In contrast to a year ago, expectations that Everton would do any incoming business on Deadline Day were next to zero – even though the squad is in desperate need of new faces – and that is the way the day panned out.
Financially, the club is completely hamstrung by mounting debt and while that crunch could be alleviated by another big-money sale like that of Anthony Gordon in January 2023, Sean Dyche cannot afford to lose a single first-team body.
As it is, he is down in numbers because of injuries to Abdoulate Doucouré, Amadou Onana, Seamus Coleman and now Arnaut Danjuma but, even if all were fit, Dyche could really do with some creativity and extra goal threat in the ranks.
If there was to be an incoming player at all, it would almost certainly have had to have been on loan and the reported interest in the likes of Hannibal Mejbri and Timothy Weah suggests that Kevin Thelwell had at least been looking for a player to come in on a temporary basis.
There was a report from Poland that the Toffees had an approach to take midfielder Jakub Moder on loan rejected by both Brighton and the player himself who would prefer to stay on the south coast and fight for his place.
Other than that, the day was almost completely devoid of speculation involving the Toffees.
In terms of outgoings, only loan opportunities for players in ranks of the Under-21s were likely and that was the case for Elijah Campbell who joined Fleetwood until the end of the season, with Sean McAllister also heading out on loan to the Scottish Championship at Inverness Caledonian Thistle, where Duncan Ferguson is in charge.
Doucouré was a reported target for Al Ettifaq but that speculation had been played down and there were suggestions that Everton have knocked back an enquiry from AC Milan for Ben Godfrey.
Elsewhere, Mason Holgate’s loan at Southampton was terminated early by mutual consent and he joined Sheffield United on a temporary basis until the summer.