Adam Aznou will spend the rest of the 2026-27 season on loan at Malaga.
When Everton splashed out nearly €9M to snag La Masia graduate Adam Aznou from Bayern Munich last summer, fans thought we were finally addressing our perpetual left-back headache with dynamic, youth-driven quality.
Fast-forward 12 months, and the 20-year-old Moroccan international is packing his trunks for Malaga having effectively wasted a full year of his development sitting on the bench at Hill Dickinson Stadium and other illustrious Premier League locales.
The move back to Spain on a season-long loan deal caps off a thoroughly bizarre spell on Merseyside. Brought in to add flair and overlap functionality, Aznou found himself completely frozen out by David Moyes, a manager whose trust in raw, attack-minded full-backs remains famously hard to earn.
The kid was doomed from the moment David Moyes said Adam Aznou is “not quite ready” to play first-team football yet.
Outside of brief substitute outings in domestic cup ties — including winning a penalty against Sunderland on his debut back in January — Aznou never got a look-in when it came to meaningful Premier League minutes. Moyes opted time and again for pragmatic experience, leaving the highly-rated youngster to watch week after week from the dugout while his career stalled. Minutes Played: Negligible senior league action
You have to feel for the lad. Coming from La Masia and Bayern to barely get a sniff under Moyes is a brutal way to spend your 19th and 20th years. He needed games, not a front-row seat to pragmatism.
What makes the departure even harder to swallow for Blues supporters is our paper-thin depth. By letting Aznou head to Andalusia, Everton walk into the rest of the campaign with just one senior, recognized left-back in the first-team squad.
No surprises for guessing who that is... although to give him his due, Mykolenko has actually been playing quite well so far this season, albeit with his plethora of known weaknesses.
While a loan spell back in Spain should give Aznou the minutes he desperately needs to kickstart his career, it leaves Everton fans scratching their heads at the recruitment strategy — spending real money on young talent only to have Moyes and his perennial preference for plodding experience rather than youthful exuberance doing his best to ruin yet another young talent who needs playing time on the field.
Best of luck in Malaga, Adam. You'll certainly get more turf under your boots than you ever did at the Hill Dickinson Stadium!
Reader Comments (22)
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2 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:05:02
On top of that, there’s the gloating from Bayern fans on German football forums—fans who still haven't gotten over Aznou's departure.
3 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:07:15
If he can get a game at Malaga, then hopefully he can come back a better player. This does sound like someone else must be in, or Moyes feels Odin Samuels-Smith is ready to step up?
4 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:07:54
Not the lad's fault at all. Best of luck to him.
5 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:12:46
7 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:16:20
8 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:30:33
9 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:30:46
10 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:38:00
We want a left back as part.of a 0-0-10 formation or at least 0-5-5. We don't want defenders who can defend, just those good going forward.
11 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:47:10
12 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:54:57
Myko is a decent left back. Not great, but solid and currently making game saving contributions. Whether it has been O'Brien, Garner, or whoever, we have had a solid defence for the past two seasons. You can't do that if the right back can't play.
Currently, Rohl is looking better than anyone else we have available.
Aznou has not yet looked like a left back. Decent wing back yes, but not a full back.
The next 24 hours will be interesting.
13 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:56:24
I've seen no sign of Odin Samuels-Smith in the U21s so far this season. TransferMarkt say he's still at the club, so he must be injured, I guess.
But if he isn't, I very much doubt Moyes would ever consider him for the first team.
14 Posted 31/08/2026 at 21:12:37
The whole of football world could of taken him this summer, but it was bottom of the table/newly promoted Malaga that are prepared to give him a chance on loan.
That doesn't scream an oversight by Moyes. It looks like he is a prospect that relegation fodder are prepared to blood.
15 Posted 31/08/2026 at 21:16:08
16 Posted 31/08/2026 at 22:43:52
17 Posted 31/08/2026 at 23:06:44
18 Posted 01/09/2026 at 01:35:56
The bad news... well...
Anyway, I think this a good move for both the kid and the club. May he come back from this loan the way Seamus came back from Blackpool so many years ago -- ready to roar.
19 Posted 01/09/2026 at 02:19:19
At the same time?
20 Posted 01/09/2026 at 03:31:05
21 Posted 01/09/2026 at 04:37:24
Because that's what your post infers. But any excuse to defend Moyes eh?
Personally I think a loan will do him the world of good. As well as not having Moyes as his manager.
22 Posted 01/09/2026 at 05:47:54
23 Posted 01/09/2026 at 12:20:29
Long Live Kevin Keegan on ToffeeWeb. Far better to lose 6-5 than win 1-0.
He was frozen out because he was not as good at defending compared to Mykolenko (see Saturday) and that would have been his main job. When he learns to defend as well, then we can play him.
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1 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:02:35
Hope he sets Spain alight and a new manager brings him back in the summer a better player.