Everton transfers, takeover, Dominic Calvert-Lewin future – Sean Dyche gives summer verdict

Everton manager Sean Dyche gave an overview of the summer so far on the eve of the new Premier League campaign

Sean Dyche is pleased with the business Everton have completed in the transfer market to date as the club enters the final week before the start of the Premier League campaign. Five summer signings have boosted a squad that has seen the sales of Amadou Onana, Lewis Dobbin and Ben Godfrey and departure of Andre Gomes.

All five arrivals have played a part in a pre-season that ended with impressive wins over Preston North End and Motherwell before a draw with Roma at Goodison Park.

Asked whether he hoped for more additions, Dyche said: “With the reality of the finances we have done the best we can with what was available, and I think we have done a pretty good job on that so far.

“If we can offer something that will change things we will do, but at the moment we are what we are.”

Dyche has previously suggested that he would like to add more Premier League experience if the opportunity arose. Of his new players, only the returning loanee Jack Harrison has had significant exposure to the English top flight.

But he said the club’s financial picture, which includes uncertainty over the long-term ownership following the breakdown of The Friedkin Group’s exploration of a deal to buy the club, remained an important influence on what was possible.

Asked whether the off-the-pitch matters had complicated his summer, Dyche said: “It has been the norm for me… It has been quite a calm summer in many ways. The truth is we still haven’t got fortunes to spend, we have still had to cut our cloth accordingly and be as wise as we can.

“We are still constructing deals, still looking for players we may be able to polish up a bit to get them going and add more to their game because if we had the money to get the ones that are finished we all know where that market is, we all know the numbers that are involved.

“If you look at our bigger signings they are not big in terms of Everton’s recent history but we think they are appropriate for the club at this time and they are very good players who can develop into the club.”

Harrison was secured on loan from Leeds United and has been joined by the permanent signings of Tim Iroegbunam from Aston Villa, Iliman Ndiaye from Marseille, Jake O’Brien from Lyon, and the loan of Jesper Lindstrom from Napoli. All five were involved in the draw with Roma that drew Everton’s pre-season to a close.

That draw was achieved through a superb solo goal from Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The forward is the club’s pre-eminent marksman but his future is the subject of uncertainty with the 27-year-old now in the final year of his deal.

When it was suggested there was an impression from the outside that the club would be reluctant to see him leave on a free next summer, Dyche said: “Everyone is under the impression of everything at this football club. I keep getting linked with these players, me specifically – oddly – for like £40m. I’m going: ‘I don’t know where that’s come from, have you not been reading the news?’ It’s a truly bizarre situation. I don’t mean one, I mean three or four at the time. ‘Dyche is going to bring in £40m midfield dynamo’ and I am like ‘all the best with that, I don’t know who is paying for that, all the best for that but that ain’t me’.

While there may be limits on what the club can spend in the transfer market, Dyche said he was not operating under the impression that funds needed to be brought in for players such as Calvert-Lewin, though he acknowledged departures could be sanctioned if offers were deemed too good to turn down.

The Blues boss explained: “We’ve balanced out the finances as best as we can so there’s no current need for anything or nothing urgent, that’s for sure. But eventually, if the price is right, everyone knows the situation the club is in, the bigger picture, so the price is right for any player.

“But, to be honest, the way football has changed, that’s like anyone. You look across the leagues now and players are going for figures where everyone is going: ‘Really?’ They’re going, all right, they’re going anyway. It’s not just Everton Football Club, the way the market has changed, if the number is right then people sell and they renew. That’s just the way football has changed.”