Moyes Looks to Free-Agent Market After Everton's Transfer Deadline
David Moyes will head to Old Trafford this weekend with a thinner squad than he expected – and an eye firmly on the list of free agents still without a club.
Everton’s manager confirmed on Friday that the club are actively scouring the market for unattached players after a bruising end to the transfer window left his squad short in key areas.
The late exits of Iliman Ndiaye, Beto, Tim Iroegbunam, Adam Aznou and Nathan Patterson have opened up gaps all over the pitch. Both full‑back positions are exposed, centre-forward is light, and Moyes is effectively working with just one senior option in each of those roles.
“We are looking at the free agents market,” he said at his pre‑match press conference ahead of Sunday’s trip to face Manchester United. “I am trying to get a team that is going to be at the top end and challenge. I want the players to believe that we are moving forward – for me, that is really important.”
The window may be closed, but Everton’s recruitment work is not. Players who were out of contract before the deadline can still be signed, though any new arrival must be registered before a separate cut-off, understood to fall roughly a week after the window shut.
Moyes did not hide his frustration at how the final days of the window unfolded. Targets slipped away, depth was lost, and the squad he now takes into the autumn looks less complete than he had hoped.
“Disappointed we didn’t do more business and disappointed things didn’t go our way in the end,” he admitted. “Sometimes in football you have to live with disappointment and we will move on.”
The most painful blow came on deadline day. Everton thought they had Folarin Balogun lined up, only for the move to collapse during the medical. Rumours quickly circled, but Moyes was adamant there was no drama beyond the diagnosis.
“It wasn’t anybody’s fault,” he said of the failed Balogun deal. “It happens in football a lot. The player had a problem in his medical and that was simply it. There’s no other story behind it.”
So Everton pivot. The names on the club’s free-agent shortlist will stay behind closed doors, but the needs are obvious: cover at right-back and left-back, and a centre-forward who can ease the burden on the lone senior striker.
The clock has not stopped entirely, just started ticking differently. With United looming and the season stretching out ahead, Moyes must find answers from a shrinking pool of options – and convince his dressing room that “moving forward” is more than just a phrase.
