Everton are roughly halfway through the transfer window, and the shape of David Moyes’ rebuild is beginning to take shape. Kind of.
Four deals are done. Several more are ‘live’ (we think), with one now under new pressure from a Champions League rival. And three of last season’s biggest names — Jack Grealish, Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gana Gueye — remain unresolved heading into pre-season.
It’s a decent time to ask whether the business so far matches the ambition Moyes described after Everton’s push for Europe last season.
What’s been done…
Hayden Hackney’s arrival from Middlesbrough was the first major signal of intent, an initial £16.5m deal that brought in the reigning Championship Player of the Season. Tyrique George’s loan was made permanent for a fee in excess of £20m, giving Moyes a winger he already knew well from George’s spell on Merseyside in the second half of last season.
Both deals were completed inside the opening fortnight of the window, a faster start than Everton have managed in recent summers.
Arthur Barratt’s arrival from Chelsea’s academy and Merlin Rohl’s loan being made permanent added further depth without, understandably, dominating the headlines.
Neither will probably start the season as first-choice, but both fit a pattern: Moyes and the recruitment team building competition for places rather than simply replacing departures on a like-for-like basis.
Four signings in, the midfield has more strength in depth, it feels. Whether it has deepened in the right areas is the more interesting question.
‘Live’ deals…
Mandela Keita’s move from Parma looked, a fortnight ago, like Everton’s to lose. Club-to-club talks were opened early, and while Atalanta’s interest complicated the picture, Everton appeared to be doing the groundwork properly. That position has shifted.
Aston Villa’s move for Keita, triggered by Amadou Onana’s ACL injury at the World Cup, brings a Champions League club with genuine urgency into a deal Everton had spent weeks building. Villa’s continental football is a good card to play against a club offering no European football. Everton will need conviction, not just an opening bid and fancy talk, to see this one through.
The right-back search has been the defining story of the window.
Djed Spence has emerged as the clearest target, with Everton reportedly prepared to pay £25m and Tottenham said to be open to a sale. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, once considered the most advanced option, has cooled since his valuation doubled.
Ben White has emerged as a newer name given his uncertain Arsenal future, while Guela Doue looks increasingly like the outsider of the group.
Six names have been credibly linked to one position across ten weeks of the window — a pattern that says as much about how hard Seamus Coleman is proving to replace in the long-term as it does about any individual target.
Christian Kofane represents the most forward-looking piece of business in progress. A formal offer has been submitted to Bayer Leverkusen for the 19-year-old striker, Everton’s clearest statement yet that they’re prepared to invest in potential rather than only proven quantity up front.
It’s a departure from the profile of Hackney or George, both established Premier League or Championship performers. If it lands, it tells you something about the calibre of scouting Everton believe they now have in place.
What’s uncertain…
Grealish is the situation that has moved the wrong way. Everton were described as “confident” of retaining him only a couple of weeks ago, either through a reduced permanent fee or a second loan.
That confidence has since been undercut by reports that Enzo Maresca wants to personally assess Grealish in pre-season before sanctioning any exit — a decision that now sits with Man City rather than with Everton or the player himself.
Grealish’s own preference for a return to Merseyside is reportedly unchanged, but preference and permission are different things.
Ndiaye’s situation is the opposite problem: not whether Everton want to keep him, but whether they can. Man United’s interest has been consistent throughout the window, and any sale would represent Everton’s clearest opportunity to fund further incomings.
Losing their best forward from last season would test whether Kofane, if signed, is ready to contribute in year one.
Gueye’s departure looks close to confirmed. Out of contract since the end of June, with no fresh terms agreed, this appears to be the end of his second spell at the club. It leaves a gap in experience and leadership that Hackney’s arrival addresses only partially.
Does it match the ambition?
Moyes talked, after last season’s European push, about needing a squad capable of sustaining that level rather than treating it as a one-off.
Judged against that standard, the summer so far is mixed. The business completed has been sensible rather than sensational — sound additions in Hackney and George, but nothing that obviously elevates the squad’s ceiling.
The live deals carry more weight: Kofane, if completed, would be the kind of signing that signals ambition, while the right-back search finally resolving itself would close off Everton’s most obvious weakness of the window.
The uncertain cases are where the summer will ultimately be judged. Keeping Grealish, retaining Ndiaye, and finding an adequate answer to Gueye’s exit would represent a squad building on last season’s progress. Losing all three while adding depth elsewhere would look more like standing still.
Pre-season friendlies will start generating their own news soon, and with it, less patience for deals that remain unresolved. The next fortnight looks decisive for Evertonians
