How the national media reacted to the news that Nottingham Forest made a bid for Harrison Armstrong before Everton's 1-1 draw at Bournemouth in the Premier League
BOURNEMOUTH, ENGLAND - AUGUST 29: Everton's Harrison Armstrong applauds the fans at the final whistle during the Premier League 2026/27 match between AFC Bournemouth and Everton at Vitality Stadium on August 29, 2026 in Bournemouth, England. (Photo by David Horton - CameraSport via Getty Images)
Harrison Armstrong applauds the supporters at the final whistle of Everton's 1-1 draw at Bournemouth - at that very point they were making clear to the club's owners not to sell the young midfielder(Image: David Horton - CameraSport via Getty Images)
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James Tarkowski scored an injury-time equaliser as Everton left it late to earn a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth in their second Premier League game of the season. But while supporters should have been celebrating a result that continued their side's unbeaten start to the campaign in all competitions, instead a sense of foreboding prevailed among the Blues fanbase.
That was largely because there was not any immediate kickback from the club over Nottingham Forest's shock bid to sign homegrown midfield teenage talent Harrison Armstrong.
It was left up to an emotional David Moyes to face questions that could only truly be answered by people above his head. He said: "I know that there's been an offer. Apart from that, I don't really think there's much else I've got to say about it. It'll be a club decision."
Against that worrying backdrop, the national media focused on the troubling transfer development rather than the match itself, although the huge backlash from supporters has led the club's owners, The Friedkin Group, to pulling the plug on talks with Forest.
Kit Shephard and Paul Joyce, writing for The Times, said: "Everton fans are so disgusted with their board that they are threatening violence. "If you sell Armstrong, Harrison Armstrong, you’re going to have a riot on your hands'," they sang at the Vitality Stadium, to the tune of Billy Ray Cyrus’s Achy Breaky Heart.
"Away-section songs should rarely be taken literally, but this one captured the fans’ distrust, disappointment and fury. They were applauded by Armstrong, a 19-year-old academy product, at full-time. James Tarkowski’s stoppage-time equaliser, denying Bournemouth their first win under Marco Rose, provided additional verve.
"The anger had been festering since Saturday morning, when it emerged Everton were in talks with Forest over a £40m move for Armstrong. “I know there’s been an offer,” Everton manager David Moyes confirmed post-match, having said on Friday he did not want to lose any players before Tuesday’s transfer deadline. Moyes declined to answer whether the offer should be accepted, calling it a “club decision” - a diplomatic response, because opting to sell would be an awfully concerning symbol of the club’s direction under The Friedkin Group (TFG).
"As a Scouser who joined Everton aged five, Armstrong is a bona fide 'one of our own' player. Amid the globalisation and transactional nature of the modern-day Premier League, he embodies Everton’s soul.
"Having bought the club in 2024, TFG has delivered stability after Farhad Moshiri’s turbulent regime, but selling Armstrong to a fellow mid-table club for a relatively cheap fee would legitimise concerns it lacks ambition. Fans noticing TFG blocked replies on a social-media post promoting Armstrong’s progression further soured the mood here."
Alex Jennings, writing for the Mail, said: "Despite pre-match rumours that he would be left out of Moyes' matchday squad amid interest from Forest, the midfielder started here. Armstrong was as willing a runner as ever but struggled to impose himself on the game.
"To outside observers, a fee in the region of £40million for a 19-year-old who has played just 21 senior games and is yet to score a Premier League goal may seem too good to turn down.
"Not so to those who have watched this England youth international develop, who have seen the maturity that belies his tender years and the mobility that has re-energised Everton's midfield in the first few weeks of this season.
"But more than that, selling Armstrong to Nottingham Forest in the final few days of the transfer window would say an awful lot about where Everton stand in 2026. And none of it good.
"The Toffees have been forced to sell their finest academy products due to financial duress in recent decades. Wayne Rooney, Manchester United, fair enough. Anthony Gordon to Newcastle? Needs must. But this feels different. This feels like the wilful flogging of an academy gem to achieve little more than a shortcut to satisfying financial rules.
"And it feels like a pivotal moment in the ownership of the rarely-seen Friedkin Group, and their perception among the Everton fanbase. A fanbase who belted out: "Don't sell Armstrong, I just don't think you understand... you're going to have a riot on your hands" from before kick-off and at full time here.
"There's been little to celebrate for Everton fans in recent years, but a homegrown talent breaking through is at least cause for optimism. It would be foolish to extinguish it.
"And another worrying question. If Armstrong doesn't see himself progressing at Everton, what does that say about the club's direction of travel?"
Dominic King, for The Telegraph, wrote: "The official social media channels were full of positivity and that was understandable. Last-gasp equalisers away from home must be celebrated and, for long periods, it had seemed as if Everton’s trip to Bournemouth was going to end in a momentum-checking defeat.
"The problem was, this wasn’t an afternoon for celebration. How could it be? Sometimes a story leaps out of nowhere to completely change the mood and here was one of those, with Nottingham Forest offering £40m for Harrison Armstrong.
"What is the significance, you may ask. Armstrong is only 19 and has made 24 appearances for Everton, without scoring a goal. Doesn’t £40m represent excellent business, particularly in an age when so much in football is about the bottom line?
"The answer is unequivocally, “no”. If Everton’s board accepts this offer, it will be vandalism – a mood-altering, trust-destroying piece of business that will have lasting ramifications for The Friedkin Group. If they want to create division with fans, all they have to do is say 'yes' to Forest.
"Vandalism is not a word used lightly, but that is what it would be. Armstrong represents so much more than just an unexpected deal at the end of a summer of Premier League largesse, he is an emblem for the club and a representative of his city.
"Armstrong joined Everton aged five and was born in West Derby, the district that was once home to the club’s historic Bellefield training base. Everton had to move away from there in 2007, it was bulldozed for a luxury housing estate, and if TFG sell Armstrong they will bulldoze much of what Everton represent.
"Don’t think David Moyes wants any part of it. He had to tread a careful line when talking after the Bournemouth game, stating that he was not going to give anyone pages of quotes on the young midfielder, but privately he will be incensed that thought is being given to the situation.
"He has not been happy about the way the club’s recruitment drive has gone through the window. The final three days before its closure were always going to be a challenge, especially with Manchester City interest in his best player Iliman Ndiaye, but this development takes things up a level."
Over at The Guardian, John Brewin wrote: "Everton’s situation is volatile, racked with uncertainty, insurrection bubbling. Before kick-off, the away contingent sang for the 19-year-old Harrison Armstrong, linked with a £40m move to Nottingham Forest. Should he be sold, "You’re going to have a riot on your hands," fans warned.
"As if joining the protest movement, David Moyes started a player Evertonians hope does not follow the decades-long drain of young players sold. Wayne Rooney, John Stones, Francis Jeffers, the list is long. Selling Armstrong to a peer in Forest will cut yet deeper. "It would be a club decision," said Moyes, disassociating himself from any sale, though not ruling it out. "I don’t really want to talk about it," he said, before talking about it.
"Finances and regulations dictate that every Everton player has a price, is a bargaining chip. The scorer of last season’s winning goal at Bournemouth, Jack Grealish, may return from Manchester City as part of a swap deal with Iliman Ndiaye. Such are the equations supporters must accept.
"Still, Everton began confidently enough. Eight shots registered in the first 30 minutes, beginning with an attempt from Jarrad Branthwaite, another jewel, though one whose fitness record dampens interest.
"When Bournemouth found their momentum, Rayan came to the fore, Vitalii Mykolenko struggling with the Brazilian’s incursions. Scott increased in influence, socks rolled down, gliding across the turf. He was calmness personified in controlling Evanilson’s pass, dropping his shoulder and drilling his shot beyond Jordan Pickford.
"Moyes’s fusty reputation belies his indulgence of talent if players marry aesthetics with hard yards. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is delightful to watch, as can be Tyrique George, while Ndiaye and Armstrong also fit the School of Science ethos. Yet soccernomics, an expensive legal dispute with Burnley and squad cost ratios are likely to diminish Everton."
And, finally, Joe Thomas writing for us, here at the Liverpool ECHO, said: "On a day in which the football was overshadowed by matters off-the-pitch, the Everton away end made their voices clear.
"From the moment this game kicked off the travelling Blues were direct in their message to the club's hierarchy: “Don’t sell Armstrong, Harrison Armstrong, I just don’t think you understand. If you sell Armstrong, Harrison Armstrong, you’re gonna have a riot on your hands.”
"This was a serious intervention by a fanbase that has had to do too much talking over recent years. A fanbase that just wants to watch a stable club work toward tangible progress but which keeps having that prospect ripped from its grasp.
"Concerns over how the transfer window may end have simmered all summer but they reached boiling point at Bournemouth, a place where Everton often find trouble even if, on-the-pitch, they found late salvation through James Tarkowski on this occasion.
"The ongoing search for a right-back and fears over the potential loss of star player Iliman Ndiaye set the tone for the trip to the south coast. When news broke that Nottingham Forest were pursuing Armstrong and there was no immediate pushback from club sources, the attitude on the coaches heading down from Merseyside turned mutinous.
"It is important to acknowledge the teenager has not been sold, not yet anyway. The anger at his sale even being a prospect has no doubt reached Friedkin Group chiefs. There is still time for any talks to be cancelled.
"But that Forest's interest was not immediately rebuffed is already a significant PR blow for an ownership and board under pressure to follow CEO Angus Kinnear's publicly-stated ambitions for this season with transfer activity to match. Kinnear was in attendance and could no doubt hear the away end’s message from the other side of the pitch.
"What the next few days will hold was unclear as the players fought each other in a sodden contest at the Vitality Stadium.
"But that off-the-pitch matters cast a spectre over this game should be considered a shame after Tarkowski drilled home the bouncing ball to snatch a valuable point as Bournemouth failed to clear a corner."