Everton Turns to Free-Agent Market After Deadline Day Disappointments
David Moyes cut a realistic figure on Friday. No drama, no excuses, just the blunt reality of a squad left thin in key areas and a club now trawling the free-agent market to plug the gaps.
On the eve of Everton’s trip to Manchester United on Sunday, Moyes confirmed what had become obvious as the transfer window slammed shut with more exits than arrivals: the work is far from finished.
“We are looking at the free agents market,” he said. “I am trying to get a team that is going to be at the top end and challenge. I want the players to believe that we are moving forward – for me, that is really important.”
Right now, the squad list tells a different story.
Holes all over the pitch
Everton lost Iliman Ndiaye, Beto, Tim Iroegbunam, Adam Aznou and Nathan Patterson late in the window, a cluster of departures that stripped depth from several positions in one hit.
Both full-back roles are down to a single senior option. Centre-forward is in the same precarious state. For a manager who talks about “challenging at the top end”, that is a fragile platform to stand on.
The only escape route lies in a market most managers prefer not to rely on. Players without a club can still be signed despite the window closing, as long as they are registered before a secondary cut-off point understood to be roughly a week after deadline day. It’s a narrow window inside the window, and Everton are now operating inside it.
Balogun deal collapses
The frustration is sharpened by what almost was. Everton had lined up a deadline-day move for Folarin Balogun, a signing that would have gone a long way to easing the pressure at centre-forward. Instead, the deal fell apart at the final stage.
“Disappointed we didn’t do more business and disappointed things didn’t go our way in the end,” Moyes admitted. “Sometimes in football you have to live with disappointment and we will move on.”
On Balogun specifically, he was keen to shut down any suggestion of behind-the-scenes drama.
“It wasn’t anybody’s fault,” he said. “It happens in football a lot. The player had a problem in his medical and that was simply it. There’s no other story behind it.”
No blame, no public finger-pointing. Just a failed medical and a hole still gaping at the top of the pitch.
Walking a tightrope into Old Trafford
All of this plays out against the backdrop of a trip to Old Trafford. Manchester United away is demanding at the best of times; doing it with only one senior full-back on each flank and a lone recognised centre-forward raises the stakes.
Moyes’ challenge now is twofold. He has to prepare a team for United while his recruitment staff scramble through lists of unattached players, searching for experience, fitness and value in a market that usually exists for emergencies, not ambition.
He insists the message to his dressing room remains one of progress, of a project still moving forward despite the bruises of deadline day. The reality is harsher. Everton must find solutions, fast, from a pool of footballers every other club has already passed on.
The next week will show whether that market can offer enough quality to match Moyes’ ambitions — or whether Everton’s season will be defined by what they couldn’t get done when the window was still open.
