James Tarkowski outlines European ambition after win over Burnley

We're 5 points behind them.

Why not just leave it at the next game for the rest of this season.

The way the results are topsy turning and the pressure getting to a lot of clubs chasing the top five placings we just might win those games with no pressure at all on us.

I hope we don't make a European place for next season — we are not ready or equipped for it and our Premier League placing will suffer if we do.

See your point mate but I hope we get there.

I want to take my grandsons to the aways, let them see a bit of what we seen. Season ticket holders and Everton mad.

Liverpool have to be in our sights. The five point deficit could easily be reduced to two if we beat them at BMD. If they're not in our sights we may as well all pack up and go trainspotting.

Dave A.

Surely we have to break the cycle some time, Dave ?

Even if our EPL finishing position next year is affected. We surely have to dive into the European pool at every opportunity in order to attract the better players and try to get the club (particularly the owners) accustomed to knowing what it takes to become part of the established elite again.

I fully understand your point, but if we wait until we are ready. I fear we may never be ready.

The inferiority complex remains Darren.

The owners have the cash but how much will we be allowed to spend?

They're sitting ducks for anyone who can muster a late charge.

It's a phrase connected to the negativity and acceptance of 8th place finishes by some Blues.

If we qualify, build up the squad in the summer and show some ambition finally, more matchday and TV revenue, sponsorship increases, profile increased.

I think we're ranked about 400 or so in European ranking charts, fucking disgraceful for our great club

The idea that top players would come and we could afford them, for the Europa League and even more so, the Conference, is for the birds.

Champions League would be the game changer... but you have to grow towards that.

That's his record since he came back.

A club in the doldrums for years, that has failed at home for most of the season, dropped stupid points against rank teams, and been narrowly beaten by some of the sides in Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Aston Villa & Chelsea.

A squad not blessed with technical quality. Could he put another 12-15 points on top of that as the side develops?

He is doing an excellent job.

I will knock it on the head and celebrate stability.

Moyes has been given funds Dyche could only dream of. No points deductions for him. Nor boardroom desertion. Fair enough he has squandered most of it, but very few teams outside the Top 6 have been able to call on players with the talent of Pickford, Brantwaite, Dewsbury-Hall, Garner, Ndiaye and Grealish.

We should already have cemented a European slot already -- and probably would have done if we didn't have a manager instructing our goalie and centre-backs to smash it over the heads of all that talent.

So that's about 60 odd points. So you expect us to be 1st or 2nd now then?

Moyes is doing a great job and it stuns me others can't see it or refuse to! Where we've come from to now is unbelievable. We're now discussing the benefits of Europe not the consequences of relegation

End of last season, most would say 12th to 14th would be great progress, but realistically a Europa League or spot or better is now well within reach.

No one will look forward to playing us in this last run-in, home or away, granted our home form hasn't been great but it's not like we've been battered at home either, apart from Newcastle & Spurs (hopefully relegated).

Not ready for Europe? Give me a break, guys! Do you think Villa or Newcastle had squads ready for Europe a few years back? It's not done them any harm, and they've managed to attract a higher level of player from this (ambition).

We don't know whether the board will go big until the summer, but let's worry about that then and get behind it.

I reckon your expecting a 12th to 14th finish, Paul.

I'd put up that Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall are 2 out of the top 10 signings this season. That's pretty good going compared to many a team in the Premier League, for a total outlay of what £40M?

I also look at the games those players were unavailable in Grealish, Ndiaye, Branthwaite, and Dewsbury-Hall. With a small squad, they've been missed.

I also note the improvement that Garner has made under Moyes, and that both he and Branthwaite are under long term contracts. Clearly they have a belief in where we are heading. Both could easily have moved on.

Both signed long term contracts until summer 2030.

How many of them years will Moyes manage them?

I'm going with a bottom half finish unfortunately.

I'm taking your meaningless inconsequential stats and raising you a forgone conclusion.

He persuaded them to stay, and we are a better club by keeping talent like that.

The squad has had a net spend of £12M over the last 5 years, and we need to be adding players of that calibre -- rather than seeing it in another coloured shirt.

Good players should give us all hope.

Apologies for asking another question before you have answered my previous question.

What is Moyes's net spend since January 2025?

I like Grealish... but £12M for 6 months work? He would struggle to get in the Top 50 signings -- let alone Top 10.

Branthwaite and Garner had contracts extended because it would have been brainless not to do so. The club had to protect its assets and the players protected their financial futures...

But hey... let's credit Moyes for signing a couple of players who were here long before he got here.

This is getting ridiculous.

If it was Moyes who changed things, we have to ask why he has abandoned the anti-football that has served him so well and made him into one of the wealthiest failures in sport?

Could it have been the match-goer telling him in no uncertain terms that his zombie football was unacceptable? Or could it have been the happy clappers who applauded it?

I guess people will draw their own conclusions...

We should already have cemented a European slot already, actually just means be in the Top 5 with 9 games to go.

I'm taking your meaningless inconsequential stats and raising you a forgone conclusion.

Perhaps write clearer rather than giving it the big un, particularly when I had noted in post 14 that failed at home for most of the season, dropped stupid points against rank teams...

I have no doubt we have frittered away points at home, but I also know we've had some fantastic away performances that none of us expected. With one transfer window, a small, younger squad, there is progress.

John,
Everton five-year net spend: £-12.13M
25-26: £-101.87M
24-25: £28.17M (13th)
23-24: £36.23M (15th)
22-23: £21.7M (17th)
21-22: £5.56M (16th)

That will exclude Rohl.

8 goals in 15 home games from open play this season.

BBC reported a similar number to the above. This excludes add ons, and the obligation to buy Rohl.

Plenty of younger blood added, with hopefully the benefit to come through in the years ahead.

To me the top five now will qualify for Europe -- a forgone conclusion. I called it. Only I fully accept you'll have to wait until the end of May before the penny drops.

So having been forced to acknowledge Moyes has spent twice as much in one window as we did in the four years previous, we can now shamelessly manipulate the stats to a "net spend over £12M over five years"? Then we can be astonished by the progress.

I used too hate stats until I realised what a constant source of joy they can be...

The football he has produced has seen us score 8 home goals from open play in 15 home games? Fair return?

But honestly, if you think that it will attract top players to play in that third-rate European competition — Nah, I doubt that very much. Hang on for another couple of years and, if these new owners shape up, that will be the time.

I'm more concerned that players like Ndiaye will be on their toes and away unless they are rewarded with better contracts.

Plenty of clubs are already eyeing up this lad — give him that improved contract now before he gets frustrated with the paltry wages he's getting in contrast to others.

Who you blame for that is up to you.

Close to the top of my best Everton memories was Europe trips with my dad, he's passed now. He was a good age when I took him to Nuremburg and Lille. Still the best Blue I've ever known, my dad.

The memories make me smile. I want to do it in reverse now, Dave, and take my season ticket holding Everton crazy grandsons to Europe.

THE best Everton memories.

Also, there is clearly an insistence on investment on youth which will hopefully pay off in the future, such as Rohl, Dibling and Aznou, but none of them have made a contribution in terms of improvement to the team this season.

So, with all that said, us heading for Top 6 is pretty outstanding given the last 10 years.

Roll me one, please, mate!

Thanks, so what I wrote, is actually what you meant. You're welcome.

To me, the top five now will qualify for Europe -- a forgone conclusion. I called it. Only I fully accept you'll have to wait until the end of May before the penny drops.

I don't disagree. Most have spent to get there, with only Brentford being an outlier, and a constrained Villa from the PSR perspective, that is running out of gas and it may cost them the Champions League.

So having been forced to acknowledge Moyes has spent twice as much in one window as we did in the four years previous, we can now shamelessly manipulate the stats to a "net spend of £12M over five years"? Then we can be astonished by the progress

Err... not at all.

£12M net spend means two things. You're either not spending enough to maintain a top rate squad, or you're selling the top talent you've got, or both.

£100M is a drop in the ocean to what a lot of sides have spent when the rules have allowed them. I fully expect that figure to be dwarfed this summer, and our top talent to be retained. Like it or not, football is a game of finance.

You can pick up the occasional bargain, you can sell the deadwood you don't want, but the top teams generally spend a fortune to compete at the top.

I used too hate stats until I realised what a constant source of joy they can be.

Great, perhaps we can look forward to informative posts going forward. Cat o' nine tails optional.

C'mon that's funny, no one was expecting a cat o' nine tails reference on a rainy Friday.

Keep going, Ian.

I have good news, it's March, and we're actually just five points of 5th spot, with both teams above us we've yet to play.

You did say £100M was a drop in the ocean.

Kevin, if we finish in the Top 6, I will buy you a season ticket for next season.

Keep going, Ian

Certainly implied...

8 home goals from open play in 15 home games... Is that a fair return?

Come on -- no one is saying Moyes is perfect, but you have to admit that we are higher in the table at this point than the great majority of us thought we would be.

Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall were ready to go. Alcaraz seemed a logical signing, as there were moments of talent last season.

If I am honest, I thought we would have needed more established players to climb the Premier League than what we ended up signing. And I was under whelmed with what we ended up with.

I was vocal pre-season that I wouldn't have signed Dibling, as I didn't think we would have the patience for a kid with limited output and big transfer fee, and we have been crying out for a genuine right winger for an age to provide goals and assists.

The others I hadn't seen, bar Rohl in the Germany U21s.

Is it £100M wasted? No, I don't think it is. Could we have got more and been a bit more short-termist about it, yes, but that isn't the strategy, nor something that was wanted on these pages either. We all wanted bright young footballers, but then don't have the patience when they don't instantly deliver.

We have scored more than 8 home goals -- I think the number is 18. Is it enough? No, and it has cost us points with draws and defeats that a better quality team would have taken points from.

But overall, it is a step in the right direction.

Enough?

If you checked properly, you would already know this, so I just wish people would stop changing the narrative and just keep it real instead of turning this website into the Daily Express!

Substance over style? I think that substance has always got to come first, so that's a big tick for David, but can he create a better style?

That doesn;'t even need to be said, does it?

Branthwaite has been missing most of the season, Grealish has and is going to miss plenty games, then we had the Africa cup to contend with.

I think, all in all, Moyes has done well, I am neither for nor against him particularly, but I think it's a hard man who is dissatisfied with the results this season.

Unfortunately not. It was another point which sailed high over your head. I won't labour it because last time I tried to explain something to you, I lost the will to live. It took me a dozen posts to get you to understand Grealish signed until the end of the season and not on a 12-month contract. Perhaps if I spoke the language of ill-informed stats???

BTW: FYI

Travers:- £4.5M
Aznou:- £8.5M
Alcaraz:- £15M
Dewsbuy-Hall:- £28.5M
Barry:- £30M
Dibling:- £40M
Grealish:- £12M

Total:- £138.5M

I was happy to inform you earlier in the thread that Grealish was a loan, not a signing. Unfortunately, the £12M plus bonuses he signed for still counts as part of Moyes's net spend.

Stats in the wrong hands can be annoying, but stats in the hands of somebody as numerically challenged as you can be comedy gold.

2015-16:- 11th
2016-17:- 7th
2017-18:- 8th
2018-19:- 8th
2019-20:- 12th
2020-21:- 10th
2021-22:- 16th
2022-23:- 17th
2023-24:- 15th (12th without the PSR points deduction)
2024-25:- 13th.

So the average finishing postion is 12th, which is where we might finish this season. 2016-2021, the average finishing position was 9th.

With the run of games coming up, we'll all be happy with 9th at the end of the season given our home form.

It isn’t necessary as we can all read.

Sam Allardyce recruited cos of fears of relegation, and spent £60M. Yes, terrible season.

Marco spent a fortune to finish mid-table then sacked the following year cos we were starting to lose heavily...

Carlo, spent a fortune to finish mid table twice.

Lampard the two seasons need no explanation.
Ditto Dyche.

We may have finished higher than I recalled in Marco's first season, and in Carlo and. Sam's but in view of the money spent they were all pretty terrible. And none of them took over the bag of shit which was our squad last year, with two goals in ten games, and stuffed with free transfers after five years of no spending.

Are you really saying the last 10 years was okay and on any sort of par with now?

Wow, the depths you will plunge to remain locked in a permanent sulk.

Marco's first season, when he lashed out loads after the loads spent by Koeman.

And Carlo's second season, when he lashed out further insane amounts on top of the spending of Koeman and Silva.

Not really.

I am going off what is reported in the reputable media, who use initial fees only. And I can understand why they do that as well, as clubs only record the initial fee on the books come the end of the season.

Add-ons are only included when there is certainty that they will be triggered, and that is unlikely after just one season. Most sites are carrying a gross spend of £112M and the inflow was £11M, whilst some are including the obligation on Rohl.

Player Team Date Fee
Carlos Alcaraz Flamengo 1 July 2025 £12,600,000
Thierno Barry Villarreal 9 July 2025 £27,500,000
(+£5,000,000 add-ons)
Mark Travers Bournemouth 15 July 2025 £4,000,000
(+£3,000,000 add-ons)
Adam Aznou Bayern Munich 29 July 2025 £7,800,000
(+£2,600,000 add-ons)
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall Chelsea 6 August 2025 £25,000,000
(+£4,000,000 add-ons)
Jack Grealish Manchester City 12 August 2025 Season-long loan
Reuben Gokah Charlton Athletic 15 August 2025 Undisclosed
Tom King Wolverhampton Wanderers 15 August 2025 Nominal
Tyler Dibling Southampton 25 August 2025 £35,000,000
(+£5,000,000 add-ons)
Merlin Rohl Freiburg 1 September 2025 Loan to end of the season
Tyrique George Chelsea 2 February 2026 Loan to end of the season
Total (initial fees only): £111,900,000

Neal Maupay Marseille 1 July 2025 £3,400,000
Youssef Chermiti Rangers 1 September 2025 £8,000,000
(+£2,000,000 add-ons)
Total Incoming - £11,400,000

At the end of the season, I'd expect the above to be shown in the club financial statements.

The hysteria over Grealish's wages as a 'loan signing' is ridiculous. The club could afford his wages, and he offered far better value than £90k per week on Jack Harrison, £75k Holgate, Broja, Lindstrom etc etc etc etc -- that combined offered jot.

A net spend of £127M for Moyes then?

All the managers you mention inherited poor teams.#

Are you putting Moyes in the same bracket this season, using your logic?

I posted according to Darren's figures.

Let's humour him since he has spent so long trawling the websites to find the lowest recorded fees. That will be exposed when the accounts come out...

Unless! -- You ignore the £20M add-ons which we will either pay or take a huge hit on the transfers. You ignore the £18M which was an crucial part of the Rohl deal. You ignore that Grealish is on a season-long loan contract. We can't send him back -- that £12M has to be paid even though he can't play.

Even after frantically massaging his figures, our financial wizz-kidd still has a huge lump in his carpet. So would yours if you tried to sweep £50M under it.

Thanks Darren, John, Ian (2), Tony, Dave Brian and others.

Well, the first 3 searches on Google, I didn't need to look much further.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cpq59yx71j2o

Excludes Travers

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-everton/transfers/verein/29/saison_id/2025

In euro

https://www.efcstatto.com/transfers/

Seems comprehensive

You can put into Google AI, and it comes to the same answer, but I doubt you can use it...

That will be exposed when the accounts come out.

Let's see the post balance sheet note of obligations entered into when the numbers come out in April.

It is a shame the website doesn't have them, but that section of ToffeeWeb is a bit of a mess under the new ownership.

You ignore the £20M add-ons which we will either pay or take a huge hit on the transfers.

Wrong. You've no idea if any of the clauses will be met, and you've no idea if the players will be sold for more than they were bought for. It isn't an all-or-nothing.

You've also no idea that a huge amount of contractual obligations to players and clubs are never met.

But you've actually missed the point of what happens if the clauses have been met. Rather than piling on, you need to think for a minute that the clauses are a validation that the transfer has been successful.

European qualification, trophies, personal milestones, extended contracts, share of future profitsor transfers. That £20M could be worth many times over.

You ignore the £18M which was a crucial part of the Rohl deal.

Until it has been activated, it hasn't happened. That's the case with every loan-to-buy obligation, and that's fact.

Jordan Sancho signed at Chelsea on an obligation to buy from Man Utd, and then Chelsea paid £5M to get out of the deal. That was never a recognised permanent transfer deal, so until it has happened, he is as much as an Everton player as Dwight McNeil is playing for Palace.

I don't expect that to happen here, but we have no idea what the terms are and if the club will back out. Or buy him and sell him the next day, as happens elsewhere.

Last season, we had a prolonged period of Alcaraz not being played to avoid triggering a contract clause; maybe this is the same. No one knows.

You ignore that Grealish is on a season-long loan contract. We can't send him back. That £12M has to be paid even though he can't play.

I haven't ignored him at all. His wages are a cost to the club, but are less than the wages of Broja, Lindstrom, Holgate and Jack Harrison per the prior comment. I stand by it was a decent deal for the club, and have already said that he cost £10-12M for the season.

I've had a look for myself, Darren, I'm going with your figures.

Don't worry, John, you seem easily led.

"£100M is a drop in the ocean to what a lot of sides have spent when the rules have allowed them. I fully expect that figure to be dwarfed this summer."

What is giving you that expectation?

Granted it is hard to discern what our owners' intentions are but I fear they think what they spent last summer was a big deal and not one to be repeated, let alone exceeded. Our revenue base is not expanding fast enough to allow that. For all the talk, I see little evidence of the stadium creating big new revenue streams.

My hunch is our net spend will be unlikely to be more than half of last year and might be a lot less. Those summer 2025 signings are going to have to come good. And I think we will end up trying to raise some money in player sales (Ndiaye?).

Apologies if I hurt you with my post.

It's my opinion.

A good player last summer with proven ability was going for £50-60M. Mbeumo, Cunha, Semenyo, fall into that category, Woltemade, Sesko, Ekitite were £65-75M with mixed results. One player.

As a club, I would expect us to spend more than last summer, as psr constraints have subsided and cashlow from the stadium has come through, there won't be the same excuses as to why the club can't compete financially.

Open question if Beto, McNeil, Mykolenko, Patterson etc boost those numbers further. There's a good few out of contract in 2027 if new contracts are not signed.

Will the club beat the Sigurdsson record, 2 full backs, new right winger or striker?

Hopefully though the Everton Transfer Collective will have learned from the mistakes of last summer and we'll get players more ready to make the first team.

I appreciate TFG restructured our debt position from a truly perilous position but there are still tens of millions of interest accruing and I don't see evidence of the revenue arising that turns it into a positive cashflow.

In particular, much was made of the stadium's suitability for very large scale sporting and music events. Given we have had years to prepare and plan, where are these lucrative events?

A 30% increase in capacity is handy but only yields about £7m extra assuming constant prices. The higher corp hospitality ought to help up the average price per seat but unlikely to be much over £10m, £15m tops. That is well below what I believe is our debt interest.

It doesn't matter how much players cost nowadays, you still have to be able to afford to pay for them. Last time TFG effectively funded the transfer window with an equity injection. That is generally an exceptional move, not an ongoing one. I'm open to hearing why you think I might be wrong. I expect our net spend next window to be in the £20-40m area, and that boosted by at least one outgoing (who will of course need a cheaper replacement).

Stadium naming rights, additional corporate, gate recipes, food etc plus an increase in TV and Premier League money placement fees. Additional event money in rugby league, rugby union, music events, and internationals is all adding to the pot. Gates have increased by 30%, but I wouldn't be surprised if matchday revenue hasn't nearly doubled.

The club doesn't make a lot of money on a oap season ticket at £20 a match or a junior at £15. It makes it on corporate at £200-300 a pop. There are fans paying an eye-watering amount each season.

You are right the debts are significant, but the way to increase turnover is higher places, European participation, and more commercial revenue.

I'd expect a new shirt sponsor to be announced over what we have seen previously, and perhaps Castore replaced in time. Having better players is part of making that all happen.

The club will be targeting £250M turnover from £190M, and have hired extensively off-pitch to make that happen. Aston Villa, as a comparison, increased from £276M to £378M.

I would expect another summer of equity investment, and then more sustainable profitability funding the operating side, and ownership return in increased capital value and perhaps dividends.

I've set them up... TFG had better deliver.

Have a good week ahead.

Talking of choosing. I choose to ignore Google AI. The clue is in the A. You, on the other hand, don't even see a clue.

"You"ve no idea if the players will be sold for more than they were bought for" -- Actually, nobody does but it doesn't stop you coming on here on a daily basis and gobbing off about it.

I look forward to the club turning the £70M they have spend on Barry and Dibling into a huge profit. Perhaps you can Google AI and let us now what that is likely to be?

"Until it's been activated, it hasn't happened." -- Wow!!! That's fantastic news. Let's sweep it under the carpet and pretend it's not part of a net spend. Does this mean I don't have to pay for the car I ordered last week too?

"It's the same as Dwight McNeil" -- Hahahaha.

I love your race to complete humiliation on the issue of Grealish. I bet you are sorry you ever mentioned him. It was funny enough when you argued till the cows came home about his contract (only to discover it was season-long, not annual), but to relegate him from being a "Top 10 Premier League signing of the season" all the way down to a "Decent signing for the club" is hilarious.

Your confusion becomes even more apparent when you compare his loan to the time we loaned Mason Holgate???

Finally, this: "Dont worry, John, you seem easily led." -- Wonderful stuff. You spend hours and hours... and hours, researching and distorting the apologetic gibberish you put up on this site. But you can't get even the "easily led" to buy one single word of it.

Unfortunately for you, the rest of us were not born yesterday.

Ridiculous amounts of money but look at the other clubs. Not working as well as expected for many of them.

Let yourself down there ,buddy.

I would imagine that, Grealish aside, our wage bill is lower this season. We spent the money to stand still.

His wages are a cost to the club, but are less than the wages of Broja, Lindstrom, Holgate and Jack Harrison.

Nice try...

I was very clear I was writing about the wages of Grealish equalling out with Harrison, Lindstrom, Holgate & Broja, Darren.

There is also no reference of me saying we loaned Holgate at all.

It was funny enough when you argued till the cows came home about his contract (only to discover it was season long, not annual), but to relegate him from being a "Top 10 EPL signing of the season" all the way down to a " decent signing for the club" is hilarious.

I stand by it was a decent deal for the club, and have already said that he cost £10-12M for the season. That is what I had written. Don't misquote me.

I said decent deal, referring to the financial outlay.

He has been a good signing, and the financial arrangements have suited all parties, prior to his injury.

Don't misquote me again with your bullshit.

If you were merely trying to compare wages, there are many better examples than Holgate. So Please. stop embarrassing yourself. Man up and admit you got it wrong.

Post 24: " I'd put up that Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall are two of the top ten signings of the season."

Post 75: "I stand by It was a decent deal for the club."

It's clearly you who can’t differentiate between a "deal" and a "signing". If you are going to use both terms to describe the same transaction. Don't embarrass yourself further by crying that you have been misquoted.