Everton transfer question now obvious as memories of angry four-word taunt rekindled

Everton transfer question now obvious as memories of angry four-word taunt rekindled

Chris Beesley examines a talking point following Everton's 1-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers in their second pre-season friendly

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Everton returned to the scene of a glorious afternoon that in fact marked the beginning of the end. But despite the disappointment of a tame defeat this time, hopes remain high that this summer can mark an exciting rebirth for a football institution than has been venerable but vulnerable in recent years.

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The Blues’ last trip to Ewood Park for a competitive fixture came almost 14 years ago on August 27, 2011, and while David Moyes’ men were celebrating a dramatic victory that day, what unfolded that week was to hit them hard. It was a tale of three penalties as Blackburn failed twice from the spot with Tim Howard saving Junior Hoilett’s 47th minute effort and David Dunn hitting the post on 83 minutes before Mikel Arteta stepped up to snatch the three points with 12 yards out in the 92nd minute.

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Such are the fickle fates of football fortune with Rovers boss that day Steve Kean – the new owners Venky’s first appointment after sacking Sam Allardyce – going on to have subsequent coaching spells in Brunei, Melbourne and Torpedo Kutaisi in Georgia, while his fellow Glaswegian Moyes is now back in charge of Everton and has managed more Premier League games than anyone else other than serial title winners Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. But you also make your own luck and perhaps it’s no coincidence that with Moyes at the helm once more, Abdoulaye Doucoure’s goal at Nottingham Forest on April 12 this year gave the Blues their first stoppage time 1-0 away victory since Arteta was spot-on at Blackburn.

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The goal proved a parting gift though and the Basque playmaker was out of the Goodison Park exit door after six-and-a-half years’ service just four days later though as he completed a £10million move to Arsenal. With only loan pair Royston Drenthe and Denis Stracqualursi coming in the opposite direction that summer, the angry four-word question from many Evertonians of “Where’s the Arteta money?” would be a taunt that came to haunt Bill Kenwright and the club’s top brass.

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While it would be sacrilege for those who worshipped at Goodison to compare them to the legendary ‘Holy Trinity’ of Colin Harvey, Howard Kendall and Alan Ball, for Moyes and 21st century Blues Arteta was one part of a highly-influential midfield trio that drove Everton’s most-consistent period of the Premier League era, alongside Steven Pienaar and Tim Cahill. Although – like ‘The Moyesiah’ – he would have a second coming at the club, Pienaar was the first to go, joining Tottenham Hotspur in January of 2011 while Cahill departed for Major League Soccer side New York Red Bulls at the end of the 2011/12 season.

The manager who oversaw both their purchases and sales would himself leave for Manchester United a year later, after steering the Blues to nine top-eight finishes, including what remains their highest-ever Premier League position of fourth in 2004/05. Although Moyes broke the club transfer record three times in consecutive years on strikers (£6million for Southampton’s James Beattie in 2005; £8.6million on Crystal Palace’s Andrew Johnson in 2006 and £11.25million on Middlesbrough’s Ayegbeni Yakubu in 2007) the financial restrictions of the Premier League’s glass ceiling that later prompted him to compare competing against Manchester City’s newfound petrodollar-fuelled riches as akin to “taking a knife to a gunfight” ensured the game’s truly elite marksmen always remained beyond his budget.

Therefore, the endeavours of attacking midfield creative forces, who he cannily picked up for a relative song (Cahill cost £1.5million from Millwall; Arteta cost £2million from Real Sociedad and Pienaar cost £2million from Borussia Dortmund) were pivotal to what Moyes achieved with Everton first time around. Now, he is looking for a suitable triumvirate for Hill Dickinson Stadium, but will the places be filled by current cast members?

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With the aforementioned Doucoure, who provided several big moments for both Moyes last season and predecessor Sean Dyche in his unconventional ‘advanced number six role’ behind the striker that combined hard running, an intense press and a Cahill-esque eye for a goal at crucial times, having now departed, the 62-year-old is currently tinkering with the options he has available. Teenager Harrison Armstrong caught the eye in a more advanced position in the first half at League Two Accrington Stanley but went deeper after the break and that’s where he came on at Blackburn too.

Against Rovers, Iliman Ndiaye, having returned from his extended break following international duty with Senegal, came in on the left wing where he had excelled so often in his debut season at Everton, ensuring it was Charly Alcaraz in the ‘number 10’ central role while uber-left footer Dwight McNeil was again operating as an inverted right winger given the paucity of options on that side of the pitch. In truth, none of them looked entirely convincing on what was a blunt overall display from the team, still very much feeling its way through the early weeks of pre-season.

With preparations for the historic 2025/26 campaign stepping up in the USA, Moyes will be watching them all diligently throughout the Premier League Summer Series, both in terms of what they bring to the team, and the interchangeability of the threesome within his system. All three of them are capable of producing magic moments and can each have big roles to play in the months ahead, but with the shackles of PSR now released and The Friedkin Group’s takeover enabling the club to flex their muscles in the transfer market, further recruits are certainly required when it comes to providing the Blues with the cutting edge they require to get the best out of their first season on the Mersey waterfront.

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