It will be fascinating to see how the final few days of the transfer window play out for Everton, as discussed here in the Royal Blue column
The transfer deadline is fast approaching for Everton and their owners
The transfer deadline is fast approaching for Everton and their owners
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All eyes turn now to the Friedkin Group. With just days to go before the end of the transfer window, the pressure is on to improve a squad that currently looks closer to losing one of its stars than seriously strengthening for the campaign ahead.
There is still time to do more work, there are no doubt conversations ongoing and a desire to add to David Moyes’ squad. But it is now about action rather than intent. It is only fair to pass judgement at the end of a transfer window but with the deadline so close and there being clear tension in the air about the club’s ambitions, it is worth assessing the state of play ahead of Tuesday night.
Chief executive Angus Kinnear was clear in the targets set for Moyes this year. In his interview with the BBC he identified last season as a “failure”. That struck me as harsh. It was a failure to miss out on Europe from the position Everton found themselves in after the Chelsea game, when even Champions League football was within reach with just seven matches to go.
To end up 13th from that position marked an extraordinary collapse. There were many factors that contributed to it - injuries to Jarrad Branthwaite, Beto and Idrissa Gueye were costly, and the Blues should have had penalties against West Ham United, Manchester City and, for me, Liverpool.
Key players uncharacteristically missed big chances at pivotal moments, too. Moyes must also take some responsibility for what happened in those final games - as the manager he cannot escape culpability.
But I had some understanding when, last week, he expressed surprise at such an uncharitable view on last season. It came against the backdrop of a major summer squad overhaul, following four seasons in which relegation had been a spectre at some stage - including twice in the final week and once on the last day - and with the emotional transition from Goodison Park to Hill Dickinson.
There was nothing easy about last season and I don’t think anyone seriously believed Europe was a target at the start. There is a legitimate argument to be made over whether supporters should have been happy with the season at the end, and whether there was *enough* progress made, but given it was a year spent looking up not down and which was built on heady rare away wins at places like Villa Park and Old Trafford, to write it off as a complete failure feels tough.
If Europe was indeed the goal from the outset then the decision not to strengthen in January, when the opportunity appeared to start opening up but the frailties that ultimately held Everton back were also clear, was incompatible with the ambition.
Turning to the ambition for this season, on the eve of the campaign Kinnear pointed to putting Everton in a place whereby they can avoid fading in the fight for Europe in the way they did at the end of the last campaign.
Asked what the goals were, he said: “There are two things. European football, we have shown, is eminently achievable, because we came so close. When we inherited the club I think we had 12 players under contract so last summer the rebuild was really challenging. The club had relied on too many loan players, probably too many older players and there was significant work to be done.
“This summer the work is still significant, but I think we are in a better place, we are coming off a higher base so everybody is thinking about how we mount a challenge for Europe and don’t fade in the last critical matches.
“And the second thing, which I talked about last summer and was a well-discussed failure, is I think to get the club back on the right trajectory we need some cup success. Newcastle, Crystal Palace, have shown that it is achievable of clubs who are ambitious but [where] winning a Premier League or winning a European cup is hard. We have definitely had discussions with ownership and with David [Moyes] about how we use the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup to give something for the fans to really cheer and get behind and be proud of.”
There is nothing wrong with any of that, in isolation. Everton supporters deserve the opportunity for tangible success and a CEO who speaks with ambition and desire is welcome. Communication is also tough and the insistence TFG have bought Everton to push the club towards silverware is positive.
It does need to be backed up though. Everton’s business so far has its positives. Hayden Hackney is a talented player, Christian Norgaard, providing he can get fit, offers a true defensive midfield option that can reshape the team in a more coherent style. Tyrique George and Merlin Rohl have shown promise and Brennan Johnson is an upgrade on Dwight McNeil given how Moyes wants to use those players.
The issue is not whether Everton are building something positive. Those additions, coupled with the fitness of Jarrad Branthwaite, the development of Thierno Barry, Harrison Armstrong and Tyler Dibling in the summer and the growth of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and James Garner over the past 12 months, provide plenty to be excited about. If you look at the clutch of players aged 25 and under in the Everton squad there is reason to believe the club is building the skeleton of a side that could be genuinely thrilling in 12 to 18 months.
The questions for TFG come if the ambition is for immediate tangible progress, though. Everton should be aiming for Europe. But if that is the target then the work this summer must be set against the efforts of others competing for the same aims.
Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur are capable of incredible acts of self-destruction. But each are also trying to break into Europe, like Everton. One has broken the British transfer record this summer and the other is pushing towards £400m in spending this window. Both started from a stronger base than Everton. Arsenal and Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Aston Villa are not without issues but have the Champions League money to paper over cracks and have shown no problem with spending it.
That is seven clubs already that will be tough for Everton to overhaul unless they implode. Some of those who finished above the Blues last season will no doubt find European commitments difficult and there are opportunities for Everton to exploit. Being the best-of-the-rest and finishing eight would likely yield a European spot and is not impossible.
But it would mean being better than clubs enjoying sustained progress like Brighton and Bournemouth and others that have lavished cash on their squads at various stages of recent years, like Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest. Brentford finished above Everton last year and have, in Mamadou Sangare and El Hadji Malick Diouf, spent more on two players than Everton have on five this summer. Both those additions would likely start for Everton.
None of this is to point at other clubs and to say they are getting everything right. Everton deserve credit for not having made expensive mistakes that could set the club back, while TFG have clearly strengthened the club’s financial footing and it has to be recognised they are playing catch-up on others when it comes to spending power given the regulatory picture.
But if challenging for Europe is to be an expectation this season rather than a bonus, it is fair to look at the current squad and believe more work needs to be done. There is time to do it, but it is running out. It may well be that the club hones in on the right-back it has wanted all summer. Not having solved that longstanding problem before the season started is problematic, though.
Given the dire need for a signing there, finding a player who can improve the first team in that position is now a matter of showing competence, not ambition. The same could be said if Iliman Ndiaye was to move in the final days of the transfer window. If the club is ambitious for immediate success then he would have to be replaced and, given the likelihood of interest in him all summer - Moyes was fending off questions about his future in April - little sympathy should be forthcoming if an adequate replacement, as Moyes fears, cannot be found.
There is the question of other outgoings too - the senior leadership team at the club is responsible for those as well. The claims the club would be willing to listen to offers for Jake O’Brien, who should be being positioned as Branthwaite’s future partner, are troubling when set against the desire to build something special and sustainable.
There there remains time to do business but it is certainly required, which is why the club is on edge.
Moyes’ view is that he is a player down on what was already a small squad last year and he has a point. He could have managed the squad better last season but it was threadbare, a consequence of the size of the job he and TFG inherited after years of austerity, and is essentially now smaller.
While it is possible to see a divergence in his position on the season ahead and that of those above him, his concern at the squad being smaller and Kinnear’s opinion that it is better than it was 12 months ago are not necessarily mutually exclusive. But the Premier League has not stood still in that time and Everton need to react to the business of other clubs in order to properly compete with them - certainly if the targets set for Moyes are to be considered fair.
The next few days will be fascinating and judgement should, of course, be reserved for Wednesday morning. But there is pressure on everyone at the club given the ambitions set out publicly by Kinnear. Hopefully his confidence came with the knowledge that he already had answers to some of the big questions remaining ahead of the deadline.