Everton are a club in complete disrepair from the outside, but looking deeper within and there are some characters making true efforts towards healing.
Kevin Thelwell and Sean Dyche are the two outstanding names who are doing their utmost to ensure a brighter, more sustainable future for the Toffees, but their efforts are constantly being offset by the Premier League and Farhad Moshiri’s reckless actions of the past.
The former has been particularly hard-working in his role as Director of Football, seeking to acquire transfer targets and members of staff who can be brought in for a cut price to keep the club moving forwards.
However, he has recently implemented one strategy which might actually pull them out of their PSR nightmare for good.
Kevin Thelwell’s tough tenure at Everton
It has been a truly terrible tenure for Thelwell to endure, but he will have known the barriers in his path before joining.
Making the move from New York back to Merseyside in February 2022, his first task was to set about securing a stronger squad for Frank Lampard to succeed with after they had narrowly escaped the drop at the end of that season.
Recruiting well, with the likes of Amadou Onana, Dwight McNeil and James Garner all having impacted the side and increased their values, it was largely a successful summer even if the manager would not last the next campaign.
Then, appointing Dyche just shy of a year after his appointment, and it felt like a match made in heaven for a club in turmoil.
The 52-year-old has become an admirable figurehead of the club ever since, but Thelwell still deserves much praise for the manner in which he has navigated his couple years at the club.
A new transfer strategy to heal the club
With a report having emerged earlier today detailing a teenage EFL sensation who they are planning a summer swoop from, it is clear that a more conscious effort has been made to identify and tempt young talent from elsewhere.
This comes after Dyche admitted that there were no prospects within the youth sides close to first-team level; a damning assessment of his academy.
So, seeking to pry on undervalued assets elsewhere, Kingsford Boakye was one such acquisition, brought to Goodison Park in January after a spell at AC Milan.
Another due to join this summer is Linfield’s Braiden Graham, who has already begun making waves in Northern Ireland despite his youth.
This conscious effort towards snagging the stars of the future might seem unimportant now, but in the long-term, it might actually be the catalyst that heals the club.
After all, these are players who could actually star in the senior squad one day, potentially even leaving for huge sums to ease their financial burden.
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