With the 2025-26 season coming to a close, we are into our season review series with a look at the wide players and how they did this season.
For the 2024/25 campaign, Everton brought in no less than five temporary players, in order to supplement what was a threadbare squad. As is the way with such things at the club, most were flops, or at least failed to convince. Jack Harrison was a regular, but was not taken back for a third campaign, having delivered absolutely nothing from an offensive standpoint;
this is still considered somewhat important by most managers, for a winger. Likewise, Jesper Lindstrøm underwhelmed, and a serious injury requiring surgery ended the attacker’s campaign, along with any possibility that the Toffees would activate the buy option from Napoli. Orel Mangala did make a solid impression, but an ACL tear sustained in January spelled the end for the midfielder.
The Blues passed on signing perma-crock Armando Broja, who ended up heading to Burnley from Chelsea for an eye-watering fee of €23m, only to produce one goal in 24 appearances. Carlos Alcaraz – arriving halfway through the campaign – was the lone success story, with five goal contributions in 16 games (seven starts), including match-winning performances against Crystal Palace and Newcastle United. After much dallying, Everton finally confirmed the Argentine’s purchase for a bargain fee of €15m but – alas – that early promise has not borne out (see: Potential Transfer Departures — coming soon!).
Last season, the club relied less heavily on loans, bringing in just three players. So how did the trio get on? Let’s see.
Jack Grealish
The undoubted headline-grabbing addition from last summer, the arrival of the former £100m signing from Manchester City certainly raised Everton’s profile. The former Aston Villa star had won it all at the Etihad: the Champions League, three Premier League titles and the FA Cup, so brought a winning mentality to the club, something which has been in short supply at the Toffees in recent times. Although the 30-year-old had experienced a marked decline in playing time under Pep Guardiola during the previous two campaigns, it was still seen as something of a coup for the club to bring him to Merseyside, given his reputation and undoubted talent. But how would the winger handle a move from serial winners and UCL contenders to a team which has been rather more preoccupied with staying in the division in recent years?
As it happened, Grealish showed no problem whatsoever with motivation, but rather proved to be both a hard worker and team player. His affable, ordinary-guy demeanour helped to forge an immediate bond with the fans, and a great start to his Everton career (contributing four assists in his first two league starts) raised early hopes of an England recall. He was unable to maintain such form, but remained one of the team’s primary creative outlets until sustaining a fractured foot in January, which brought his season to a premature conclusion. Grealish ended the campaign with two goals and six assists in 20 league outings. If it could be thought that he should have added more goal threat, his press-resistance, craft and skill on the ball was a major plus for the team.
If Grealish was unquestionably a positive on the pitch, then were there any negatives? He played exclusively on the left for Everton, requiring Iliman Ndiaye to shift to the opposite flank, which arguably impacted his game negatively. The Senegalese scored seven non-penalty goals in his debut campaign with the Blues, but managed just four last term, on the right. In terms of finance, the club covered an estimated 75% of Jacks’ City wages for the season, which came in as a commitment of approximately £12m — quite an outlay for a temporary acquisition. David Moyes would dearly love to bring Grealish back to Everton – whether on a permanent basis, or another loan – and the player himself has made it plain this would be his desire, having carried out all his rehabilitation at Finch Farm, rather than returning to his parent club, as is customary. It remains to be seen whether this can be accomplished on terms which the Blues are comfortable with, but signs are good.
Merlin Röhl
Unlike Grealish, the German’s destination was confirmed by virtue of Everton avoiding the drop last season: an unusual, some might say bizarre condition for the club to agree to, in all honesty, given their solid midtable finish the season prior. On top of an estimated €2m loan fee, the Blues will fork out around €25m for the player at the end of the month, to make the transfer permanent. Considering Röhl made 16 league appearances (six starts) totalling a mere 678 minutes last term, that sum makes up a fair chunk of the club’s summer budget, with an awful lot still to do in terms of reshaping the squad. Injuries didn’t help to get the midfielder settled, following his move, leading to him only being handed a first start at the end of December.
Röhl made positive impressions in away starts at Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, with the team lacking midfield options due to injuries and AFCON, but as soon as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Idrissa Gueye were available he was relegated to the bench. A couple of token sub appearances apart, he wasn’t seen for three-and-a-half months, until recalled for the last four games of the campaign — albeit as an auxiliary right winger. The former Under-21 international is athletic, a good technician, and finds space well, but has never shown an eye for goal, or playmaking ability expected of a number ten. More so, a certain carelessness in possession and a lack of defensive awareness can make him a gamble in midfield.
He turns 24 early next month, so can no longer genuinely be considered a young player, but a failure to nail down a regular position in his homeland is showing worrying signs of continuing in England. He’s a year into his time at Everton and we still have no real idea as to where he will play, and there are no signs that he is yet ready to break into the first eleven, despite the sizable outlay on him. Röhl does have ability, and is still relatively young, but Moyes has to prepare him over the summer, to work on his weak areas, in order to give him a genuine chance to make a significant contribution next season. Plugging him in on the wing, or at right back – as has been suggested by some – is a poor solution, and he must see a lot more game time to justify the amount of money spent on acquiring him.
Tyrique George
A winter transfer window addition, brought in to provide cover for the injured Grealish, the youngster made eleven appearances, but commanded only one start — 62 minutes against Bournemouth, eight days after arriving from Chelsea. A versatile forward, who had played on both wings and as a centre forward at his parent club, George was used solely on the left at Everton. Initially, young midfielder Harrison Armstrong was favoured over him – as an ad hoc winger – with Ndiaye then switched back from the right for the remainder of the campaign, ensuring he would find starts hard to come by. Considering the attacker is often fielded as a right winger for the England Under-21s by Lee Carsely, it is puzzling that he wasn’t at least tried, even once or twice, on that side. The player has pace, something which the team is lacking, and backs himself against defenders, but was rarely given much of a chance to impact games.
All told, the 20-year-old managed just 218 minutes with the Toffees — insufficient to form a genuine opinion as to what he has to offer, which seems to be causing indecision within the club as to whether to activate a rumoured £22m option to make his stay on Merseyside a permanent one. Personally, I think he showed enough and has a high ceiling as a player, but it’s thought that Everton are trying to negotiate a lower fee — which shows that either there are concerns with allocating funds on George, with many areas of the squad needing work, or that Moyes, Angus Kinnear, or whoever gets to make the call, isn’t entirely sold on him. Whatever the reasoning, the Blues have only one more week before the buy option lapses and it’d be a real pity to see the winger end up elsewhere.
