Things have turned around on the blue half of Merseyside – with plenty more changes on the horizon for resurgent Everton.
Bramley Moore awaits at the dawn of the 2025/26 season, the dawn of a new era, and it was only a few months ago those of a Toffees persuasion feared the new beginning would come not in the Premier League but England’s second tier.
But Sean Dyche is now gone, and in place, David Moyes takes the seat, pursued by new owners The Friedkin Group as the first port of call.
Even the most glass-half-empty Everton fans must now feel a page has been turned – and for the better. Leeds United’s chief executive, Angus Kinnear, has also been poached, and he will replace Kevin Thelwell at the end of the season when his contract expires.
TFG are enacting an overhaul and a much-needed one at that. One of Kinnear’s opening gambits will surely be to replenish Everton’s frontline – let’s take a look at how he might do it.
Everton's shift at centre-forward
Moyes orchestrated Everton’s mid-season revival, unleashing the beleaguered players and urging them toward better form, new-found confidence. After such vapid football, the Merseysiders are now riding a seven-match unbeaten streak.
Beto has been the attacking focal point throughout this run. With Iliman Ndiaye and Dominic Calvert-Lewin both injured, the 27-year-old has been reborn in England, hitting five goals from seven league appearances since the Scottish manager’s arrival.
With Calvert-Lewin back in the infirmary once more and heading toward the end of his contract, it’s increasingly likely he will be allowed to search for pastures new after 269 (currently) appearances in an Everton shirt.
With a paltry three-goal haul to his name, Calvert-Lewin has missed 13 big chances in the Premier League this year, whereas his Bissau-Guinean counterpart has only squandered seven big chances, having converted six strikes in total.
Calvert-Lewin has played a long span of his career at Goodison Park, but this feels like a natural end to his career, with the new era calling for something new to partner Beto.
Goals
0.63
0.17
Assists
0.00
0.06
Shots taken
3.06
2.63
Shot-creating actions
1.26
1.43
Touches (att pen)
5.06
4.69
Passes attempted
15.70
15.90
Progressive carries
1.05
1.26
Successful take-ons
1.37
0.57
Aerial duels won
5.69
4.75
Beto has outperformed his positional peer considerably, but if Calvert-Lewin does indeed leave, Kinnear and Moyes will need to make the right move to replace him.
Everton make contact for Calvert-Lewin replacement
Armando Broja is on loan from Chelsea and has a clause in the agreement that could see Everton purchase him for a fee in the region of £30m at the end of the season. With injuries laying waste to his campaign, this doesn’t seem likely.
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Especially with Everton’s interest piqued by another graduate from Chelsea’s Cobham talent factory: Tammy Abraham.
According to Caught Offside, TFG have already begun talks for the transfer of the rangy striker through his agents, though Newcastle United and West Ham United are thought to have the strongest interest right now.
Abraham has struggled to perform on loan at AC Milan this season but he’s a dynamic and proven goalscorer who could be the perfect foil for the revivified Beto.
What Tammy Abraham would bring to Bramley Moore
Aged 27, Abraham is a seasoned Premier League striker, with 89 appearances and 31 goal involvements to his name. Curious that it’s nearly been four years since he played in his homeland.
A Champions League winner with Chelsea, Abraham left for Roma in 2021 for a £34m fee, joining Jose Mourinho’s cause and going on to forge the most incredible campaign for himself.
Indeed, in 2021/22, Abraham was instrumental in I Giallorossi’s Conference League-winning campaign, scoring 27 goals across 53 appearances in all competitions. He hailed Mourinho for turning him into a “monster” and a more aggressive player.
Abraham’s former coach, Stephen Elliott, has described him as a “goal machine” in the past, and in the pleasant conditions at Everton right now, he could find the stability he needs, back in England, to prosper.
Though Abraham has scored eight times for Milan this term, only starting 13 matches across all competitions and adding four assists too.
The England international’s tactical efforts have actually seen Calvert-Lewin listed as one of his most comparable players by FBref, but this shouldn’t be regarded as a negative. Fans know just how brilliant the tall number nine can be when he’s fit, having been described as a “monster” himself by talent scout Jacek Kulig when in his heyday under Carlo Ancelotti.
At 6 foot 3, he’d be an able replacement, with creative and defensive qualities that suggest he would be perfect in Moyes’ system. Abraham ranks among the top 27% of forwards across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for assists, the top 23% for aerial battles won and the top 9% for tackles per 90, illustrating his prowess across such areas.
Bringing Abraham over from Serie A could see Moyes get his own version of Beto, a forward he had signed himself. After plying such good and hard work with the powerful star, it could be a bold transfer to ensure Everton kickstart this new age, and rise toward the upper echelons of the Premier League hierarchy.
He may well be hungering for a place back in the English first division, and though he has suffered his share of injury problems over the past several years and struggled to nail down a regular starting berth across two Italian outfits, Abraham is still producing goals, invariably dangerous.
Conversely, DCL has indeed only netted three all season. They might share traits, but this would freshen up the ranks. It might even see Moyes repeat Thelwell’s trick in bringing Beto over from Italy to the Premier League.
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