Despite a tough summer transfer window which left many early predictions suggesting Everton would be dragged into a relegation dogfight, David Moyes‘ side are fighting tooth and nail this season.
Six games into the Premier League campaign, they have avoided defeat, albeit drawing four times. Still, Everton are fifth in the standings and could rise higher still with more coherent on-the-ball play and a sharper edge in attack.
The Toffees have quality in their team, even after being stripped of so much quality after the 2025/26 season. Much has been made of the lack of firepower in attack, but they also need some more oomph in midfield,
How Everton have failed to replace Ross Barkley
It’s been a long time since Everton sold Barkley to Chelsea in a £15m deal, and it’s been longer still since the one-time prodigy was touted as the Blues’ own version of Steven Gerrard. Jamie Carragher once said the former Liverpool captain’s “replacement has to be Barkley“.
Now 32 years old and playing for Aston Villa, Barkley has enjoyed a solid career – but he never hit the heights once envisaged for him when breaking onto the scene at Everton, his power and capacity to dazzle in front of goal leading fans to believe that he had the foundation to become the next Wayne Rooney. That didn’t happen.
Of course, Everton do have a similar player in Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, but though he is potent, the former Chelsea and Leicester City man doesn’t produce the kind of all-encompassing performances that could take him to the elite level.
|
Everton Top Scorers under David Moyes (2nd spell) |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Player |
Apps |
Goals |
|
Beto |
61 |
17 |
|
Thierno Barry |
49 |
14 |
|
Iliman Ndiaye |
52 |
12 |
|
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall |
40 |
10 |
|
Charly Alcaraz |
43 |
4 |
|
Michael Keane |
44 |
4 |
|
James Tarkowski |
62 |
4 |
Well, he might not have been raised at Finch Farm, but Everton have welcomed a player who could reach that standard – and he has a certain Barkley-esque quality about him.
Now, he just needs to start playing.
Why Moyes must unleash the new Ross Barkley
Barkley scored 27 goals and provided 25 assists across 179 games for Everton. There was a bit of ill-feeling when he turned down a £30m move to Chelsea in August 2016 and then moved to Stamford Bridge for half the fee six months later, having not played that season due to injury.
Now, Everton could finally replace someone who promised to be the complete midfield player for the club in Hayden Hackney, who joined from Middlesbrough in a £24m deal. The Friedkin Group haven’t got a lot right throughout their short time at the helm, but completing this deal with Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur also in pursuit can only be described as a success.
Hackney is not so much an out-and-out attacking midfielder as Barkley was during his prime Everton years, but the former Boro captain does boast a natural progressiveness and hunger to attack that goes beyond the ability of much of Everton’s midfield. He started the first game of the season for the Toffees, a 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace, and he has not started since in the Premier League – despite making a steady start on that day.
He has already influenced when drafted in from the bench in the Premier League, but Hackney remains untrusted as a regular starter. Perhaps Harrison Armstrong’s near-transfer to Nottingham Forest this summer has resulted in a show of faith from the club, the homegrown talent having started every game so far.
Moyes values a kind of pragmatism from his midfielders that runs counter to the 24-year-old’s playing style. Last season, the Championship Player of the Year ranked among the top 3% of positional peers for xA (0.23), chances created (2.25) and successful passes (57.11) per 90, bespeaking his elite potential on the ball.
Expected Assists (xA) is a metric designed to measure the probability of a pass becoming a goal assist.
Still, Moyes has not yet woven this into the fabric of his Everton side, perhaps because Everton’s tactical strengths have been deemed to be rooted in more combative and resistant qualities.
Hackney is not yet performing at the level which would see him recognised as Everton’s star man in midfield. But he needs an opportunity for this to be so.
His performances in the Championship last season were talismanic. He assisted seven goals and created over two chances every single game. He also scored five goals – and with only one big chance missed, it’s clear that the technician knows how to pick his moments and strike when confident that action is the most opportune.
Barkley is also an intelligent midfielder, but he made the wrong move way back when, forcing his way out of Everton. Now Hackney can step up and provide where the England international once fell by the wayside.
