UPDATE: Chelsea have allowed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to travel to Merseyside for a medical. Details to follow.
Some good news for Everton fans to start the week. With supporters’ frustration growing as the new Premier League season begins in under two weeks and the Blues still having key needs across the board, multiple media sources reported on Monday afternoon that the Toffees are very close to signing midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
The 26-year-old is currently at Chelsea where he appears to be a victim of the London side’s extensive transfer policy that saw them sign their 49th player of the last four transfer windows over the weekend in defender Jorrel Hato. Last season he featured in 36 games, but only played about 1,800 minutes bagging five goals and four assists primarily from a central midfield position where he’s played as a classic #8. Most recently he played for Chelsea scoring once on their way to lifting the Club World Cup trophy this summer.
Dewsbury-Hall moved to Stamford Bridge last summer for a fee of £30m from Leicester City after an incredible season in the Championship that saw him pot 12 goals and 14 assists, and in all he’s played 129 games for the Foxes, scoring 17 times with 20 assists.
The midfielder started off in Leicester’s youth system, working his way through the ranks and has long been associated with the club as much as say Jamie Vardy has. He followed manager Enzo Maresca to Chelsea last summer, but didn’t end up playing as key a role for the gaffer as he had with the Foxes.
This transfer can be said to have come from nothing over the weekend when rumours first started to circulate. The three main areas where Everton still needed reinforcements are central midfield, right wing and right back. The signing of Dewsbury-Hall will resolve one of those areas with a player that is already Premier League calibre and entering his prime years.
A central pairing of KDH with Idrissa Gana Gueye offers a lot more attacking punch than when James Garner or Tim Iroegbunam are partnered with the Senegalese veteran. With talks for Tyler Dibling continuing to progress as well, we could be entering the last week of the preseason with just one position of need yet to addressed.
Otherwise, think it could be a good signing.
Goes some way to addressing some open-play progression & creativity issues, is a good mover with the ball, good on set-pieces.
Should help with retention too, something that's stuck out in pre season as a persistent issue so far pic.twitter.com/PfdwM8asbw
— Michael (@greenallefc) August 4, 2025