David Moyes on Everton's Premier League Challenge

David Moyes admits Everton are walking into the new Premier League season light on numbers – but he’s determined they won’t be light on nerve.

The Everton manager watched the final days of the transfer window unravel into something close to a nightmare. Beto gone. Adam Aznou gone. Nathan Patterson gone. Iliman Ndiaye gone. Tim Iroegbunam gone. Five first-team players moved out in the closing stretch, stripping depth from a squad that was already thin.

The club scrambled. Jack Grealish returned to Goodison Park on loan, Ainsley Maitland-Niles arrived from Lyon, and for a brief spell there was hope that Folarin Balogun would follow. That move collapsed, and with it any illusion that Everton’s business would finish on a high.

What remains is stark. Everton have named just 19 senior players in their 25-man Premier League squad. Three more – Harrison Armstrong, Tyrique George and Tyler Dibling – sit on the under-21 list, technically available, but hardly the profile of seasoned campaigners ready to shoulder a full league campaign.

Manager's Remarks

Moyes didn’t pretend otherwise when he faced the media ahead of Everton’s clash with Manchester United.

“I know what I needed and I know what it’s like to build a squad for the Premier League,” he said. “I know the numbers you need. I’ve been around long enough to know that, but some things went against us and some things could have gone better. Ultimately, we didn’t want to lose a lot of the players, but for different reasons that had to happen.”

That’s the reality. The response, he insists, will define the season.

“They’re all going to have to be able to muck in as we’ve got a real small squad now,” he said. “It gives opportunities to some people who have not had them and sometimes in football you need to be given that chance so that you can show what you can do.

“Let’s see if some of them can do that. I have no concerns. I am sure they will be fully at-it.”

This is where Everton now live: between risk and opportunity. A squad trimmed to the bone, a demanding calendar, and a manager leaning into the idea that the gaps might just be where new stories begin.

Fringe players, academy names, those who have waited, watched and trained on the periphery – they are no longer background characters. Against Manchester United and beyond, they become part of the main cast, whether they feel ready or not.