Everton FC correspondent Joe Thomas looks at the contracts that require thought in the near-future - including that of David Moyes
David Moyes looks on during warm ups prior to the Premier League match between Everton and Bournemouth. Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images
David Moyes looks on during warm ups prior to the Premier League match between Everton and Bournemouth. Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images
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Everton endured a busy summer as the club ushered in a new era under the Friedkins and David Moyes with a squad overhaul.
Ten players arrived for the Blues, though some of the transfer business was delayed by the flurry of contract situations that required work once the season ended with that heady win under the sunshine at Newcastle United. A number of key figures departed after years at the club, including Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Abdoulaye Doucoure, both scorers of goals that saved Everton from relegation.
The upcoming summer will be another important one as TFG look to add another layer of depth and quality to the squad, with Moyes expecting the owners to provide the funds to take the club another step forward. And while it might not be quite as complex or intense as last year, there are still a number of big decisions that need to be made.
Some of the most pressing issues left over from last summer have, of course, already been dealt with. After building the squad that has taken Everton into the top half of the Premier League table going into the final months of the campaign, the Blues looked to consolidate their dressing room by tying down several key players to longer term deals.
Jordan Pickford and James Tarkowski were each rewarded with extensions earlier in the season and, last month, James Garner became the latest to commit to the Everton project long-term. His new deal put an end to much of the attention over his future given his existing contract was due to expire this summer, though Everton had the option to extend his stay by a further 12 months if fresh terms had not been thrashed out. His performances this season have been so impressive that he is likely to continue to attract covetous glances from elsewhere but Moyes would be keen to rebuff that attention and there is now no danger of Everton having to compromise on his value.
That leaves a handful of players who are now in the final six months of their contracts - though again some of those deals do contain options for an extension. That is certainly the case with Idrissa Gueye, whose stellar form when Moyes returned last season led to him being offered a new deal for this term. That experience has proved valuable to Moyes and the club will have a decision to make over whether the two-time Africa Cup of Nations winner is still a Blue next season, when he turns 37, but it will at least be on their terms.
Michael Keane and Seamus Coleman also signed 12-month extensions in the summer. Keane has again proven important to Moyes, taking the centre back spot alongside Tarkowski and ahead of Jake O’Brien through Jarrad Branthwaite’s long absence with hamstring problems. Whether Branthwaite can sustain match fitness for the rest of the season and Moyes’ willingness to eventually move to a partnership of O’Brien and Branthwaite at centre back are likely to be key factors in whether Keane makes it to a decade at Everton but it is clear that he has the trust of the manager, who appreciates his professionalism and reliability.
With Coleman, injury has once again blighted his season. He lasted just 10 minutes in his first league start of the season, at Manchester United in November, and while he is back, Moyes is aware of his importance to the Republic of Ireland in their upcoming World Cup qualifications.
Formal talks over Coleman’s future are not expected before those matches but it is clear Moyes values the presence of the 37-year-old and would be keen to retain his insight, in whatever capacity, beyond this season. Coleman was fit when the Blues won at Fulham earlier this month but Moyes, who was serving a touchline ban, opted to have the defender alongside him in the stands to observe the game.
Of that move, he later said: “Seamus is too important to this club. The club owes Seamus so much. So we want Seamus to be around us, whether he’s a player or whether he is on the staff or whether he’s a groundsman, we want Seamus Coleman to be around, we certainly do, because he’s too important around this football club.”
That leaves Vitalii Mykolenko, whose four-and-a-half year deal is due to end in the summer. Talks started with the Ukraine international before Christmas, with Moyes stating in December: “These have been ongoing, we’re doing a lot more things behind the scenes.
“We’re not coming out and discussing them all the time, there have been a lot of things ongoing for quite a while. Hopefully we’ll get a solution sooner rather than later.”
What to do with Jack Grealish?
Some decisions will also need to be made over the loanees at the club. Tyrique George arrived from Chelsea on transfer deadline day and Everton will have the opportunity to make that move permanent in the summer should he impress - as they did with Carlos Alcaraz after his initial loan spell from Flamengo last season.
There is an option to make Jack Grealish’s move from Manchester City permanent for a fee of around £50m but a deal at that price has never been a serious option. That is not to say that a deal is completely out of the question. Grealish quickly became a talismanic figure at Everton and has built a special relationship with Moyes, the player crediting the club with rekindling his love for football and the manager attributing some of Everton’s impressive successes this season to the influence of the Champions League winner.
Moyes has been open in his desire to keep Grealish but accepts this would only happen if Man City were to significantly reduce the asking price - something it is believed they would be likely to do given the cost of his wages and that he has fallen out of favour at the Etihad - and if the player was willing to accept terms deemed realistic by the Blues. Grealish’s serious foot injury has complicated that picture, however.
Unless there are any further clauses in the loan deal that are yet to be made public, Merlin Rohl is expected to become an Everton player in the summer given Freiburg, the club the Blues signed him from, have stated the loan deal will become permanent if Everton avoid relegation from the league.
And those who will enter their final year - Moyes included
Also important in terms of forward planning will be those who enter the final 12 months of their current contracts in the summer. They currently include third choice goalkeeper Tom King and a host of players whose futures may come under scrutiny at the end of the season. The club is known to have an option to extend Alcaraz’s deal into 2028 and Everton will have calls to make over whether to offer new deals or attempt to sell Nathan Patterson, Dwight McNeil, Beto and Tim Iroegbunam - all of whom were the subject of genuine interest in January, with McNeil close to a move to Crystal Palace only for it to collapse in the final minutes on deadline day.
Of most importance in the summer will, in fact, be the future of Moyes. The Blues boss was given a two-and-a-half year deal when he took over from Sean Dyche in January 2025 and has not only protected Everton’s top flight status but has laid the groundwork for a potential European push this season. Moyes has been open about not expecting to stay at the club for as long as he did in his first stint - but he still has a long way to go to challenge that term and he has shown in the past year the growth he can inspire at the club he knows so well.
Given contract and transfer moves this summer will have implications beyond the terms of his current deal, considering his role going forward and whether it will continue beyond the summer of 2027 would appear sensible as he and the club look to shape the Blues' future.
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