Sean Dyche has moved to temper hopes that Everton might be able to add much-needed reinforcements before next week’s transfer deadline, saying that he and his players will have to regroup with what they’ve got as they look to correct an awful start to the new season.
The Blues followed up their season-opening 3-0 defeat at home to Brighton with a 4-0 thrashing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium today, results and performances that have alarmed supporters and heightened speculation that the Club will look to the transfer market to help plug gaps left by recent player sales and injuries to key players.
However, though Everton could have wiggle room if they can make a further sale, have one domestic and one international loan spot at their disposal and there has been uncorroborated talk of an approach for Newcastle right-back Kieran Trippier, nothing appears to be imminent with a week left in the window.
And Dyche, who has only started one of his four new summer signings so far, suggests that while he would love to go out and buy new players, the finances just aren’t there at a cash-strapped club that has seen two proposed takeovers collapse in the last 12 few months.
That could change should Kevin Thelwell be able to offload any of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Neal Maupay or Mason Holgate but only the Frenchman has attracted recent interest so far and even then only on a loan basis.
“It is a never ending challenge since I’ve been here, but it is all I’ve known at Everton Football Club,” Dyche said after the loss against Spurs. “We’ve sold a player [in Amadou Onana] who is growing, maturing, and becoming a very good player and we’ve got to start the process again and make others grow and mature and become good players.
“It just keeps going and going and going, that’s just the reality of the club. I work on realities and it is difficult at Everton Football Club. There are plenty of myths about it. The latest was a myth about us being in Europe. What happened in the last three seasons? Were we not trying to be in Europe?
“There has to be reality and I’ve tried to bring that and I am still trying to bring that. The fact is, coming here with a tough squad is tough, but that doesn’t mean you accept it. Our responsibility is to take action when it is tough.
“It’s a weird thing in football when people say: ‘Why don’t you go out and buy someone?’ I’m like: ‘What do you mean? There is no money.’
“It’s as if, as a manager, I don’t want to buy anyone. It’s not that I am a manager wanting to keep the money here. Unless someone tells me something different, this is what we’ve got.”
Having steered the club away from relegation in his first 6 months in charge last year thanks to a last-day victory over next weekend’s opponents, Bournemouth, and then finished well clear of the drop zone despite two points deductions last season, Dyche says he and his staff will simply have to find a way again this term.
“People have been saying is it the ownership, the points [deduction], the injuries, this and that and all the rest of it but we’ve still found our way, and that’s why it is important to stay focused,” he explained.
“There’s so much noise and stories every day around Everton and it is tough. It’s not very often about the football. We’ve done it since I’ve been here and we have got to start again.”