Paddy Boyland article
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/659146 ... hl-ndiaye/
A busy summer window for Everton ended at 9:10pm on Monday, just over two hours after the deadline, with confirmation of Merlin Rohl’s arrival from Freiburg.
It had been a hectic 24 hours for Rohl, a Germany Under-21 international midfielder tracked over successive windows, and a race against time for Everton to complete their final piece of summer business before the 7pm cut-off.
Rohl had emerged as a late alternative to West Ham United’s Tomas Soucek after an approach for the Czech midfielder had been rebuffed. Manager David Moyes remained keen to strengthen his midfield options, mindful of Idrissa Gueye’s likely participation in AFCON from December, and wanted to add more height and physicality in the centre of the park. At 6ft 3in (191cm), it was decided Rohl was the man.
Everything happened quickly. The 23-year-old played for Freiburg in their 4-1 defeat at Cologne on Sunday evening before returning to the south-western German city in preparation for an early-morning flight via private jet from nearby Basel, on the other side of the Swiss border, to Liverpool. From there, it was relatively short hop to Everton’s training ground in Halewood.
The loan for the rest of this season, which features an obligation to buy at around €20million (£17.4m; $23.3m at current rates), provided Everton are not relegated this season, was done before 7pm yesterday. It was announced just over two hours later, after Everton had received Football Association and FIFA clearance.
Rohl would be the only incoming of a deadline-day otherwise notable for the departures of youngsters Youssef Chermiti and Harrison Armstrong.
Chermiti joined Scottish side Rangers for an initial £8m plus bonuses, reuniting with former Everton director of football Kevin Thelwell, the man who had brought him to Goodison Park two years ago.
Talks had started over a potential loan, with clubs in England’s Championship, Germany and Spain having registered an interest. Rangers, though, were the only ones willing to pay permanent fee for the Portuguese, who was not part of Moyes’ immediate plans, and Everton decided to take the money to reinvest in Rohl.
The addition of a midfielder in Rohl paved the way for the highly-rated Armstrong to join Preston North End. Courted by most of the Championship, it was felt that the 18-year-old’s development would be best served by regular minutes.
Preston appealed due to its north-west location around 30 miles north of Liverpool and proximity to Moyes’ Lytham home, meaning the Everton manager could keep a keen eye on Armstrong’s progress. Their head of recruitment, the ex-Everton youngster James Wallace, had pushed hard for the move.
Those three deals would be Everton’s final bits of business in a summer of change for the club. Defensive options were assessed right up to the close of the window but the decision was taken to stay with what they had — the belief being that they are now considerably stronger than before.
In total they have spent around £110m this summer on nine new players and committed to approximately £45m in further fees, provided all clauses are met.
A sea change after the years of austerity, but much needed given the scale of the task that awaited them at the start of the summer.
There was always a sense that this would be a challenging window for Everton.
With 15 players, including loanees, out of contract at the end of last season, the belief internally was that the summer would involve an unprecedented rebuild for an established Premier League club. Moyes would later argue that it was “impossible to repair all of the damage” in one window.
For the first time since the early days of previous owner Farhad Moshiri, Everton had money after The Friedkin Group’s December takeover, but the club was undergoing rapid and widespread change behind the scenes.
Thelwell’s departure and the arrival of new CEO Angus Kinnear from Leeds United had both been well trailed, but the exit of head of recruitment Dan Purdy represented a curveball. Kinnear was putting his new recruitment setup in place but some, such as Manchester City’s director of scouting and recruitment James Smith, only officially joined at the end of the window.
While the network below Purdy remained largely intact, and played a role in the identification of Rohl, Thierno Barry and Adam Aznou, the new hierarchy was afforded relatively minimal time to do the early groundwork with players and agents usually needed to convince them to join.
Everton set the bar high. Maybe too high, according to some in the game, who like others in this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, although the club would no doubt counter that ambition and quality was needed.
Either way, the result was a series of early setbacks as key targets, particularly on the right-wing, went elsewhere or stayed put.
A medical was scheduled for Kenny Tete as his Fulham deal was about to expire, but the west-London club improved their terms and the Dutch right-back decided to stay.
The search for a right-winger was even more troublesome. Top target Francisco Conceicao picked Juventus while Johan Bakayoko went to RB Leipzig and Lyon’s Malick Fofana held out for Champions League interest, despite Everton’s willingness match his wage demands.
Everton felt they had a decent chance of signing Joao Palhinha from Bayern Munich until Tottenham Hotspur intervened and offered Champions League football. They attempted to beat Benfica to Richard Rios at the eleventh hour, but the Colombia midfielder had his mind set on a move to Portugal.
Moyes, short of bodies for the first part of pre-season, became increasingly frustrated and voiced his concerns publicly. It appeared as though his comments were intended to force the new recruitment team, comprised of head of trading Nick Hammond and head of strategy and analytics Chris Howarth into action. Moyes played a hands-on role in the new setup, assessing targets and engaging in talks with players.
Everton’s early business had been solid enough, but needed to go further. They had been open to retaining Abdoulaye Doucoure and Dominic Calvert-Lewin on the right terms, but in each case there was too significant a gap to bridge in talks. It was assumed Doucoure was heading to Saudi Arabia (which he eventually did, joining NEOM SC) and would more than double his Everton salary of around £100,000. Calvert-Lewin wanted a significant raise on his £90,000 a week salary and a long-term deal, and had felt his status as a free agent would advance his chances of earning a move to an elite club.
A deal was lined up for Brighton & Hove Albion’s Adam Webster in the event of Michael Keane leaving. But Moyes and Kinnear wanted to retain at least some of the out of contract players for continuity purposes and Keane is seen as a good influence around the camp.
Everton prioritised an extension for Jarrad Branthwaite, who had two years plus a club option for a further 12 months, on his deal, after January and early summer interest from Tottenham. The process started soon after the end of last season and ended with Branthwaite signing a new long-term deal, more than doubling his wages of around £50,000 and to become one of the top earners.
The left-footed centre-back has become one of the most coveted players in Europe - tying him to a five-year deal is a coup for Everton
The Athletic can reveal that an enquiry from Inter Milan for Iliman Ndiaye, valuing the Senegal forward at around £40m, was immediately rejected by Everton.
A right winger continued to prove elusive but other areas were ticked off.
Carlos Alcaraz joined on a permanent £12.5m deal from Flamengo after a successful loan, adding depth in midfield. Barry, Aznou and Mark Travers enhanced their options up front, at left-back and in goal.
Moyes has been clear that he sees Barry and Aznou as ones for the future. Aznou is intended to be a more attacking option than first-choice left-back Vitalii Mykolenko, with a higher ceiling. Likewise Barry with Beto.
The Frenchman was tracked along with Stuttgart’s Nick Woltemade and, while a more obviously attainable target than the German, he was someone Moyes felt could dovetail well with Beto, providing similar elements in games.
Woltemade had initially appealed to some of the recruitment network as a genuinely distinct option, but came at a much higher price. Everton needed their budget to stretch as far as possible, ruling out the prospect of mega-money signings.
Those deals were necessary for squad depth, but big areas of need like right-wing remained unresolved. Moyes had expressed a desire for some new signings to be “Premier League ready”.
He admired Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, a January target, while the club had made regular checks on Jack Grealish’s situation throughout. There was a belief both players were attainable, with positive noises emerging over Grealish’s interest in a move, but Everton were initially left playing the waiting game while Chelsea and Manchester City added to their squads.
Eventually, Chelsea sanctioned a move for Dewsbury-Hall after weeks of talks. Soon after, Grealish agreed to becoming the marquee signing, with Everton picking up around three-quarters of his £300,000 City wages in a package worth £12million.
Grealish’s desire to make the switch paved the way for the deal to happen and meant complex issues like image rights were overcome with relative ease. Moyes’ intervention had been crucial. The Everton manager was often called upon to make the final sales pitch to players, and sold the project to Grealish, offering to make him the main man and help revive his hopes of a return to the England setup.
Tyler Dibling finally joined as a new right-winger. Everton had initially walked away from talks due to the disparity between their valuation and Southampton’s. A bid of £32m including add-ons had been rejected, with the Championship club’s counter-offer worth over £50m. It included a significant sell-on clause, irrespective of profit.
Dibling’s desire for the move meant Southampton ended three weeks of impasse to come back to the table. Talks resumed on the afternoon of Friday August 22 and the deal was concluded by the Monday. A key issue had been addressed at an initial £35m fee.
Everton continued to search for right-back options. They mulled over approaches for Leicester City’s James Justin and free agent Kyle-Walker-Peters but were not sold on either. Lyon utility player Ainsley Maitland-Niles was lower down their list, but the French club had lost too many players.
Everton pivoted. With Jake O’Brien, Seamus Coleman, Nathan Patterson and even James Garner capable of playing on the right-side, they looked at adding cover in the centre instead.
Manchester City’s Manuel Akanji was on the market and an attractive option, but the Swiss international made it clear he wanted Champions League football. Aston Villa won the race for former Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof late on.
Had they secured cover, at right-back or in central defence, Patterson almost certainly would have been granted a temporary move away. French club Toulouse and, later on, Sevilla expressed an interest in taking the Scot on loan, but he will now stay and fight for his place.
A replacement for Chermiti was not sought either, with Dibling and Ndiaye both seen as options in central areas if needed.
Despite the addition of Rohl, they still lack a like-for-like replacement for Gueye, aged 35, in central midfield too. Rohl is more of a No 8 who has rarely played deeper.
There appears little doubt, however, that Everton are stronger after this summer’s window. Much stronger, perhaps.
Speaking after his side’s 3-2 defeat at Molineux on Saturday, a game in which the quality of Grealish and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall came to the fore, Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Vitor Pereira described Everton as a different proposition this season.
In the austerity years towards the end of Moshiri’s time at the club, supporters became used to relegation battles and penny-pinching in the market. Under TFG and Moyes, those days appear over for now. Finally, supporters can look up instead of down.
After a window like no other, Everton head into the rest of the season with renewed optimism and fresh momentum. How quickly the tide can turn
