With just four games remaining this season, it feels safe to say that Everton recruited poorly last summer.
Besides Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jack Grealish, nobody who arrived at the Hill Dickinson Stadium last summer has made much of an impact.
The £40m Tyler Dibling has only started four Premier League games – yet to provide a goal involvement in any of his 18 appearances – while the £27m Thierno Barry has netted just six goals in 37 appearances for Everton.
Adam Aznou is yet to even kick a ball in the Premier League following his £9m switch from Bayern Munich, while a total of £22m has been spent on Merlin Rohl for the sake of just two Premier League starts.
When David Moyes was asked to explain why Rohl has hardly featured for the Toffees, the Glaswegian uttered a bizarre comment which could make recruitment even more difficult for The Friedkin Group this summer.
Four games to go, have Everton blown their hopes of European? 🫣
Everton are only three points off sixth, though… 🤔
Premier League table.
Credit: Getty Images/Richard Pelham
David Moyes effectively just told potential new signings they could spend an entire season “sat back” watching at Everton
Discussing why the German has only played 444 minutes for Everton across 13 appearances, the 63-year-old told Joe Thomas: “Merlin, we like… Merlin could have easily been involved in some more games and played a little bit more.
“It’ll do him no harm to have sat back for the best part of the season and looked at it.”
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At the age of 23, every second of football is crucial for a player like Rohl to continue his development.
Having agreed to spend £22m on the Germany U21 international in total in the event of Everton avoiding relegation, Moyes could have chosen to just buy Rohl outright last summer and send the midfielder on loan for this season to gain more experience.
Becoming familiar with Finch Farm and mingling with teammates in training is important, of course.
However, footballers are not going to improve without playing, and we highly doubt Rohl agreed to join Everton on the basis that he would just be “sat back” watching others.
It sends out a message to summer transfer targets that they too could be spending the 2026/27 campaign warming the bench if they choose to sign for Everton – even if they perform well when called upon.
Did Everton make a mistake in signing Merlin Rohl? 🫣
Or do we need to be more patient? 😬
Merlin Rohl of Everton during the Premier League match between Everton and Aston Villa.
Credit: Getty Images/Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA
The situations involving Rohl, Dibling and Aznou are hardly the best advertisement for Everton, and these comments from Moyes – in which he attempts to justify treating fringe players like this – have only made the problem worse in our eyes.
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