David Moyes confirms Everton transfer offer as stance clarified on 'nine or 10' signings

David Moyes confirms Everton transfer offer as stance clarified on 'nine or 10' signings

David Moyes spoke to the media following Everton's 3-0 loss to Bournemouth in their opening Premier League Summer Series fixture

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David Moyes has revealed why he wants to bring Bayern Munich left-back Adam Aznou to Everton as he explained his statement about the large number of signings he feels the club need to make this summer.

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Everton have made progress over a deal for the 19-year-old and following his side’s 3-0 loss to Bournemouth in their Premier League Summer Series game at the MetLife Stadium, the Blues boss said: “We have made an offer, whether it’s accepted, or whether it’s all done. He’s a young player, he’s a young left-back.

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“So, he’s someone who we see as having a good future and potential.” Asked if Everton were mostly focusing on young targets, Moyes replied: “No, not really. If I’m honest, we’ve actually tried to target the more senior players if we can, players who are maybe over the age of 25 with Premier League experience.

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“It’s not taken us away from the fact that we want to try and buy some young players as well. When I think you’ve got as many as us to probably do, I’m hoping by the time we get to the end of the transfer window, we might have a balance of youth and experience.”

The night before this match, the 62-year-old told a packed audience at Racket that the team need to sign “nine or 10 players before the start of the season,” when speaking to Men in Blazers’ host Roger Bennett at an event called A Night Live on Stage with David Moyes and Everton Football Club. Explaining his remark, Moyes said: “We’ve signed three so if you take them off, we’re probably in need of another five or six players possibly. That’s what we have to try and do.

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“It’s one of these times where I’ve never had to sign so many in one window, like we’re doing. We’re sort of picking up a little bit where we’re at the end now and there’s a lot of people out of contract and a lot of loan players we had in because of the financial situation so we’re having to sort of find a way now.

“Look, we’re trying really, really hard behind the scenes to get things done and as you can see, we’re going to need it. Ultimately, today we’ve got no centre-halves in the team to play differently and we needed big Jake, who most of the time has played for me as a right-back, so we were really struggling today.”

The Premier League Summer Series provides Everton with a different kind of pre-season challenge, facing their fellow English top flight sides rather than opponents from different divisions, but Moyes admitted his team were way off the levels required. He said: “I don’t know if we’re one of the best teams you’ll play, certainly not at the moment. I hope that we’ll be able to say that maybe as we go along.

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“But look, by the end of last season we were one of the best teams because our form. We’ve played today without three centre-halves and it made it really difficult for us.

“We were really struggling to field a team in some ways today, but no excuse. We had five players playing out of position today and in the first half I thought they did a great job really, containing and we had some opportunities ourselves but it was always going to be difficult with the lack of numbers and what we had when it got to the second half.”

Another element that caused issues was the playing surface and when asked what he thought of it, Moyes said: “Let’s be fair, it’s not the Premier League. It’s American grass, which you come here and you’re used to and the ball goes slow.

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“By the way, they’ve played some big games here recently and on other pitches and it’s looked good. The turf is different than the turf most clubs would have back in the Premier League.”

On a brighter note, Moyes explained why he was pleased with the cameo off the bench from Thierno Barry, who made his debut after becoming the first new outfield recruit this summer. He said: “I thought we did alright in the first half but I actually thought Thierno Barry came on and did quite well when he came on as well. I have to say, I thought he held the ball up quite well, he ran and he had a couple of bits and moments.

“So, if it was anything, it was probably getting him some 15 or 20 minutes. Let’s hope he can build on that.

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“As I said before, you can see that we’re in need of more but we’re missing Tarky and Jarrad Branthwaite, because of his levels, and also even Michael Keane and Seamus Coleman. Those boys would have helped us a little bit today.”

As always, wherever they go in the world, Everton were well represented in the stands and while Moyes wished to have put on a better show for the travelling Blues, he said: “The Premier League is so well-watched all over the world, I wouldn’t be surprised to see supporters because they get a chance to get up close a little bit with the players. I think in America, the football is growing greatly, and they’ve got a big understanding of the Premier League.

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“I think most people in any country in the world recognises the Premier League, so it was good to see lots of supporters here today.”

Although Jarrad Branthwaite has stayed home for the duration of this trip, Michael Keane and James Tarkowki both travelled and took part in the open training session on Thursday. Asked what the chances were of seeing Tarkowski, who played 109 consecutive Premier League games for Everton before picking up a hamstring injury against Manchester City in April that prompted an operation, make a comeback in the tournament, Moyes said: “With a bit of luck we might. You’ve got to remember he’s had a serious operation.

“I think he’s been out for about 12 weeks now and we think it should be about 14 weeks but he’s way ahead of schedule. I’m hoping maybe I might get Tarky around the next two games, but if I was going to get him I think it’s more likely to be the last game.

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“We don’t have Jarrad here either, so we’ve got a real problem in that area at the moment.”

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