David Moyes says Everton will miss three players against Brighton and Hove Albion in the team’s first official game at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday.
Jarrad Branthwaite, Vitalii Mykolenko and Nathan Patterson haven’t been medically cleared. All three players also missed the opening Premier League game against Leeds United, where the Toffees suffered a 1-0 loss at Elland Road.
“Jarrad’s on the way but not fit and neither is Mykolenko and Nathan Patterson is not fit either. Those three are not available,” Moyes said in the pre-match press conference.
“(Adam) Aznou has trained today for the first time, so we’ll see how he goes.”
The absence of Branthwaite, Mykolenko and Aznou hampered Everton’s plans against Leeds as Moyes was forced to experiment with midfielder James Garner at left-back. It once again led to criticisms about the club’s transfer window manoeuvres and lack of signings to bolster the squad.
After losing nearly a dozen players from last season, the club signed seven players with two of them being backup goalkeepers to Jordan Pickford.
Asked if there had been more progress on new deals, Moyes said, “I think I’d like to say yes. That yes might mean you’ll push me for more answers and questions over what it might be.
“I’d have to say, I think we’re trying to make a way to get more players in. We’re trying to do so.
“We’re disappointed that we’ve missed out on a lot of other players who have chosen not to come and for different reasons, have not been able to make it.
“I think there’s quite a few managers saying the same thing in the Premier League but yes, I think we’re trying to make progress at the moment – will it come off? - I couldn’t guarantee that, but we’re definitely trying to move on.”
Despite going after a number of talented players like Francisco Conceicao, Takefusa Kubo, Malick Fofana, and Tyler Dibling, Everton have failed to get these deals over the line. The Blues have been hampered by PSR restrictions in recent years and this is the first summer where they’ve found some respite.
Moyes confirmed that new owners The Friedkin Group are willing to show ambition in the transfer market, saying, “We’ve got money to spend. And we're trying to spend it.
“We’re in there and we’ll be competitive. We’re finding it very difficult to spend the money.
“You ask me why the players aren't coming in, and I think a lot of them are looking for Europe. We’ve found now we’ve really gone for some top players, and unfortunately, we've not been able to get a lot of them.
“We might be finding ourselves coming a little bit down the ladder to find players because we’re so short of numbers, generally. Maybe this is always going to be a year where we keep steady and keep ourselves correct, and do all the right things in the Premier League.”
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Posted 22/08/2025 at 15:33:57
The Manager demeanor did seem more upbeat than previous despite nothing being imminent from a club release.
Lets hope we get a few nice surprise ?
Posted 22/08/2025 at 15:49:01
Simple answer is to stop trying to sign players whom most of us know wouldn't consider us at this time.
The likes of Gallagher, Fofana & Diaz would not consider us as an option - far from it and please don't mention Grealish as he would have gone anywhere to get out of City if anyone else had been interested.
Go and have a punt on Van Ewijk, Hackney & Fellows.
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