club has serious questions to answer after damaging failure

A frenetic deadline day saw Everton sign two players but end the transfer window in disarray and with the club’s damaged hierarchy facing more questions than answers.

The Blues secured the return of Jack Grealish and ended their longstanding search for a right-back with the addition of Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Yet that business was overshadowed by the late collapse of a deal for Folarin Balogun.

The circumstances that led to the departure of key player Iliman Ndiaye and the debacle that saw the club explore the sale of starlet Harrison Armstrong had already seriously undermined the reputation of owners the Friedkin Group and those tasked with delivering their vision.

That so much business was left so late, and for David Moyes’ squad to have shrunk over a summer in which the goal was to build a side that would not fade like Everton did at the end of last season, are also topics that demand scrutiny in the aftermath of an unedifying end to business.

Chief among the questions now faced by TFG is the true financial health of the club- or at least the extent to which they are willing to fund the resurgence of the Blues. The US-based owners inherited a club that required rebuilding behind-the-scenes after the financial and regulatory turbulence that characterised the final years under former owner Farhad Moshiri.

Those days appeared to have been over, with the club’s latest set of accounts pointing to intense efforts to restructure its debts and move it to a firmer financial footing. Even the shock £35m compensation payment the club was recently ordered to pay Burnley over a previous breach of financial rules was met with reassurance from Everton the figure would not impact summer transfer plans.

The Blues also said the Premier League had confirmed it would not be included within its Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) calculations.

Yet despite projecting confidence over the club’s finances, bolstered by the move to Hill Dickinson Stadium and the clutch of high-profile commercial deals that have followed, the final days of Everton’s transfer window appeared to be influenced by a need, or desire, to sell.

That the club entertained Nottingham Forest’s £40m bid for Armstrong was a PR disaster for senior figures, from the boardroom to TFG. News of the deal sparked outrage among supporters, with the teenager viewed as a prized starlet, a future England star and a valuable first team player given that he started all three competitive games this season. The prominence of a rising talent who hailed from West Derby is a further source of pride, particularly in a season in which Liverpool will proceed with no first team player from the city.

The travelling fans chanted in unison throughout the draw at Bournemouth on Saturday, warning that if Armstrong was sold the club would “have a riot” on their hands.

CEO Angus Kinnear was in the stands at the Vitality Stadium to hear the message and, on Sunday morning, the talks with Forest were cancelled.

As the dust settled on that saga, which ran contrary to one of the principles TFG said their regime would abide by when they took over in December 2024 - that of “cultivating home-grown superstars through Everton’s academy” - first Tottenham Hotspur and then Manchester City moved in for Ndiaye. The Blues initially pursued a £60m deal with Spurs that would have seen Richarlison return to Merseyside for a package that could have risen to £35m. The Brazil forward later shared an emotional message on Instagram that suggested he retained his love for Everton but was unhappy at the circumstances his move was taking place within.

City then pounced as their agreement to sign Cody Gakpo from Liverpool stalled and agreed an initial £60m fee for the Senegal international with a further £5m in add-ons.

Both deals for Ndiaye appeared to represent a climbdown from Everton. Moyes had been fielding questions about the winger since April and the message had always been that, while pragmatism might be required given the player had rejected fresh terms this year, his importance to the team and the fact he had three years left on his deal meant any suitor would have a fight to prise him from the Blues.

Instead, the £60m fee appeared modest in a window in which Crysencio Summerville moved for an initial £55m from relegated West Ham United to Al-Hilal, who had also expressed an interest in Ndiaye, and after Omar Marmoush and Savinho left Man City for Spurs for £60m and £75m respectively. It could be argued Ndiaye had a bigger impact on the Premier League than all three.

The willingness to consider the Armstrong sale, do business on underwhelming terms over Ndiaye and the apparent openness to offers for Jake O’Brien, the centre-back who many among the fanbase believe to be the future partner of Jarrad Branthwaite, mean concerns now exist over the trajectory of the club and TFG’s intent for it.

Such fears have been intensified by the public comments of Kinnear on the eve of the campaign, when the CEO conducted a series of interviews. He told the BBC that TFG viewed last season a failure after Everton failed to qualify for Europe from an advantageous position with seven games to go. Of the ambitions for this campaign, he challenged Moyes to push for the domestic cups and added: “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.”

That plan to avoid an end-of-season collapse has since been undermined by both Moyes and the transfer activity of the summer. The manager has cut a frustrated figure and, when asked whether he believed Kinnear’s objectives were reasonable ahead of the trip to Bournemouth, said: “I think there would be a lot of work to do to put us in that category, but nobody put us in that category last year and for most of the season we ran close. The positives we would take are that we probably didn’t expect to do it last year, so we probably go into this season thinking pretty much the same, but you never know. We have started the season well and players have started the games good so that gives me hope that it could be a possibility.”

On the summer business as it stood on Friday, he said: “I think we need to do more. I’m saying there’s not much time but I’ll still try to see what we can do. I think we need to do much more if possible.”

Moyes appears to have been at odds with those above him through the summer, presenting a contrasting assessment of the business carried out by the eve of the season to Kinnear. When the ECHO asked Moyes whether he had a message for the supporters or board amid the furore over the future of Armstrong and the looming sale of Ndiaye, he simply responded: “Well, if I would say something to them, I would say: Their manager is an Evertonian.”

Moyes’ concern was that he could end up with a smaller squad than he had last season, when his dressing room was already threadbare in comparison to Premier League rivals.

His fear was made reality on Tuesday night. Everton ended the window having seen Seamus Coleman and Idrissa Gueye depart following the expiration of their contracts, Dwight McNeil leave for Crystal Palace in what was essentially a swap deal for Brennan Johnson, Adam Aznou leave for Malaga on loan, Beto join Fiorentina (£17m), Tim Iroegbunam leave for Hull City (£15m rising to a potential £22m), Nathan Patterson move to Torino (£3m) and Ndiaye join City.

Grealish (loan from City), Merlin Rohl (£18m, Freiburg) and Tyrique George (£18m Chelsea) are Everton players again - but all three were in the squad at the end of last season. The new faces are Hayden Hackney (£16.5m, Middlesbrough), Christian Norgaard (£7m, Arsenal), Johnson and Maitland-Niles (£4m, Lyon).

That business leaves Moyes with 18 senior outfield players after a summer in which the Blues made a profit on player trading after the collapse of the Balogun deal. It would only take an injury or suspension for one of the outfield players for Moyes to have to name two keepers on the bench in order to field a matchday squad without turning to the academy. With Norgaard injured, that could happen against Manchester United on Sunday.

Everton may have improved in some areas. Maitland-Niles offers more experience and specialist knowledge at right-back than O’Brien and Rohl, who have juggled the role while playing out of position this summer, and Norgaard, providing he can get over the unspecified injury problem that has held him back so far, allows Moyes to play with a true defensive midfielder that could allow the midfielders around him the freedom to play with more adventure.

Johnson represents an upgrade on McNeil, given Moyes’ preference was to use McNeil out of position, while Hackney arrives with a growing reputation and replaces Iroegbunam, who was entering the final year of his contract. Patterson’s exit ends his miserable Everton stint and should benefit a player who Moyes repeatedly overlooked, while Aznou also appeared to be outside of Moyes’ plans.

With the likes of Thierno Barry, George, Tyler Dibling, Armstrong and Rohl having shown signs of improvement this summer, Everton do have positives to build around and the nucleus of an exciting side for the near-future.

But without the addition of Balogun and with such heavy reliance now placed on Barry, those improvements appear modest.

The big question is whether Moyes’ squad has been strengthened enough to push for Europe this season, given Kinnear set it out as an ambition. Everton have started the campaign well but while they may have improved at the edges, they have now lost their most devastating creative player in Ndiaye. And while Grealish will bring talent and excitement, his arrival comes against a backdrop in which Chelsea have broken the British transfer record and Spurs have spent in excess of £400m. Both of those clubs, like the Blues, are among those trying to break into Europe. Another, Brentford, spent more money on the combined purchases of midfielder Mamadou Sangare and left-back El-Hadji Malick Diouf than Everton did in the entire window. Both players would push for starts at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

The manner in which Everton have attempted to address their problems will also now come under the spotlight.

Everton left important business to the final hours of the summer, with the Balogun deal collapsing after a deal sheet had been submitted. The final hours of the move presented a humiliating picture for the Blues as they sought to overcome an issue flagged during his medical. First, they resorted to flailing for alternative options. Manchester United rejected a late loan offer for Joshua Zirkzee while Tammy Abraham opted to stay with Aston Villa. Everton then pushed through on Balogun, renegotiating with Monaco, only for the player to walk away from the transfer.

That the biggest area of concern - that of right-back - was addressed so late in the window was another troubling aspect of the club’s business. The recruitment team put in place by Kinnear at the end of last season arrived with the position already a problematic area. This became a matter of competence more than ambition by the end of the window and, before Maitland-Niles’ arrival, the Blues appeared determined to solve the issue with a £9m move for Kenny Tete - a player they had looked destined to sign on a free 12 months ago before he rejected the club in favour of signing new terms at Craven Cottage. Daniel Munoz, Timothy Castagne and Alistair Johnson were among other options considered, while Moyes liked Guele Doue of Strasbourg.

While Maitland-Niles offers a reprieve at that position after his arrival was announced after the deadline passed, the departures of Patterson and Aznou leave Everton short of options at full-back once again.

An injury to either Vitalii Mykolenko or Maitland-Niles, who signed a three-year deal, would leave Everton stretched and require Moyes to revert back to playing someone out-of-position.

In conclusion, the status of the squad is a far cry from the intent set out by Kinnear in his programme notes ahead of the last home game of last season against Sunderland, when he wrote: "Our job in the coming weeks and months is to continue with what we always knew would be a two-summer window plan, and ensure the squad has enough depth to mount an even more compelling challenge next term."

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