David Moyes Confirms Toffees Looking At Free Agent Market... | Everton News Daily

David Moyes has given his pre-match press conference ahead of Everton versus Manchester United this Sunday, 2:00 kickoff at Hill Dickinson Stadium. The Toffees boss, it was the first time speaking to the press after what was a really poor ending to Evan's transfer window this summer. Um, the manager was asked what he thought about the summer business and the fact that the following Balogun deal didn't get over the line. This is what he had to say. >> Yeah, disappointed we didn't do more business. Uh, disappointed things didn't go our way in the end, so but uh, sometimes in football you have to you have to live with disappointments and we will and we'll we'll move on. >> From your perspective, what happened on that final day with Folarin Balogun? >> Uh, lot- lots of different bits to it, Vinnie. It wasn't uh, Emidio's fault. Ultimately, you know, the it happens in football a lot. The the the player had a problem in his medical and and that was that was simple, yeah. So, you know, there's no other no other stories behind it, really. That's that's >> There you go. I mean, Evertonians are disappointed and frustrated and rightly so, so I'm sure the manager is as well. Um, the ending to the window was really poor. We left Why it was left so late to try and bring players in is is just left us short. So, we have 18 outfield players available to the manager, so it's going to be a difficult sort of few months. We're going to have to hope and pray that we don't get any injuries or suspensions during that period and everyone's going to have to be wrapped in cotton wool, really, to get through and it should never ever be the case, but it seems as though it is. And that led to people asking whether Everton plan to look at free agents, uh, who of course can still be signed despite the transfer window closing. This is what David Moyes had to say. >> Yeah, we're looking at the free agents market, but let's be fair. I'm trying to get a team which is going to be at the top end and I want them to challenge. And uh you know, if it's you know, the disappointment would be that I want I want to keep uh I want to keep pressure on. I want to keep the club moving in the right direction. And I want the players to believe we're moving in the right direction. For me, it's really important. We've retained people on contracts. Jarrad Branthwaite, you know, uh we've just brought in Jaden Hackney, Jimmy Garner signed a contract. We've given Jordan Pickford. These boys could all go on to become full England internationals. So, they need a good platform to show that. So, we need to we need to show what we're about and hopefully help those boys get to the levels we want them to. >> Yeah, listen, I think Everton should definitely look at the free agents. There are some out there. Obviously, Karim Benzema is free. He's a he's obviously got an unbelievable goalscoring record, albeit he's 38. There's the likes of Mauro Icardi, there's Jadon Sancho, Jaime Vardy, uh Traore, Diatta is one I think Everton could possibly look at who's who's more of a wide player or a a fullback. Um so, there are some there that Everton might have a little look at, but you know, it's not ideal, is it? It's not ideal. It's on the the sad thing is it feels as though Everton aren't that far away. You know, two or three quality players could have really really pushed us the other way. The manager was asked about building the squad, as things changed, and also, of course, keeping Harrison Armstrong, which was a key thing in this window. This is what he had to say. >> Uh well, not very well, because I wouldn't I'm getting too old now to be sitting around, you know, at the at the the bottom end. I've said it to the players here when I came in that the job is that we we challenge as close to the top end of the league as we can. We do that. And I've got to say they've done a brilliant job of it last year. And uh I don't think we were expected to do so well as what we've done. So, I've got to hope that we can do it again. They might not be a great expectation on us at this moment in time, but behind the scenes I'm rallying them. Uh if ever we needed the supporters at the club who are never in question, they showed their they showed their face at Bournemouth. They let everybody know that they are a big part of this club. And they always will be. And uh I hope they they show their face again when it comes Sunday afternoon. >> Yeah, listen, it was really important to keep Harrison on song and it was brilliant. The supporters last week at Bournemouth were outstanding and obviously everyone's sharing the videos and all of that. Um you know, it's it's it's out everywhere now. The the likes of Moyes and the leadership team and everyone wanted to keep him. Um maybe whoever was advising the owners thought that a lad who played less than 20 games and everyone had a bid for 40 million for might be decent business, but you have to you have to have a grasp of what's going on and how important it is to to keep these kind of players. Harrison on song ceiling's massive. Um and it was imperative we kept him. So, I'm delighted that he has stayed and like I said, kudos to the fans who were at Bournemouth as well for making sure that that message was conveyed and David Moyes obviously just referencing it there. And obviously that brought the question through how aligned is everyone in the building and and overseas. The manager was asked about this. This was his answer. >> Well, I think if you want to have success, you need to all be aligned on the same things. All the all those parts are are so important. Uh I had somebody tell me today that you know, there should not be a a sort of piece of paper between any of the departments. Everything else should be aligned. I think we've got new owners in who are still finding their way at the club. Uh I think as as we get to know each other a lot better and a bit more. I think it will get better. >> Yeah, they I mean David Moyes sort of has has hinted at a few things in that press conference, hasn't he? He I mean he didn't hint at it. He said we had to sell before we could bring players in. Which is not a great a great position to be in. I think the owners have have made issues there for for the manager and for the recruitment team by not making that money available. Albeit, you know, we ended up selling anyway. They would have the money would have balanced the books anyway. What came in, we should have just done it earlier. They should have released it earlier. And that is the thing with alignments and he's absolutely right. There shouldn't be any any splits in any of the the the groups all working together because at the end of the day we're all they're all trying to buy players for every football club that's trying to show be trying to make the team stronger which increases the opportunity of finishing higher up the league which increases revenue, etc. etc. And if they don't feel like they're all properly aligned, then how is it ever going to work? So I think the owners have got to look at themselves then. Obviously it's come out that they they sort of they want people to come in and invest in it. Now there's been other stories saying that they want to fully sell. I guess it's it's who you'd attract. You drop the bait in the water and see who takes it and if a consortium or someone wants to take over and buy them out fully, I'm sure they'll listen to that as well. But it's no good for us as fans. We want it all be together. We want to be excited by what's going on at our football club and this week has been a kick in the nether regions area, I think, for everyone. It's been a body blow. We thought that this we were past this and we were moving forward and just feels like we've taken a big step back this week. So we'll have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully hopefully we can get a positive results on Sunday. Moving on to Sunday, the referee has been confirmed that it is John Brooks. He's the man in the middle. He's also the man who was on VAR last week and didn't give Evan the penalty when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was, in my opinion, fouled in the box at Bournemouth. It looked a stonewall penalty and he didn't give it, so he owes us one this week. He'll be assisted by Simon Long and Blake Antrobus. The fourth official is Samuel Barrott and Paul Howard is on the VAR. And finally, Jordan Pickford has been nominated for save of the month. It's becoming a regular thing now for his save against Crystal Palace in the opening day of the season. Made a fantastic save from Nketiah. He's been nominated for that. He was nominated for save of the month on four occasions last season and of course got save of the season. The save again there from Tonali in Evan's 3-2 win at Newcastle. That is it for the news today. Make sure you check out the match preview that me and James have done ahead of Evan and Manchester United. We'll be back on Sunday after the game with all the match reaction to hopefully a big Evan victory. Um All we can do, get in the ground and back the team and hopefully the team can deliver the points. Thanks for watching. See you later.