Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Everton will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Manchester City the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Everton will enjoy reviewing.
The phone has started ringing about Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall again, and this time the name on the line is Wolverhampton. Everton are listening politely and promising nothing.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dayann Methalie is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Martinelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Everton can pretend not to have heard.
Gabriel Martinelli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matěj Jurásek is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and James Garner was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Orkun Kökçü has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Iliman N'Diaye is on it.
$21.8M on the table at Estoril Praia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The phone has started ringing about Kevin Schade again, and this time the name on the line is Bayern Munich. Everton are listening politely and promising nothing.
Iliman N'Diaye was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Martinelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gabriel Martinelli is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Everton have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jarrad Branthwaite wants continental football; whether Everton can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Orkun Kökçü falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Everton told Jarrad Branthwaite something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kevin Schade is on it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Lokeren had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and James Garner was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gabriel Martinelli signs something — a contract at Everton or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Everton will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Hayden Hackney has written the date down.
Iliman N'Diaye and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” James Tarkowski has his answer from Everton; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Add another name to the list: RC Strasbourg have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. The answer from Everton has not changed — yet.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Everton can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Iliman N'Diaye was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Everton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Martinelli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Everton know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Everton can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Martinelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
39 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Everton now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Something was said to Gabriel Martinelli and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
In brief
The dugoutKevin Schade has become a man the manager trusts
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Everton can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Justin Clarke is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Martinelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Orkun Kökçü has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gabriel Martinelli signs something — a contract at Everton or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Christian Nørgaard trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Everton will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Dayann Methalie arrives from Sunderland with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
The fee is $59.8M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Ajax drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Iliman N'Diaye and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Milton Keynes Dons pay $1.3M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Everton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Martinelli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Youri Baas was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $59.8M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Everton asked and CSKA Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Iliman N'Diaye is on it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Everton people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
$200.0K settles it between the clubs for Ben Wilson
Coventry City have accepted the money. What Everton do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Iliman N'Diaye was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Youri Baas has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The offer went to Ajax this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Watford have kept their man, and Everton go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Everton, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is 19, he is averaging 6.59, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Everton heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Martinelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Everton have had the benefit of it.
Jordan Pickford was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jarrad Branthwaite wants continental football; whether Everton can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Everton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Martinelli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
42 appearances and 17 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gabriel Martinelli signs something — a contract at Everton or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Everton. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Gabriel Martinelli wants continental football; whether Everton can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Everton is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Jack Grealish falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Everton have had the benefit of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jack Grealish was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Everton will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Everton know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Everton. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutMerlin Röhl knocks on the manager's door
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 62 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Everton have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Everton can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Nottingham Forest kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Everton will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Two goals and a mark of 7.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A mark of 8.10 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Gabriel Martinelli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Everton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jack Grealish is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Everton is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Minute 91, against Tottenham, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Andrea Madio is living that version at Everton, and it tends to show in the first month.
Sunderland will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Simon Moore has pre-agreed a move to Everton, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
A 1‑0 win over Wolverhampton, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Jordan Pickford was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Everton and Aston Villa in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jack Grealish was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jordan Pickford and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Everton can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Kevin Schade was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Everton can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Seamus Coleman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Everton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Martinelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Gabriel Martinelli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Jack Grealish falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Everton, and 0 appearances in 28 say he has earned the hearing.
A brace, and Kevin Schade takes the afternoon — 9.04
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kevin Schade provided it, and the 9.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Everton know it.
Jordan Pickford was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 7.48, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Leeds United spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Eli Junior Kroupi did not need any: 8.29, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Everton and Manchester City in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jarrad Branthwaite was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Everton they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Gabriel Martinelli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Everton hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Everton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Garner is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Everton told James Garner something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Martinelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
400 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
11 goals in 28 games at Port Vale — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Everton updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I did not go to Accrington Stanley to sit and watch. I want to come back to Everton and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 24 matches say the rest.
Jordan Pickford was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Omari Benjamin has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
6 goals in one match, Gabriel Martinelli on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Everton and West Ham United.
Marked 9.25 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Michael Keane reports back to Everton with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Jordan Pickford and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Everton heard it as anything else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Christian Nørgaard and Everton agree another 3 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Jack Grealish falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
16 goals and a season average of 7.52 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Everton close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Everton heard it as anything else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Seamus Coleman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Everton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Wolverhampton is saying, and nobody at Everton is enjoying the guessing.
Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
He is going to Club Brugge, the club has $59.8M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Gabriel Martinelli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sunderland have kept their man, and Everton go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everton asked and Wrexham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Everton, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gabriel Martinelli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Jack Grealish falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $79.7M has been paid because Gabriel Martinelli is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tottenham have kept their man, and Everton go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Huddersfield Town waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Everton is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Jordan Pickford and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Everton have gone to Al-Hilal with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Everton asked and Ajax said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Everton have had the benefit of it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Everton can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
$150.0K was the most the club would pay and Wrexham were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
In brief
Player ratingsKevin Schade ran the middle of the pitch — 6.80
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Everton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Garner is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Liverpool on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
Position 5, 33 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Michael Turner left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Brennan Johnson provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Jordan Pickford was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
James Garner falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Brennan Johnson. 3‑1 against Nottingham Forest, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Iliman N'Diaye obliged against Leicester City. 4‑3 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Everton.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Iliman N'Diaye decided otherwise. Leicester City had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Jordan Pickford and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Cristian Dabellonio has, at Everton, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Everton hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Carlos Alcaraz commits to Everton for another 4 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Everton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Garner is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Everton game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Accrington Stanley runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Marked 8.35 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Level with 86 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Everton had all but put away. Wolverhampton will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
92 minutes played. Brennan Johnson found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Aston Villa went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Everton have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Everton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Garner is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Jordan Pickford was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jarrad Branthwaite was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Harrison Armstrong is somebody else's player now, and $100.0K has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.
Nobody at Everton will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Jordan Pickford and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and James Garner was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.21 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 85. Chelsea had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jordan Pickford is on it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Everton heard it as anything else.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Everton and Bournemouth in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Brennan Johnson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.68. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Nicolás Montiel obliged against Bradford City. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Everton.
Two goals and a mark of 9.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Everton hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Iliman N'Diaye. 2‑1 against Leeds United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Carlos Alcaraz has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
In brief
SquadWords at Everton training over how hard people work
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Iliman N'Diaye
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Braian Martínez at his very best
Jordan Pickford was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Everton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Garner is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Michael Turner after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Everton know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Jordan Pickford and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Michael Turner after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Everton will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Iliman N'Diaye provided it, and the 9.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I watch every Everton game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Accrington Stanley runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Everton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Orkun Kökçü is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with West Ham United the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Everton will enjoy reviewing.
1 for Jarrad Branthwaite, marked 7.74, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Everton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Garner is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Jordan Pickford was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Everton and Arsenal, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad28 Sep 2026
James Garner falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Jordan Pickford and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Orkun Kökçü was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Michael Turner kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutKevin Schade has become a man the manager trusts
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Iliman N'Diaye provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.92 for the rest of it.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Jordan Pickford and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Everton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Garner is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nolhan Assafoua has just signed for Everton, and for once the answer mattered.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Everton ran out of time with Nottingham Forest. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Everton until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Everton heard it as anything else.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Everton training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Garner is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. 1‑0 against Crystal Palace, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8.26. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Everton have done the hard part with Nottingham Forest, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Everton asked and Derby County said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Everton can pretend not to have heard.
Jordan Pickford was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Orkun Kökçü from Besiktas for $33.4M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Marked 8.06 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Tottenham paid $38.7M and Everton took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Manchester City wanted more than $28.2M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Everton asked and Fulham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
RC Strasbourg paid $28.1M and Everton took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Everton will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $37.1M has been paid because Kevin Schade is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Everton asked and Tottenham said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everton have gone to Besiktas with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Everton have gone to PSV with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Everton have lost him in all but the paperwork.
$17.1M was the most the club would pay and Brighton were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Sassuolo for Thierno Barry was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Everton asked and Newcastle United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer went to Brighton this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Arsenal for Iliman N'Diaye was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Jordan Pickford was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Everton heard it as anything else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jake O'Brien and Everton agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
6 new faces, and Everton are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
412 appearances across 18 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Everton heard it as anything else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Carlos Alcaraz and Everton agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
James Garner falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Everton asked and Chelsea said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.