Everton’s transfer window did not just end badly. It collapsed in public, under floodlights, with the fanbase howling and the hierarchy exposed.
What began as anger over the proposed sale of home-grown forward Harrison Armstrong to Nottingham Forest – a deal only scrapped when the board saw the scale of the backlash – turned into outright revolt as deadline day unravelled into chaos.
A £40m deal that fell apart in the small hours
The centrepiece of the fiasco was Folarin Balogun. A £40m move from Monaco was supposed to be the statement signing, the striker to spearhead Everton’s push back towards Europe. Instead, it turned into a farce.
By late Tuesday night, everything looked done. Balogun, 25, had agreed personal terms. Both clubs had signed the deal sheet, locking in the transfer beyond the 23:00 BST deadline. Everton had even booked an 8am flight to bring him to Merseyside.
Then the delays started. Balogun did not land when planned. Documents from Monaco arrived later than Everton wanted. By the time the forward completed his medical, an issue had been flagged. The club tried to renegotiate the structure of the deal: less money up front, more tied to performance-related triggers. His personal terms stayed the same, but the mood around the move had shifted.
As Everton scrambled, they turned to contingency plans. Joshua Zirkzee was lined up from Manchester United on loan; the player was keen, but United refused to let him leave Old Trafford. Tammy Abraham was sounded out at Aston Villa; he chose to stay put at Villa Park.
With the clock running down and no alternative secured, Everton went back to Monaco. A revised agreement was finally struck minutes before the deadline, built around that reduced initial fee and add-ons. On paper, the deal was alive.
Balogun then killed it himself.
The former Arsenal striker walked out of Finch Farm without signing. Monaco sporting director Thiago Scuro later told reporters the American was “not comfortable” with how Everton had handled his medical.
Everton insist they supported Balogun throughout, that they were transparent about the medical findings and made it clear they would work with Monaco to find a solution. It made no difference. The player had seen enough. He walked away.
A squad stripped bare
The timing could hardly have been worse. Only hours earlier, Everton had sanctioned Beto’s £15.5m move to Fiorentina. Their most creative player, Iliman Ndiaye, was completing a £65m switch to Manchester City. The squad was already thin. By the end of the window, it looked skeletal.
David Moyes, 63 and never shy of a blunt assessment, had already warned after the Carabao Cup win at Preston North End: “We need more players. Our squad is not big enough and we need to get more quality in some areas if we can do.”
He did not get them.
Everton’s striking options now amount to one senior centre-forward: the raw Thierno Barry. Across the entire squad, Moyes has just 18 senior outfield players. One recognised right-back – Ashley Maitland-Niles. One recognised left-back – Vitaliy Mykolenko, after youngster Adam Aznou was allowed to join Malaga on loan.
This is the “good place” chief executive Angus Kinnear talked about only recently on BBC Radio Merseyside.
Back then, Kinnear insisted the squad was “in a good place”, explaining: “The challenge is we want to get the absolute best player we can in their position. Our metric is that by the close of the transfer window we have achieved that.” He also relayed the view of owners The Friedkin Group (TFG) that missing out on Europe last season was “failure” – a public line that even Moyes admitted had come as a “surprise”.
After this window, the word “failure” has been turned back on the owners and on Kinnear.
Right-back saga sums up the muddle
Even where Everton did eventually solve long-standing problems, the route there underlined the muddle at the top of the club.
Right-back has been an issue for years. This summer was supposed to be the reset. A £9.4m move for Fulham’s Kenny Tete was on the table. It collapsed when Fulham could not secure a replacement. Only after midnight did Everton finally confirm Maitland-Niles from Lyon for £3m.
On paper, the club can point to some decent work. Jack Grealish returned on loan. Maitland-Niles arrived to plug that right-back gap. Hayden Hackney, last season’s PFA Championship Player of the Year, was signed from Middlesbrough. Christian Norgaard came in from Arsenal as Idrissa Gueye’s replacement, although the 32-year-old Dane is injured with no return date. Young German Merlin Röhl and England Under-21 winger Tyrique George, who impressed on loan last season, were tied down. Brennan Johnson joined from Crystal Palace in a straight swap for Dwight McNeil.
None of it alters the central truth: Everton have come out of this window weaker than they went into it. Less depth. Fewer forwards. More questions.
Fans turn on the hierarchy
The supporters have seen enough. The aborted sale of 19-year-old Armstrong – widely regarded as the club’s most exciting academy talent since Wayne Rooney – was one PR disaster averted at the last moment. The Balogun saga and the threadbare state of the squad have created another, arguably more damaging one.
Fan groups moved quickly and decisively.
“The Everton Fans’ Forum” issued a scathing statement, accusing the club of leaving the squad “dangerously short” in key areas. Their words cut through the usual noise: “The conclusion of this summer’s transfer window leaves Everton supporters with serious questions about the club’s planning, recruitment and decision-making.
“This is not about demanding that Everton spend recklessly. Supporters understand the financial restrictions the club operates under. We are not demanding marquee signings simply for the sake of it.
“We are demanding competence, preparation and accountability.”
A petition calling for Kinnear’s resignation has already been launched.
Then came a symbolic blow. “The 1878s”, the volunteer group behind the huge flags, banners and tifos that have transformed the atmosphere at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium – efforts Moyes himself has described as “unbelievable” – announced they are “standing down for the foreseeable future” in protest.
Their statement was laced with anger: “Like the rest of our fanbase, we are utterly disappointed and disgusted with how this transfer window has gone, especially the end of it.” They explained that regulations on wording and imagery stop them from displaying overtly derogatory messages inside the ground. If they could, they said, they would already have filled the stadium with flags expressing “discontent, disappointment and anger”.
When the group that has spent years lifting the mood decides to walk away, the message is stark. The relationship between club and supporters is fraying badly.
No hiding place for TFG and Kinnear
Right now, Everton have not issued a public explanation of the Balogun collapse, the late scramble for alternatives, or the decision to strip Moyes’s squad down to the bare bones while talking publicly about European ambitions.
They can argue that Balogun made a personal choice they could not control. They can point to financial constraints. They can highlight the players who did arrive.
None of that answers the central charge from the terraces: how did a club of Everton’s stature reach the final day of the window with glaring long-term problems still unresolved, then fail to fix them when it mattered most?
The spotlight now burns on TFG and Kinnear. Moyes, already hinting at his frustration, must try to navigate a Premier League season with one senior striker and a paper-thin squad.
The fans have drawn their battle lines. The banners are packed away, the patience has gone, and the demand is clear: competence, preparation, accountability.
Whether Everton’s hierarchy can deliver any of those, under this level of scrutiny and with this fragile a squad, will define the season – and perhaps their own futures.
