Everton squad assessment after 2025/26 summer transfer window

Strikers still a concern, but goals and assists coming from elsewhere.

DMF cover for Gana and a RB in January would be ace. As would another consistent goal scorer, but for now 8/10.

But, the lack of a right-back is very, very strange as I find it hard to believe there isn't a single player in world football that we could find or attract to cover that position. It was the one spot I was 100% sure we would strengthen in.

Hopefully we won't be as reliant on our defence this season anyway due to our much-improved attack. There's no way we win at Wolves after conceding 2 goals in recent seasons, but we did on Saturday.

Overall, very happy.

Arsenal currently have these injuries:
Saliba £80m
Ben White £45m
Norgaaard £11m
Saka £150m
Havertz £65m
Jesus £32m

Sum £383m

So their treatment room is currently worth more than £14m more than our entire squad 😂

1. As everyone else has stated the lack of full back recruitment has been an issue for years. How difficult is it to get a full back

2. I was hoping to get a decent goal scorer in and although we tried and failed for Delap someone of better calibre than Barry was required.

Other than that a decent window but the lack of defensive cover will hinder our progress this season.

6/10 for me.

Slightly Disappointed by the lack of a new right back but O Brien Coleman Patterson Garner can play there.

Positives are signing England France Germany u21 players who I believe will develop into top players. Especially Barry and Dibling.

Grealish and KDH are top players

We have two players for each position.

No fillers were signed which I see as a huge positive.

It depends what our expectations are now I suppose, I was saying my guess would be we finish 12th to 14th that was pre the window end.

Now I think we will still finish in the same positions because we will certainly score more but will let more goals in too.

A few injuries in defence could spoil the season.

Liverpool would get a 10, if they could have got Guehi in. They've bought quality and sold unbelievably well.

We've bought well enough to take the team into the middle table. It is an improvement, but there is still a chasm to the Top 6 odd couple of clubs that can drop £60M plus on multiple players.

Liverpool buying two players at £120M+ plus a pop shows the difference in quality of player the two clubs are after.

It is progress for us in the window. But let's not kid ourselves, we are miles behind. Dithering Davy or not.

There’s plenty of work to be done of course, and next year’s recruitment should start now.

The full back areas are our weakest, we still need to look out for a genuine top no.9 and of the current 23 man squad, 6 are out of contract with Grealish also due to return to Man City.

We don’t start looking at these issues next May, we know about them now.

Keane, Gana and Coleman need to be replaced with first choice players who raise the quality of the team. Mykolenko, Garner and Tarkowski need new contracts or they’ll need replacing and we need to persuade City to let us loan Grealish again, or else find another special player to have the same impact.

It also felt strange to me that we bought in Alcaraz, Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall, who arguably all operate in the same space as Ndiaye who now will likely have to play on the RW where he has not been as potent when playing club football. It's good to have depth at LW and AMC but odd to bring in 3 players there but no single RB where we have no natural starter of Premier League standard.

Of course we have improved (it would be hard not to with a net spend of £120M) and it was always gonna be hard to fix all the problems in one window. We now have some much needed creativity and if we can combine that with the solidity of last season it should be a useful combo.

When we assess the window, do we mean 'Have we avoided being ripped off? Have we picked up bargains? I think yes, we've got value for money, certainly compared with previous windows. Or do we mean 'Have we improved the squad? If so, then yes, but we were starting from a low base. Will the new recruits work well as a team? The early signs are promising but we won't really know that til season's end.

Has it been an exciting window? Definitely. Grealish and Dibling are a dizzying improvement on both wings. But there are pitfalls, known unknowns.

With Grealish, it's his lifestyle. We now hear tales of all-day benders which does not bode well, and the look of him did concern me when he first signed. He looks washed out, like he's been on a crash diet (which maybe he has). Let's hope he can stay on the straight and narrow, cos if we can keep him fit then the sky's the limit.

And Dibling, he's burned bright, but then gone off the boil. A bit like Rooney did with us first time round. Let's hope he has a few exciting cameos as sub and gets his mojo back.

But the imbalance in our defence is a cause for concern; it could cost us this season. Moyes should have been able to bring in two full-backs, and I'm still worried who's going to cover for Gueye.

The first type is the player who for what ever reason is not getting the game time at one of the Top 6 clubs. Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall fall into that category. The second type is the young player who has shown promise and sees Everton as a step up or better opportunity to their present club. Dibling, Aznou, Barry and Röhl fall into that category. We also signed Alcaraz after looking at him last season.

Who knows what right-backs we looked at, the problem being we cannot attract the right players because they want to join a team playing in Europe. The alternative is recruiting an old, over-the-hill and overpaid has-been. We have to thank our recruiting team for not falling into that trap.

Until we start playing in Europe, it will be difficult to recruit the type of player who will be significantly better than the ones we have. If the likes of Grealish, Dewsbury-Hall and the young kids can get us into Europe for next season, it will be a 10/10 window.

We also have the January window which is not far off and I am sure that the new recruitment team is working on identifying possible recruits.

With Afcon on the horizon, we need a defensive midfielder to cover for Gueye. Hopefully Merlin Röhl will be the player that Doucoure never was, but that squad is lacking at least a right-back and a defensive midfielder.

And Chermiti needs replacing. I know we have Beto and Barry, but if one breaks down, then we have no other options up front from the start or the bench. If Calvert-Lewin being uncontested at Number 9 for so long taught us anything, it is to have an alternative. Shoehorning Ndiaye into the position should not be an option.

In any case, I hope that plans are in place for January and that the January window premium doesn't stop us from covering those gaps. Fingers crossed.

I'm not convinced by that — especially as we have implicitly left ourselves one short at centre-back (another relative squad weakness). Time will tell if we get away with it or not.

Röhl on the rest of the season!

Sunderland alone bought in Mukiele and Geertruida on decent deals who would have added to us. I can only assume that Moyes wanted to keep O'Brien there which is not ideal to my eyes.

Numbers look a tad short at the back to my eyes especially with one or two players there proving more injury prone recently.

Was there a right-back out there who was better than O'Brien, Coleman and Patterson and available at the right price? I can't think of one.

I don't know why, but quality full-backs are like hen's teeth these days. Peak Coleman would cost £60-70M in today's market.

We don't need someone who can do a job, we need someone better on board than we currently have, which is a Moyes approach we all need to get back with.

Probably 6-7 as the attacking signings have been great, but he will have been disappointed with the failure to sign a full-back. Mykolenko's injuries just highlight how weak we are in those areas.

Guess we wanted to spend the money on midfield and attack, and manage as best we could in defence. O'Brien has shown a great attitude soldiering on at right-back, but he will get found out on occasion against a quality winger.

I've read that we had a loan approach turned down for Chilwell at the 11th hour. We were turned down on Tete also. Perhaps bids went in, but the players we wanted didn't want to come that were better than we had or the new level we wanted. So, rather than sign any old player, they've kept their powder dry. Perhaps a lesson learnt from the Moshiri period?

The transfer committee appeared to have favoured adding creativity over adding full-backs. Based on last season, that seemed right. We now have a better stock of attacking players that can score and create, with perhaps a gap at full-back, defensive midfield, striker, and maybe at centre-back.

We all knew that it was impossible to bring in 14 or 15 players to sort out the window, and that it was unlikely you could flick a switch from limited journeymen transfers to world beaters. But, with 9 players signed, did anyone seriously expect more?

The goal this season is to rebuild our reputation. Get a Top 9 finish, play attractive football, and be in the press for the right reasons. Europe would be the cherry on the cake. The impatience to do more needs to consider where we want to be on a long-term basis.

The players signed are of a good age and good technical ability. We are moving forward, but there is more to do. The owners have shown they're committed to it, despite the criticism that they were some faceless Yank outfit that was using us as a cash-cow. It isn't, BTW.

Bar Ashley Young — and with the addition of Adam Aznou — this is basically the same defence that was the 4th best in the Premier League last season.

Ideally, additions weren't made, and quite rightly other areas of the pitch were prioritised. Not ideal, but understandable.

Mykooenko – just to protect an asset from going for nothing; Tarkowski probably still has something to offer for a couple of seasons (though we'll know more as the season progresses).

A decent right-back would be nice, but we do still have Seamus and Patterson on the books, who should get some game time once fit. O'Brien is doing well but we might need him to fill in at centre-back. We may not have had the cash to splash on players that would improve the team, best to keep our powder dry until we can recruit who we want, instead of filler, IMO.

8/10 for me, given the drastic changes required.

However, as it stands, we have a team now that will have others wondering about how to stop us scoring as well as how to rip us apart down the flanks.

That makes the defensive job easier than when we were playing an old school yard game of attack and defence. And as has been said above, we already had the 4th best defence in the league.

I'll take 3-2 victories over 0-1 defeats any day of the week.

Once we look like an organised club going places, those players, who want security and cup or European football, will want to join us. We are getting there.

Can't be any worse than nobody.

Overall, I'm pleased with who we've brought in compared to previous seasons. It looks like there was an actual plan on who to target and what positions needed addressing.

Yes, the two wingback positions were neglected but I'm good with the job O'Brien is doing and the jury is still out on Anzou but it seems he's one for the future.

One other comment. The re-upping of Keane's contract seems a genius move at present.

No rule we can't address the RB and LB issues in January either.

The strange aspect I find is the right-back obsession. You can see we were never linked with one player that was better than O'Brien and Garner, who I suspect will cover there until January. Moyes didn't want a top right-back as a priority and I wouldn't dispute that decision. This signing isn't likely to win or lose us a lot of points.

Personally I am impressed by the signings of Barry and Dibling as are 2 players I really like. Early signs for Grealish are that the gamble will pay off handsomely if we can keep him fit. Anzou and Rohl are the type of signings I want us to make but don't have enough knowledge of the players themselves to know that they will be assets however both come with decent reviews.

My big concern is central midfield. I think games are won and lost in this area and I fear we may be weaker than last season here. Mangala for me is a top player and a big upgrade on KDH playing there as the latter lacks the physicality, loses it in poor areas and not defensively diligent. KDH I feel can only play midfield when playing bottom half teams when we need to break them down where his guile, ability of running from deep, and goal threat become an asset. I see KDH as a luxury when we needed a necessity as I think Charly has more potential than him as a ten.

With Rohl he seems a player of enormous potential likened to Goretzka but he will really need to hit the ground running and players from the Bundesliga haven't tended to live up to their billing in Germany in the PL recently.The fact we may need Garner in the full back areas would have prompted me to keep Armstrong..

Kinnear said to judge him on September 2nd. I can't. Some astonishing business beyond my wildest hopes, some truly baffling, some depends on their judgement while some perceived failings may be down to the manager's desire and vision.

Our overall expenditure was 13th out of 20 in the Premier League. Our net spend was 7th (essentially because we had nothing to sell). Nothing spectacular therefore in terms of spending – although constrained by PSR.

We've bought two new immediate First XI players in Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall – and both look good. Big tick.

Dibling, Barry, Alcaraz and Röhl should challenge hard for First XI spots but we'll probably see the best of them in future seasons. These players can help form the basis of a really good squad over the course of the next 5 years and more. Aznou too possibly.

When everyone is fit, we should be good. When key players are not fit, we'll struggle.

We may also have to play too deep and narrow to best utilise our big talents too - because of the lack of width and pace on the flanks and at centre-back when Branthwaite is injured. These are obviously the things we've chosen to fix next time around. Fair enough.

I'd give us a 7.5 or 8 because I think it's a very good start – but some strange priorities.

Pickford
Garner Tarkowski Keane (Branthwaite when fit) Mykolenko (O'Brien when not fit)
Gueye Röhl
Ndiaye Dewsbury-Hall Grealish
Beto

Dibling sub for Ndiaye or Grealish second half
Other subs: Barry, McNeil, Aznou, Travers, Coleman and 2 of the above.

Squad is looking much better quality but it will be difficult to keep it harmonious if players are not played.