If that 4-0 hammering by Tottenham Hotspur wasn’t bad enough, Everton boss Sean Dyche then delivered another kick in the shins of the long-suffering Toffees fans in the aftermath.
An Everton team quite clearly in need of reinforcements will not be making any. Well, not major, expensive signings anyway.
Maybe there is the odd bargain buy between now and the start of September. Maybe the odd loan. But certainly nothing too substantial to end a summer wrought with Financial Fair Play concerns.
“Until I’m told different, there isn’t any finance to go and change things,” Sean Dyche told Sky Sports after Everton followed up that 3-0 trouncing by Brighton and Hove Albion with another battering in North London.
“This is what we are.”
Everton linked with Frankfurt ace Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe
Dyche’s rather gloomy comments suggest that, if Everton are to have any chance of landing any of their targets this week, some compromises will be required.
French football reporter Fabrice Hawkins reported on X last week that The Toffees had expressed an interest in Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe of Bundesliga outfit Eintracht Frankfurt.
Everton’s only real hope of a deal rests on whether Frankfurt are willing to let the former Paris Saint-Germain starlet leave the Commerzbank Arena on loan. Or, perhaps, a loan-to-buy deal that would allow the cash-strapped Merseysiders to put off any payment until 2025.
A former France Under 21 international, Dina Ebimbe came on leaps and bounds last term. While scoring 10 goals and setting up five more, the 23-year-old was a revelation in a number of different roles, thriving as a central midfielder and as a winger on either flank.
Now, with those sort of statistics, you would think Frankfurt would be desperate to keep him.
But perhaps not. Not with Dina Ebimba falling foul of coach Dino Toppmoller and sporting director Markus Krosche, left out of their Bundesliga opener against Borussia Dortmund as a result of some very poor performances on the training pitch.
“It was simply the training performance and the coach’s decision (to leave him out),” Krosche tells OP Online. “We have a large squad and it’s always possible that someone will drop out.
“Jean-Matteo Bahoya trained better this week,” adds Toppmoller. “So we decided to go with him.”
With three years left on his contract, Frankfurt will not be letting Dina Ebimbe leave on the cheap. But a loan may be an option for Everton to consider, especially if the free-scoring midfielder – a bargain £5.5 million signing from PSG – has lost the trust of his coach.
Toffees boss Dyche, meanwhile, is demanding vast improvements on the pitch after a start to a season that has been nothing short of dreadful even by Everton’s standards.
Sean Dyche wants changes and fast
“You can’t gift teams of this calibre,” Dyche tells the club’s official website, scoring none and conceding seven in their first two matches. “We couldn’t gift it last week, either, which we did – two goals. We’ve gifted them certainly one, if not two, today and you can’t do that at this level.
“We know the qualities these sides have and if you don’t do the basics then you’re going to get hurt – and we got hurt today.”
“No. You make bad decisions if you’re not focused, not concentrating. We’re certainly not going to start crying about luck. We’ve got to be more clinical ourselves – the ball rolls along the box and you think there’s a chance of a goal but when we do it, we haven’t got enough players who take that moment on.
“I’ve spoken to them endlessly about the freedom to score a goal since I’ve been here. Players get tight and when we get in those right areas [we miss] that final pass, that final moment. That’s how big players become big players at this level.”
Everton have signed four players this summer. Giant defender Jake O’Brien arrives from Lyon, alongside Iliman Ndiaye, Jesper Lindstrom, Tim Iroegbunam and the returning Asmir Begovic.
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