The deadline approaches; why leave it so late?

I wrote a comment about some earlier deadline day successes and failures that no-one responded to and so I thought I would take it upon myself to write a longer piece for yet another transfer thread on ToffeeWeb!

As the last week of the window approaches, I think it’s fair to say that every Evertonian feels a little disappointed with what we have brought in so far. Even if you are ecstatic with the additions, you feel, as I do, that there are still glaring holes in both the starting XI and the further squad.

For me, the priorities are a right-winger and a Number 6 who can win the ball a bit but crucially who can distribute the ball well and link our defence to the midfield. There is little point in having so many good ball carriers like Grealish, Ndiaye and Dewsbury-Hall if they never receive the ball in good spaces. A right-back would also be useful, plus some depth elsewhere.

Why has it been left this late? Certainly the timeline has not helped hugely with The Friedkin Group only completing their takeover at the end of 2024 and crucially the new CEO, Angus Kinnear, only starting his role in June. Key recruitment roles have been given to Nick Cox and James Smith but neither start their work at Everton officially till September at the earliest. So it seems likely, with former Director of Football, Kevin Thelwell shown the door, that this summer’s transfer moves have been conducted by a committee presumably led by Moyes and Kinnear and Nick Hammond — a manager, a CEO and a consultant.

Press reports would suggest that lots of approaches for the likes of Liam Delap, Francisco Concecaio and Douglas Luiz have been rebuffed whilst long-term targets like Tyler Dibling have been given prohibitive price tags. We still don’t know how much money there is to spend but most reports out of Everton suggest there are still funds and that Moyes is still looking for at least 3 or 4 players. But have we left it too late?

For a long time, it seems that Everton have made a habit of late moves in every transfer window, with mixed success; three particular deadline days stand out:

In 2013, Everton had started the season with uninspiring draws against West Bromwich Albion and Cardiff City. The mood was low and the need for reinforcements was as keen as ever when deadline day arrived. The ongoing rumour of the summer was concluded as Moyes finally got his man following a healthy £28M bid that would take Marouane Fellaini to Manchester United.

Any anger Evertonians might feel at the loss of the popular afro-touting Moroccan was lessened as they were treated to the arriving trio of Romelu Lukaku, Gareth Barry and James McCarthy who brought solidity and goals between them and contributed majorly to us getting 72 points that season — our highest total in a long time and ever since.

Contrastingly, in 2019, the team was looking (as ever) a little short of pace and bite out wide and at the back to replace Kurt Zouma, with expectations high for a busy deadline day under moneybags Moshiri. But as deals fell by the wayside left, right and centre, we ended up overpaying for Alex Iwobi (a player I liked) who was never a traditional winger.

The sole deadline day arrival struggled to make much impact in his first season which saw Everton fall out of the Top 10 for the first time in 4 years as they limped to 12th having had to replace the promising Marco Silva with Carlo Ancelotti as Moshiri was determined to make a mark on his new team.

If 2013, was great… and 2019, it was bad; then 2018 was something of a false dawn. Deadline day that year saw the exciting arrival of Yerry Mina and Andre Gomes from Barcelona as well as the Brazilian magician Bernard who had tortured Manchester City for Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League the previous year.

These additions for bright young manager Marco Silva, plus his previous favourite Richarlison and attacking left-back Lucas Digne, seemed destined to take Everton back to the top after an unsatisfying time under Ronald Koeman and Sam Allardyce. And for moments, it looked as though the heights beckoned — especially at the end of the season with impressive wins over Arsenal, Chelsea and United.

And yet, as already discussed, Kurt Zouma and Idrissa Gueye were never replaced and the three deadline arrivals flattered to deceive with Bernand lacking end product, Mina too often on the treatment table, and Andre Gomes never performing quite as well as his hair suggested he might.

But do we need to leave it so late? It seems that some other clubs (Brighton spring to mind) seem to get most of their business done before the end of the window, with long-term targets snaffled up early. Are there real bargains to be had in the dying hours or is this all just a bit of Everton theatricality left over from Blue Bill’s days? 

As ever, it’s difficult to discern the truth of things. It makes sense to me that some of the best players might want to delay their move to us, waiting to see what other offers present (this could well be the case with someone like Malick Fofana). But then perhaps we should not put ourselves at the mercy of such players?

Many will say and have said that we have screwed it up already by losing points to the likes of Leeds (and hopefully not Brighton) by heading into the season undercooked and with priority positions unfilled. They have a good point. Though I would always rather bring in players with quality who can contribute to Everton over the long term rather than patch jobs to pick up points in a few games.

Ultimately, the proof will be in the pudding. If we move into September with an exciting new right winger (Dibling?), a ball playing Number 6 (Cisse?), and a talented overlapping right-back (Juanlu Sanchez?) in the ranks, then perhaps this summer’s frustrations will be somewhat vindicated.

If we end up resorting to Josh Brownhill, Sergio Reguilon and Dany Ings, then I would suggest this summer has been a failure; possibly brought about by a transfer committee which lacked the requisite talent and specific experience for the task in hand.

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