Premier League Analysis · Everton
Everton Sold Two Forwards While Balogun Remained Unsigned
Questions over Folarin Balogun's medical may explain why one deal changed. They do not explain why Everton had already removed two attacking options before a replacement was secure.
The mistake happened before the deal sheet
The £40 million question has swallowed Everton's deadline. It should not. The first entries in the audit are two completed sales: Iliman Ndiaye had gone to Manchester City, Beto to Fiorentina, and the replacement still had no signature. A medical disagreement involving one target became a squad problem because Everton had already removed two different attacking options.
Everton can defend pausing over Folarin Balogun's medical. A club contemplating that fee and a long contract should investigate information that changes its view of the risk. Monaco chief executive Thiago Scuro disputes Everton's concern and says the striker disliked how the process was handled; Everton sources have offered a different account of delays and incomplete records. A deal sheet was signed, but Balogun did not sign. That disagreement may never produce a tidy winner. The sequence is easier to judge: medical caution is risk management, while removing the fallback before the caution is resolved is the opposite.
Two exits created one point of failure
Ndiaye and Beto did not offer the same football. Ndiaye could carry the ball, combine from the left and connect attacks; Beto supplied a penalty-box reference and another centre-forward body. Their reported fees, £60 million and £15.4 million respectively, gave Everton room to reshape the front line. They also removed two different answers from David Moyes's bench.
Balogun was therefore being asked to replace more than a name on a depth chart. He was the final bridge between outgoing production and the new attack. When Everton reportedly tried Joshua Zirkzee and Tammy Abraham on loan after concerns emerged, the market had already become a queue at closing time. Deadline day loves theatre because the paperwork has a clock. Squad planning should be less interested in the lighting.
The fair defence still condemns the sequence
The strongest defence of Everton is straightforward: a late medical concern cannot be scheduled, and walking away or renegotiating is better than ignoring information the club considers significant. Balogun also retained the right to reject a process that no longer gave him confidence. No recruitment department controls every participant in a transfer.
That is precisely why sequencing matters. A robust plan assumes the preferred deal can fail for reasons the club cannot control. Everton could have delayed one sale, secured a second target earlier, or treated Balogun as an addition rather than the transaction holding the whole attacking picture together. None of those options guarantees a better player. Each preserves leverage when the unexpected arrives. The risk was concentrated before the medical disagreement exposed it.
Barry now carries an organizational debt
The immediate temptation will be to turn every Thierno Barry chance into a referendum on the window. That would be unfair to the striker and convenient for the people who constructed the squad. One forward cannot provide his own rotation, create every missing wide carry and insure himself against fatigue. If Everton's attack narrows, that is an organizational debt appearing on the pitch, not proof that Barry lacks character.
Jack Grealish, Brennan Johnson and Tyrique George can alter the supporting line, while Merlin Röhl and Hayden Hackney add midfield possibilities. Those additions deserve evaluation on their own terms. They do not convert a thin centre-forward position into a deliberate plan. Versatility can cover a role for a match; it cannot make the calendar stop asking for another option.
January begins with the September audit
Everton's next recruitment meeting should not begin with a list of January strikers. It should begin with the order in which the summer decisions were authorized. Who decided both attacking exits could proceed? What protection existed if the replacement failed? At what point did the alternative list become emergency calls rather than active negotiations? Those questions are less exciting than a new No. 9 and more useful.
Between now and January, judge the response by the burden placed on Barry and by whether Moyes can keep one coherent attacking route when he rotates. If one absence forces a false nine, a winger out of role or a complete change of buildup, the deadline has already supplied the diagnosis. Everton did not lose control when a footballer declined to sign. They surrendered it earlier, when one signature became the only safe ending they had left.
2026-2027 season
Premier League standings
| # | Team | GP | W | D | L | GD | Pts | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Manchester City |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | +4 | 6 | W W |
| 2 |  Arsenal |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | +4 | 6 | W W |
| 3 |  Hull City |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | +3 | 6 | W W |
| 4 |  Chelsea |
2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 6 | W W |
| 5 |  Brentford |
2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +3 | 4 | D W |
| 6 |  Newcastle United |
2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +2 | 4 | W D |
| 7 |  Everton |
2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +2 | 4 | D W |
| 8 |  Leeds United |
2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 4 | D W |
| 9 |  Brighton and Hove Albion |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +3 | 3 | L W |
| 10 |  Manchester United |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 3 | W L |
| 11 |  Sunderland |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | W L |
| 12 |  Ipswich Town |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 3 | L W |
| 13 |  Liverpool |
2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | D D |
| 14 |  Bournemouth |
2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 1 | D L |
| 15 |  Nottingham Forest |
2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 1 | D L |
| 16 |  Fulham |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0 | L L |
| 17 |  Coventry City |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -4 | 0 | L L |
| 18 |  Crystal Palace |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -5 | 0 | L L |
| 19 |  Aston Villa |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -5 | 0 | L L |
| 20 |  Tottenham Hotspur |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -5 | 0 | L L |
