Everton 2025-26 Player Grades: The Attack

After grading the defence, we move on to assessing Everton’s attackers and wingers across the 2025-26 season.

The grades are as follows: 

• A*
• A
• B
• C
• D

Here goes...

DWIGHT MCNEIL — D

What more else is there to say about McNeil? His Everton career should have been over in January; it should really have been over last summer, had the Toffees been more decisive. A move to Crystal Palace broke down at the last minute in the winter, and in all fairness, he then played a role in Everton’s good run in February and March, but he has generally offered so little, and finished the season with just 1 assist, and 0 goals, from 25 appearances. It’s time for everybody to move on.

TYLER DIBLING — D

A bit like Adam Aznou in our defence gradings, it’s a bit tough to fully judge Dibling, but unlike Aznou, Dibling did feature across the first half of the season. He has played 17 times in total, making six starts. The 20-year-old was signed for big money and the sensibility of doing that last summer, when Everton needed guaranteed output, must be questioned. However, what can also be scrutinised is David Moyes’s use of the winger, especially when he has applied double standards to the likes of McNeil and not afforded Dibling the same amount of slack. But even taking that into account, bar a few flashes in games against Burnley and Nottingham Forest over Christmas, Dibling did very little with the cameos he did have, so little choice but to award him the lowest grade.

ILIMAN NDIAYE — B

I have been far from impressed with Ndiaye’s performance levels over the run-in. Everton needed him to step up, and he simply didn’t deliver. But, across the first half of the season and even in the immediacy after the Africa Cup of Nations, Ndiaye was generally very good. He proved he can play right as well as left, and scored Everton’s goal of the season back in November. Ndiaye has clearly been fatigued, and the Afcon wouldn’t have helped with that, just like Moyes’ insistence on the 26-year-old playing every minute won’t have helped either, but ultimately he didn’t come up with the goods when the Toffees needed him to.

JACK GREALISH — A

Grealish’s Everton career started in style, as he recorded two assists in back-to-back appearances. He immediately elevated the team, providing a creative force and a player to retain possession and carry the side up the field. He came up with the first late winner at Hill Dickinson Stadium and scored the decisive goal in a great victory at Bournemouth. His final two assists came against Brentford, in a 4-2 defeat, but Grealish’s influence on the team came down to more than just his assists and chance creation, and he has been badly missed since he was injured in January. But, there is also a school of thought to suggest as good as he was, Everton should be targeting a different kind of winger. One who brings more of a goal threat and isn’t the other side of 30. If Grealish does sign, it’s not a bad thing, but the deal must be right for the club.

TYRIQUE GEORGE — B

When he did get on the pitch, George impressed, and it feels like he is the kind of wide player Everton should have been targeting last summer, to complement Grealish and Ndiaye, rather than Dibling. The 20-year-old provides pace, dynamism and he loves to shoot. He did not manage to register a goal involvement, but did craft several brilliant chances that should have resulted in goals, most notably against West Ham and Sunderland, with Thierno Barry and Jake O’Brien missing sitters. Another one who should have received more minutes — there was no reason for him not to start at least three of the last five games of the season — and Everton now must decide whether to activate a reported £25M option based off just 210 minutes of gametime.

THIERNO BARRY — C

Barry came in for £27M from Villarreal, but ultimately he was still a signing that wasn’t definitely going to be ready to hit the ground running at 22. Whether Everton should have signed that kind of player for such a key position is of course up for debate. Barry has done some things well; when he is on it, his hold-up play is impressive, he can tower over defenders in the air and he has finished with a respectable eight goals.

Yet there is just a feeling he doesn’t quite get it. He doesn’t seem to have the aggression required to disrupt defenders, and when he’s at his worst, the Frenchman looks lackadaisical and clumsy. File under: Room for improvement.

BETO — B

Beto finished the season as Everton’s leading scorer in all competitions, with 10 goals in 40 games, albeit only 18 of those were from the start. The 28-year-old was poor across the first half of the campaign, yet between the end of January until the end of the season, Beto was superb, scoring eight league goals and just proving a nuisance to defenders — something which Barry has just not mastered with any consistency.

Everton have a decision to make on Beto. He has just a year left to run on his deal and so he either needs to be sold while his stock is relatively high, or they need to offer him a short extension. Either way, you can never doubt Beto’s commitment to the cause, even if the quality isn’t always there.

Read more - It wasn't all bad: The positives for Everton from 2025-26

 

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