Several Everton players are back in pre-season training, including new signing Hayden Hackney – and there is something potentially interesting about some new images released by the club.
Hackney will now go about trying to make a big impression at Finch Farm.
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The midfielder signed for the club a couple of weeks ago, and his addition is regarded as a real coup by the Toffees, with Hackney having had plenty of clubs interested in him.
He’ll now try to make his mark on David Moyes, who will hope that the player can prove himself ready to go for that first game against Crystal Palace.
In recent days, Everton released new images of the players back in training – and there was something peculiar about Hackney’s training top.
Hayden Hackney still without a shirt number for Everton amid Dwight McNeil uncertainty
The club shared new snaps of the players back in training.
And every single player apart from Hackney had a squad number on their training top, except Hackney, who sported a top that didn’t have a number.
Perhaps there is nothing too much in it.
But there is also the possibility that he is holding out for a particular number that is currently occupied by another player.
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At Middlesbrough, Hackney wore the number seven shirt – but at Everton, that is currently taken by Dwight McNeil.
It is potentially ominous, then, that Hackney hasn’t just taken one of the several other numbers that are available to him.
It’s almost as if he – and the club – are waiting for the number seven to become available. And it soon might, because McNeil is of interest to West Ham United.
There has been an expectation for a lot of fans that McNeil will move on in this window, after he came very close to leaving in the mid-season window of 2025/26.
Of course, McNeil was just minutes away from signing for Crystal Palace, with everything seemingly agreed. But the Eagles pulled out at the last second, leaving McNeil in limbo.
Interestingly, McNeil does not appear in a single photo released by Everton on social media this past week where he’s wearing his training kit. Almost as if the club don’t really want to show him sporting the number.
But the player has been there and has been wearing it, as shown in a video Everton put out on their YouTube channel.
Elsewhere, Everton have shown Jarrad Branthwaite – who is back on the grass – to have changed numbers. He is now wearing number four, having previously been wearing number 32.
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