31/08/2026 10comments  |  Jump to last

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 (10)

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David West
1 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:02:35
Probably for the best for the lad, even iv myko got injured, Moyes would play jarred LB anyway.

Hope he sets Spain alight and a new manager brings him back in the summer a better player.
Rocco Bugaj
2 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:05:02
It’s a real shame! I would have liked him to stay and get more playing time. Now we’re missing a left-back, too...
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.
Dan Brierley
3 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:07:15
Don't know much about the lad to be honest, he was brought in as a backup to Mykolenko but clearly hasn't made the grade.

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?
Mark Ryan
4 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:07:54
What a joke signing this has been.

Not the lad's fault at all. Best of luck to him.
Andy Walker
5 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:12:46
He couldn’t defend. Positionally awful, even in pre season.
Mick O\\\'Malley
7 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:16:20
Hes only a kid ffs, its hard to defend from the bench, he came through the Barcelona youth system, is a full international, he needs playing time and some patience, he gets the odd 5 minutes here and there, let the lad go out to Malaga play a full season then judge him
Paul Hewitt
8 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:30:33
Come back when Moyes has gone lad.
Geoff Hind
9 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:30:46
He will be back next year when Moyes has gone. At that age it takes a couple of years to settle, he will become a better player and hopefully useful in the future. You don’t play for Morocco if you’re no good.
Phil Roberts
10 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:38:00
Well said Andy Walker.

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.
Christy Ring
11 Posted 31/08/2026 at 20:47:10
Moyes prefers to have no backup for Mykolenko, Jarrad can play there, but would be a huge loss in the centre, especially if he brings in Keane. It would make more sense if he could bring in another leftback.

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