One Month Out
With a month remaining in the transfer window, Everton can't afford for this summer to be a false start.
Everton are behind the eight-ball. David Moyes is frustrated, and The Friedkin Group’s start at the club is threatening to drift into chaos.
The Toffees’ 2-1 defeat to West Ham at the famous Soldier Field in Chicago on Wednesday marked Everton’s third loss from five pre-season games. They face Manchester United on Sunday and then Roma on August 9 — and then it’s the real thing, starting with a trip to newly promoted Leeds United on August 18.
That visit to Elland Road will see Everton’s CEO — Angus Kinnear — and Head of Trading, Nick Hammond, return to their former stomping ground. The appointments of Kinnear and Hammond by TFG saw an “out with the old, in with the new” approach, too. A switch away from the Director of Football model, to a “flatter” structure.
There are still key pieces of that structure absent. Nick Cox and Jamie Smith have not yet officially started in their respective roles of Technical Director and Director of Scouting and Recruitment.
But none of the above excuses what has, ultimately, been an extremely frustrating and, frankly, poor effort in the transfer market so far. It is a struggle for most clubs, but Everton had so much work to do; they needed to be decisive and get deals done in a swift fashion.
“I’m not overly concerned [about the results] because I’ve not got the players I need or what I want,” said Moyes after the loss to West Ham.
“We knew we were going to be right up against it the moment we came — it was never going to be us coming and winning. We finished above two of the teams here last season. But until we get our better players back and add to the squad, we’re going to have a struggle. It wouldn’t matter who we’re playing. We don’t have enough bodies and not enough quality.”
It is a message that Moyes has been keen to spread over the past week. He is putting pressure on those above or around him at the club to deliver.
Moyes, too, has to take his share of responsibility. He is also a key part of Everton’s recruitment team, but the frustration is understandable.
And one thing that cannot be said is that Moyes does not understand Everton, what the team needs, or the standards that the fans expect.
For the likes of Kinnear and Hammond, while they are both hugely experienced operators, they are new to the club, and they can’t afford a false start. The squad overhaul at Everton this summer is, as a necessity, huge, and they knew that going into the window.
“It’s really difficult [to bed them in] — you always attempt to get your players in early if you can,” Moyes added.
“There’s a bigger turnover of players at clubs now than there was. It used to be three or four per window, but now there’s a bigger revolving door of players, so a lot of clubs will be signing a lot of players, but ours is partly because of the position we were in.
“We wanted to have the players in a lot sooner. There’s no excuse for our performances, I’m not giving any, but there are some reasons.”
A little over three years ago, the last time Everton visited the United States in pre-season, the Toffees — then managed by Frank Lampard — were hammered 4-0 by MLS side Minnesota United.
At that stage, an Everton struggling financially and on the back of staying up by the skin of their teeth, had sold star player Richarlison to Tottenham in an (ultimately fruitless) attempt to comply with the Premier League’s PSR.
James Tarkowski had been Everton’s only signing up to that point in that transfer window. But within a week of that humbling defeat to Minnesota, Everton had spent up to £20million on Dwight McNeil and signed Ruben Vinagre on loan. Within 10 days after that, Conor Coady and Amadou Onana had arrived, too.
That was possibly a case of Director of Football Kevin Thelwell and the club’s hierarchy panicking — and rightly so.
The issue is, there are parallels between the two U.S. tours, three years apart.
Moyes is a better manager than Lampard and Everton did not stay up by the skin of their teeth last season, yet a combination of lack of depth — brought about by the exits of the likes of Abdoulaye Doucoure, Ashley Young and Dominic Calvert-Lewin — plus injuries to Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite, has left Everton with a skeleton squad.
Moyes all but admitted that he knew Everton would be hard-pressed to win any matches in the States, and they now must go up against a rejuvenated Man United in the sweltering Atlanta heat.
But it is Kinnear and Hammond who will also be getting hot under the collar. There is natural tension coming from Moyes, and an expectant fanbase — a fanbase, and a manager, that expected more than has been achieved so far.
There are reasons for the difficulties Everton are having in the market, but not excuses.
Moyes added: “Every season’s a different challenge. When I came in January, I didn’t think we’d finish above Manchester United, West Ham and Tottenham.
“But it starts again and we need to be ready — at the moment, we’re not ready for it. We’re not ready to perform well enough in this tournament and we’re not ready to start the Premier League season.
“This football’s for us to get prepared for the season — recognise what we need, what we can do better, whether it’s fitness or needing new players. If we start winning games in the Premier League, then I’ll be quite happy, but the truth is I’d rather us be winning these games as well.”
Everton are nowhere near ready, and there is not only a risk of burnout for the players who are having to take on more work than is ideal at this stage of pre-season, but that the momentum garnered from a strong end to last term could dissipate.
It is crucial that Kinnear and Hammond realise this, because, reading between the lines, it is the “closing” part of the deals that are stalling.
A bid for Southampton’s Tyler Dibling has been lodged, and rejected, though Everton are expected to return. Malick Fofana is a target, but that deal looks like a tough one to do, as does a move for Real Sociedad’s Takefusa Kubo.
Everton, though, must speed up. Whether they now pivot to other targets — and maybe Dibling is one of them — or elect to push the boat out financially in order to get their priority targets over the line, they have to be decisive and those calls have to be made swiftly.
Deals are tough to do, especially ones for players of the calibre needed to move the needle at Everton, but that is why deal-makers are handsomely rewarded.
There may be one month left of the transfer window, though if Everton are to avoid a panic and start the season strong, then there is no time left to waste.
By Patric Ridge