Everton fans may have noticed more and more outlandish transfer claims as the season goes on.
Clickbait websites and transfer rumour pages have been awash with stories of Illiman Ndiaye moving to Spurs for £50m, of the club taking a loss on £9m Tim Iroegbunam, and James Garner’s mythical expiring contract.
In terms of incomings Everton have been conveniently linked with a host of deadwood in positions they don’t need to fill such as James Ward-Prowse, and it seems even the usual guessing games of the UK’s churnalism football media are flailing when it comes to Everton’s next move.
The reason is actually a simple one. Farhad Moshiri’s disastrous time as owner of Everton was notable for him cosying up to agents and plenty of backroom leaks. The toxic atmosphere throughout the club meant transfer targets were often revealed to the public well in advance.
However, since the arrival of the Friedkin Group and the new CEO Angus Kinnear, Everton have replaced nearly all of their recruitment team and the overhaul means the old source of the leaks have likely left the club. It also means long-term targets have switched with the arrival of a new recruitment and analytics team.
In fact, since the summer Everton’s entire recruitment operation is different and it means long-term targets are probably no viable. Director of Football Kevin Thelwell is gone, while head of scouting Dan Purdy has also left the club.
The replacements start with former Manchester City scout James Smith, who has rejoined Everton as head of recruitment. He only joined the club towards the end of the summer and will have his own ideas on which areas to target and who should be on the initial shortlists.
Chris Howarth, the club’s new head of analytics, and his data company Insight Sports have now been in place for around six months and fans will hope his teams will begin to churn out insightful recommendations of players who can help David Moyes build a competitive squad.
David Moyes, who previously worked with James Smith and gets final say on transfers, has also had nearly a year to assess the squad and decide who will continue at the club.
The changes do two things. They remove the old relationships some ‘in the know’ publications may have had but they also completely reset Everton’s transfer strategy, which means websites can no longer lean on long term targets in the way they could with Kevin Thelwell, who famously tracked players for years before signing them.
The result is a mess of a transfer rumour mill. We have already spoken about how the Josh Zirkzee transfer is the work of a desperate agent and there have been others that seem to fit that profile.
Other rumours are simply malicious nonsense. When Football Insider reported the club would be selling Tim Iroegbunam for less than the £9m the club signed him for it seemed strange. The timing came after Iroegbunam’s impressive display against Fulham and feels like a direct reaction to that.
The article, desperate to justify the rumours, suggests Iroegbunam is struggling for minutes because he has started just four games this season without clarifying that is nearly half of all Premier League games. The Liverpool Echo has since rubbished the claims.
Elsewhere some reports clearly checked Transfermrkt and conjured a rumour that James Garner would be leaving on a free this summer. Newcastle, Villa and Forest have since been linked and a desperate West Ham website has even published and article in the belief he would be interested in moving there.
The reality is that Garner has a one year extension option for his contract and the club is likely to discuss a new contract with him this year.
Are there any transfer rumours you can trust at the moment?
It is difficult but local reporting can often given you an insight into who clubs are looking at. Local newspapers reported Everton’s interest in Franculino Dju, while African specialist website Africa Foot can be hit and miss but believes Everton have made an offer for defender Nice defender Kojo Peprah Oppong, who would cost around £7m.
Local media are not always correct and Everton will be watching a large amount of players at the moment, but they are a better bet than websites reporting a £65m bid for Scott McTominay.
In terms of outgoings the Iroegbunam and Garner rumours are nonsense but Wolves sources are reporting interest in Dwight McNeil and that one could be an option. McNeil has suffered from Grealish and Ndiaye’s superb form and seems to be surplus to requirements at the club.