Summary Everton manager Sean Dyche has made efforts to reform the team's frontline, which scored the second-lowest number of goals last season. Midfielder Tom Davies left Everton and cited the lack of stability and constant changes as reasons for his departure. Davies, once a promising talent, failed to impress in recent seasons, struggling with injuries and a loss of form and trust among the managers at the club.
Everton manager Sean Dyche will have been pleased to have preserved the club's Premier League status after joining at last season's midpoint, with a final-day victory over Bournemouth enough to save the Toffees and relegate Leicester City.
Victories over Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion will remain fondly in memory, but Everton will now need to use the escape from danger last term as a launchpad for brighter prospects, and Dyche has certainly gone to work over the summer to reform the frontline, which scored the second-lowest amount of goals last season.
Beto
£25.8m
Youssef Chermiti
£15m
Jack Harrison
Loan
Arnaut Danjuma
Loan
Ashley Young
Free
All statistics sourced via Sky Sports
Ashley Young is the only summer acquisition who is not likely to feature around the offensive third with regularity, and even he, now aged 38, played the lion's share of his career as a winger before converting to a full-back when in his thirties.
Dyche is clearly seeking to mould Everton to his own creation now, attempting to emulate his own fantastic feats with Burnley, who he kept in the Premier League against the odds for so many years.
While the Blues now boast a reformed attack, there was plenty of upheaval over the past few months, with Yerry Mina, Conor Coady and Mason Holgate departing from the defensive line and a wealth of further outgoings.
One player who left Goodison Park for the very first time is homegrown midfielder Tom Davies, who completed a free transfer to newly-promoted Premier League side Sheffield United upon the expiry of his contract in June.
Why did Tom Davies leave Everton?
Explaining his leave from a club of which he had risen through the youth ranks, Davies said: "I think it’s hard for a footballer to reach their potential when they’re constantly being changed around and there’s people coming and going.
“You’re trying to make connections with different teammates, different managers, different formations. So for me, yeah I think that [stability] is a big thing that I need.
“Just knowing that I fit into a team and they want me to be here for the player who I am, I think that then gives you that confidence and that stability to then go and express yourself on the pitch.”
The Englishman had forged 179 appearances for the Toffees, scoring seven goals and supplying eight assists, before making his switch, and while he had shown promise earlier in career, injuries and a loss of form and trust amid the numerous managerial switches at the club of late made for an inevitable departure.
Indeed, branded an “extremely poor footballer" by one Everton podcaster, Davies has never really managed to cement his spot, and given that he had been on £39k-per-week upon his contractual conclusion, Dyche seemingly strove to discard a player earning a pretty penny for a role in the shadows. Such a sum of money means that when you consider he only featured 20 times last term, means he cost them an alarming £96k-per-match.
What is somewhat concerning, however, is the fact that Everton have allowed Davies' departure to be followed by that of Alex Iwobi, who was sold to Premier League rivals Fulham in a transfer believed to be in the region of £22m on transfer deadline day last month.
Having failed to welcome a single addition to the central midfield, have Everton sold themselves short for a pivotal year of football?
How good was Tom Davies for Everton?
A product of Everton's Finch Farm youth academy, Davies looked to be an exciting talent after making his debut aged 17 against Southampton in the Premier League.
There was a period, in the latter half of the 2020/21 season, that Davies looked to be coming into his own and wedging his way into plans as a first-team regular at Goodison Park, having been praised for his "outstanding" form by former Everton goalkeeper Nigel Martyn.
Martyn also said: “There are piano players and piano carriers as it was once explained to me – and your team needs quite a few piano carriers."
Indeed, the 25-year-old looked to be an industrious, hard-working midfield force in the making, having completed 81% of his passes, averaged 1.2 tackles and 1.4 interceptions per game, won 75% of his dribbles and 57% of his ground duels, as per Sofascore.
Demonstrating signs of a refined and multi-faceted player, Davies received a tactical analysis from Sky Sports explaining how he had married his dynamism and intelligence to resounding effect.
It all came crashing down.
Missing 31 matches due to a knee injury throughout the 2021/22 campaign, Davies would only play eight times, and while he regained fitness last year, he suffered a similarly inauspicious fate, starting just four Premier League matches all season.
He possibly deserved to be handed "his coat" – as is the view of journalist Jonathan Thompson – for his failure to impress over the past several years, with too many facets of his game leaving him flattering to deceive.
Ball interception
Concentration
Tackling
Passing
Strengths & Weaknesses provided via WhoScored
Last season, across his 19 appearances in the English top-flight, the 5 foot 11 ace recorded a lowly average rating of 6.52, completing 75% of his passes, making just 0.1 key pass per game, and forging 0.8 tackles, 0.2 interceptions and 0.4 clearances per game – discernibly less robust than he had been at the peak of his powers, and even that should have been used as a framework to kickstart his career.
It's perhaps telling that Football Transfers value the player at just £5m, emblematic of his failure to kick on under droves of managers on Merseyside.
While Davies looked a promising prospect during the early days of his career on Merseyside, he failed to kick on for numerous reasons and has indeed spent the past few seasons on the fringe.
Everton are perhaps lucky that Davies was homegrown, and not another exorbitant purchase to have fallen flat; having now made his move to the Blades, perhaps he has the opportunity for a new lease of life, but based on the evidence of the past few years, ridding themselves of a lacklustre presence was a good move for club owner Farhad Moshiri, Dyche and co.
