David Moyes Frustrated After Chaotic Transfer Deadline Day
David Moyes cuts a frustrated figure as the dust settles on a chaotic deadline day – but the Everton manager insists his trimmed squad still has enough fight to stay clear of a relegation scrap.
The Scot heads into Sunday’s clash with Manchester United with just 18 senior outfield players at his disposal and only one recognised striker, after a fraught end to the transfer window that left more questions than reinforcements.
A late push to bring Folarin Balogun back to the Premier League from Monaco collapsed in the final hours, while Iliman Ndiaye departed for Manchester City, stripping Everton of attacking depth at the very moment Moyes wanted to strengthen.
“Disappointed we didn't do more business, disappointed things didn't go our way in the end,” Moyes admitted at his pre-match press conference. “But sometimes in football you have to live with disappointments and we will and we'll move on.”
The Balogun saga became the defining drama of Everton’s window. Monaco managing director Thiago Scuro revealed the USA international pulled out of the proposed move over what he saw as Everton’s treatment of him during the process.
An issue flagged during Balogun’s medical prompted Everton to try to renegotiate the terms of the reported £40 million deal. Both clubs were still prepared to push ahead despite the complication. The player was not. He walked away.
“There were lots of different bits to it. It wasn't anybody's fault,” Moyes said. “Ultimately it happens in football a lot. The player had a problem in his medical and that was simply it.”
So Everton are left light. One senior striker. A bench that will likely lean on youth. A manager who wanted a European push now staring at a season where the first priority is avoiding trouble at the wrong end of the table.
Last year, they flirted with Europe before a late slump dragged them down to 13th. That taste of the higher reaches has not left Moyes. He has spoken repeatedly about dragging the club back into continental competition, and he is not ready to accept a season defined by survival alone.
“I'm getting too old now to be sitting around at the bottom end,” he said, with a pointed edge. “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 knows the outside view. A thin squad, a failed marquee signing, a key attacker sold to a domestic rival. Expectations have dipped.
“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,” Moyes reflected. “I've got to hope that we can do that again. There might not be a great expectation on us at this moment in time, but behind the scenes I'm rallying them.”
The window has closed. The excuses have too. With Manchester United arriving on Sunday, Moyes and his stripped-back squad now have to show whether defiance can bridge the gap where recruitment did not.
