane signed new deals too.
In summary there has been a lot of work going on. However, and you knew there’d be a ‘however’, there is clearly much more work to do.
That’s mainly because Everton cannot be where they were last season again in 2025/26. They need to improve, and they need new players in order to do that. David Moyes believes he needs nine or 10 additions, and while that may be true, he probably knows the reality as we head into August is that figure will, at best, be five or six.
Those five or six also have to be of a quality which is better than what they’re replacing, there needs to be a blend of experience and potential, and they need to be players David Moyes himself can trust.
Moyes is well known for being meticulous in his research when it comes to signing players, on the whole he’s been very successful at it – certainly during his first tenure at Everton. That situation back in the mid-2000s was very different at the club though, money was extremely tight and he had to spend cash like it was his own.
Player Fee
Thierno Barry £27m (from Villarreal)
Carlos Alcaraz £13m (from Flamengo)
Adam Aznou £7.8m (from Bayern Munich)
Mark Travers £4m (from Bournemouth)
Everton’s 2025 summer signings so far
The old saying, ‘you have to finish the window stronger than you started it regardless of personnel’ is difficult to achieve, but achieve it they must.
Pre-season so far has, frankly – despite those who say it doesn’t really matter – been a stark reminder that work still needs to be done. Other Premier League clubs have once again strengthened massively – including Merseyside Derby rivals Liverpool – so it will be harder than ever to pick up much-needed points week in, week out. Everton have to make sure that they are one of those clubs that improves because, if not, no fantastic new stadium, positive momentum from the tail-end of last season, or indeed even new ownership will satisfy a vocal fanbase that have had enough of the dark days.
Last season they started their last home campaign at Goodison with defeat to Brighton, who will be the opposition to open their new home at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, before that there is a tough-looking away game against newly promoted Leeds United at a no doubt packed and vociferous Elland Road.
The Premier League clock is ticking and there is still much to be done to get the Everton house in order.