David Moyes cut a frustrated figure as he surveyed what is left of his Everton squad – and it does not amount to much.
A chaotic deadline day ended with no new striker through the door, a key forward sold, and the manager staring at a Premier League season armed with just 18 senior outfield players and only one recognised centre-forward.
Balogun deal collapses
The late push for Monaco striker Folarin Balogun was meant to be the answer. Instead, it became the symbol of a window that slipped away from Everton.
The clubs had thrashed out the framework of a deal, believed to be around £40 million, and Balogun appeared close to a return to English football. Then came an issue flagged in the USA international’s medical. Everton tried to adjust the terms. The negotiations lurched. The move stalled.
Both clubs, Monaco managing director Thiago Scuro revealed, were still willing to press ahead despite the complication. Balogun was not. He walked away, pulling the plug on the transfer himself over what Scuro described as his treatment by Everton.
For Moyes, it was another door slammed shut.
“Disappointed we didn't do more business, disappointed things didn't go our way in the end,” he admitted at his pre-match press conference before Manchester United’s visit on Sunday. “But sometimes in football you have to live with disappointments and we will and we'll move on.”
He refused to point fingers over the failed move.
“There were lots of different bits to it. It wasn't anybody's fault,” he said. “Ultimately it happens in football a lot. The player had a problem in his medical and that was simply it.”
Ndiaye out, options thin
As Balogun stepped away, Iliman Ndiaye headed out. His sale to Manchester City stripped Moyes of another attacking option and left the squad even more exposed.
The numbers are stark. Eighteen senior outfield players. One recognised striker. A long, unforgiving season ahead.
This is not the platform Moyes envisaged when he spoke so openly about driving Everton back into European contention. Last season, they flirted with that ambition, pushing for a place in Europe before a late slump dragged them down to 13th.
The drop-off hurt. The missed opportunity lingers. Yet the manager’s message has not changed.
Fighting talk from Moyes
Moyes has been clear with his players about the standards he expects and the part of the table he intends to occupy.
“I'm getting too old now to be sitting around at the bottom end,” he said. “I've said that to the players here when I came in. The job is that we challenge as close to the top end of the league as we can.”
He still sees last season as proof that this group can punch above its perceived weight.
“I've got to say, they've done a brilliant job of it last year, and I don't think we were expected to do so well as what we've done,” he reflected.
The external mood may be downbeat after a thin window, but Moyes is determined that the internal mood is anything but.
“I've got to hope that we can do that again,” he said. “There might not be a great expectation on us at this moment in time, but behind the scenes I'm rallying them.”
The squad is light. The margins will be tight. But Moyes has made his position clear: he has no intention of spending his twilight years in the dugout fighting relegation scraps.
