Everton's Flank Transformation: Moyes Faces Key Decisions

Everton’s flanks are being ripped up and redrawn. What looked settled for most of last season is suddenly wide open.

For months, David Moyes leaned on a clear blueprint: Dwight McNeil cutting in from the right, Iliman Ndiaye working the left. Reliable, disciplined, predictable in the best way. That pairing framed how Everton built attacks and how they pressed without the ball.

Now, both could be gone.

McNeil is on the brink of a move to Crystal Palace, part of a revived deal that now includes Brennan Johnson heading the other way. Ndiaye, meanwhile, is attracting serious interest from Al Hilal. Moyes’ wide men on opening day might bear almost no resemblance to the ones who carried him through last year.

Grealish question hangs over the summer

The most obvious solution is also the most uncertain.

Jack Grealish arrived from Manchester City on loan and, across 22 games, reminded everyone what he can do when he feels trusted. He knitted attacks together, drew fouls, dragged Everton up the pitch. For the first half of the campaign he looked like a cornerstone of Moyes’ plan.

Then came the foot injury in January. Season over. Momentum gone.

A return has been discussed but remains unclear. Until there is a signature, Grealish is a memory, not a mechanism. Moyes cannot build his entire wide strategy around a possibility.

Dibling and George: talent that needs a stage

Inside Finch Farm, there are options – raw, expensive, and still largely untested.

Tyler Dibling cost £40m from Southampton last summer, a fee that screamed “immediate impact.” Instead, his first year on Merseyside drifted by. Just four Premier League starts, long stretches on the fringes, and his path to the team blocked once Grealish walked through the door.

This season has to be different for him. The talent is there, but Moyes has so far treated him as a project rather than a pillar.

Tyrique George is a different story. Signed permanently from Chelsea for £24m after a successful loan spell, he arrives with momentum rather than question marks. He only made 11 appearances last season, starting once, but made enough of an impression for Moyes to publicly praise his attitude and work-rate, calling him an “excellent boy with an excellent work-rate” after his initial four-month stint.

That kind of endorsement from Moyes is not handed out lightly. George may not yet have the numbers, but he has clearly earned trust. With McNeil likely to depart, that trust could quickly turn into minutes.

Merlin Rohl is another internal card Moyes can play. Used occasionally out wide, he offers tactical flexibility rather than a headline solution, but in a squad being reshaped on the fly, that versatility matters.

McNeil’s saga, Johnson’s opening

McNeil’s exit has not been straightforward.

Back in February, he was close to the move he wanted. Palace had agreed a loan-to-buy deal that would have turned into a £20m permanent transfer this summer. Medical done. Bags almost packed. Then the deal collapsed in the final hours as paperwork failed to land in time.

The fallout played out publicly. On social media, McNeil’s partner Megan Sharpley criticised Palace, questioning how a club could leave a player on what she described as an emotional rollercoaster, promising a move and then watching it vanish “at the last second with absolutely no explanation.”

It was a rare glimpse into the human cost of a transfer that doesn’t happen. The winger stayed, but everyone knew where his future pointed.

Now the move is back on, this time with a twist. The deal has been revived, and Brennan Johnson is part of the exchange. For Everton, that changes the equation. They are not just losing a starting winger; they are likely gaining one.

Johnson brings pace, direct running, and a willingness to attack space – traits that fit the way Moyes wants his wide players to work both with and without the ball. If the swap is completed as expected, Everton’s right flank could move from McNeil’s steady, left-footed delivery to Johnson’s more explosive, vertical threat.

A new look out wide

Strip it back and the picture is clear.

Last season’s wide pairing is close to being dismantled. Grealish’s future is unresolved. Dibling needs a breakthrough. George is pushing for a bigger role. Rohl hovers as a flexible option. Johnson, if and when he arrives, will demand a starting shirt.

Moyes is not just picking wingers. He is redefining how Everton will attack for the next phase of his tenure.

The question now is simple: does he trust the kids, lean on the new arrival, or push hard to bring Grealish back into the fold and build around his experience?

Whichever way he turns, Everton’s season will be shaped by what happens on the touchlines – not in the dugout, but on the flanks.