Harry Diamond 05/07/2026 17comments  |  Jump to last

(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

The transfer window has only officially been open a few weeks, but already there has been some fan frustration with a lack of credible reports of incomings.

Movement, however, has started. Hayden Hackney has arrived from Middlesbrough for an initial £16.5m, while an agreement has been reached with Chelsea to bring back Tyrique George on a permanent basis.

Hackney and George represent two talents on the up, a market most Evertonians would encourage the club to focus on. But there’s an argument that it hasn’t always been the most successful route, with Adam Aznou and Tyler Dibling two names of similar profile who are yet to make the desired impact. George himself saw limited minutes last season during a six-month loan, afforded a solitary Premier League start.

It left me wondering what exactly are the markets that Everton are operating in this summer?​

Everton do not have the financial power of the Premier League’s wealthiest sides, and while Hill Dickinson Stadium and its associated new revenue streams will help bridge the gap, this will take time.

Nor do Everton have the carrot of European football. As alluded to earlier, the Toffees, too, are yet to show that the club is an ideal environment for young players to develop, a path Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace can all credibly offer, though it is one David Moyes has mentioned as part of the plan.

There’s an argument that Everton’s best signings of recent times all have one thing in common: They’ve been under appreciated at high-profile clubs.​

James Garner played only seven senior games for Manchester United. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall spent a season on the sidelines at Chelsea. Iliman Ndiaye’s miserable move to Marseille was supposed to be the Champions League platform he craves. Even Jack Grealish, signed on loan last summer, needed a fresh start and to be loved again.

Signings that have stuttered elsewhere come with risk, but so does second-tier shopping, as seen with Hackney, or the pursuit of players from outside Europe’s top leagues. Thierno Barry was signed after scoring 11 La Liga goals for Villarreal, a decent return by anyone's metric, and still struggled to settle. There’s risk to every deal.

​So is the 'damaged goods' market one Everton can find success and value in again? 

Liam Delap is one name who fits this profile, and there has been some objection to regular reports of Everton interest. What had appeared a coming-of-age campaign at Ipswich Town was followed by a season looking out of his depth at Chelsea.

​Delap hasn’t become a bad player overnight, even if his time at Chelsea has been truly torrid. Neither has Nicolas Jackson, Lois Openda, Ben White, or some of the other names linked with Everton during the silly season.

​Confidence is not there to go out on a limb and champion any of these deals with full faith, but likewise, they shouldn’t be met with such apprehension. Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah are just some of the flops-turned-Premier League success stories, brought about by changes of environment.

​Everton, in recent history, have had some success too.

 

 

Reader Comments (17)

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Rod Harrington
1 Posted 05/07/2026 at 16:17:31
What does Yak think?
Mike Doyle
3 Posted 05/07/2026 at 16:37:18
Going back further Harry, both Andy Gray and Peter Reid would have been considered damaged (injured ) goods when we signed them - and they worked out well.

Perhaps the best example in my football-watching lifetime was how Brian Clough and Peter Taylor blended damaged goods/past it players (e.g. Kenny Burns, Dave Mackay) with top class talents (e.g. Colin Todd, Peter Shiton) to create title winning sides at Derby & Forest.
Dave Abrahams
4 Posted 05/07/2026 at 17:35:52
Mike (3), Mike it was Taylor who discovered most of those players and Clough signed them. They played together at Middlesborough, Taylor was the goalkeeper there and they stayed together for a long time but fell out and never made it up and although Brian went to Taylor’s funeral it was too late then.
David West
5 Posted 05/07/2026 at 19:01:31
Arteta & Pienaar both similar, Ndiaye even ?

There's sometimes players that don't suit clubs, leagues, teams or managers.

This market is a risk, but all transfers are risks, players out of favour or not fitting in usually come at a discount so maybe a lower risk, higher reward ( see Ndiaye)

Jackson could be one I'd chance a loan to buy on, pace we just don't have and he would give us another dimension, even if he's not clinical, would make opposition defences drop a good few yards against us.
Dale Self
6 Posted 05/07/2026 at 19:21:59
Xhaka is an example of a player not at his best under the heavy pressure at a European club. Goes to Sunderland, and as the anchor of that team gets back in Europe.

There was a discount worth paying in that instance. It took someone like Le Bris to build around him.
David West
7 Posted 05/07/2026 at 19:38:05
I'd take Kovacic for a year, bring some beef to our midfield.

He’s 32 but 4 years younger than Gana.
Ian Bennett
8 Posted 05/07/2026 at 19:42:50
Nicolas Jackson or Jonathan David are two players that could prove their worth.
Oliver Molloy
9 Posted 05/07/2026 at 19:54:33
Richarlison & Lakuku ( fit ) all day long
Iain Love
10 Posted 05/07/2026 at 19:57:41
David Kovacics metrics are very similar to Hackneys. Fine player but but we want someone to get the best out of him. Now Elliot from the dark side is worth a punt to my mind.
Jay Harris
11 Posted 05/07/2026 at 20:05:43
The game seems to be moving towards young fast and technically gifted youngsters complemented by one or two old heads.

IMO we have enough old heads and should be looking at youngsters with pace although I would have liked to have kept Ashley Young for another year last season and I would love Richy back here.
David West
12 Posted 05/07/2026 at 20:53:04
Iain. Gana, Tim & Alcaraz could all be leaving.
Leaving us with KDH, Garner, Armstrong, Hackney & Rohl it's a really young MF.
It's would definitely not be enough in my view. And they all will need resting at times, see how goosed kdh was come last 2 months of the season.

An experienced player may come In ( please not soucek) or gana kept to play less minutes.
Either way our MF could do with a dominant CM like a kovacic, it's lightweight in my view.
Jim Bennings
13 Posted 06/07/2026 at 06:54:05
Still not enough attacking threat at all.

Still just got two strikers who basically aren't fit for purpose in the duration of it and, looking at the wider picture, if we are happy to finish 13th again... go for it.

Still got zero pace in the fullback berths and the central defence lacks pace, we are all just hoping and praying that Branthwaite somehow stays injury free.
Mal van Schaick
14 Posted 06/07/2026 at 17:22:59
We should not repeat the end of season debacle of losing games and to that end we need to move Barry on and recruit one or two forwards, we need a right full back. Grealish? Transfer? and move McNeil and Patterson out.

Three or four new faces to strengthen the team and the bench. I seem to recall that Moyes was complaining about the depth of the squad. Do something about it then!
Anthony Dwyer
15 Posted 06/07/2026 at 19:50:55
Don't we have new owners at the club ?

Spurs splash £200m on 2 players to sort the middle of the park, they finished below us ffs, why do we have to buy £16m players ?

Not a dig at Hackney, just wonder why we can't do what most of the league does.
Iain Johnston
16 Posted 07/07/2026 at 09:47:25
Anthony thats fair enough but do any of us really think that Spurs have got value for money spending £100 on a Portuguese midfielder who has basically been a Premier League flop at both Southampton & West Ham?
It's also not about how deep your owners pockets are but how large your turnover is & Spurs generate more income than Chelsea & Arsenal.

Over time consider the value we've seen from our Chelsea fringe players, Lukaku & KDH. I'm convinced George will prove to be another.
Mike Gaynes
17 Posted 08/07/2026 at 04:09:07
Anthony #15, what you are allowed to spend on players is based on the club's revenue. That's Squad Cost Ratio or SCR. You can pay out up to 85% of what you bring in.

Spurs' annual revenue is 3X Everton's.

They have a worldwide commercial operation we can't yet compete with, a higher matchday revenue (their stadium is bigger than ours) and Europa League revenue.

That's why they can spend what they're spending and we can't.

Yet.

Our owners are richer than theirs, and have committed to juicing up our revenues with new commercial partnerships and increasing events at our new stadium. For example, the just-completed Magic Weekend rugby event at HDS broke records, and already announced plans to return next year. That's revenue.
Eric Myles
18 Posted 08/07/2026 at 04:27:35
And Mike, from that 85% you have to deduct the existing squad cost to get the amount we are allowed to spend on new players (transfer fees plus wages) which means we need to grow revenue, or cut costs, exponentially to be able to gain any advantage. Incremental increase is not enough to grow but just barely enough to stand still.

Our estimated revenue from last season was £250M, 85% of which is £212.5M. If our costs remained the same as the previous year (£175M?) that's £37.5M in the kitty unless we sell expensive players and buy cheap ones.

Just found this article by Paul Quinn which suggests that clubs can spend 30% more than the 85% before sanctions are imposed:

The new (and existing) Squad Cost Ratio, and Sustainability and Systemic Resilience rules (Part I)

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