Bramley Moore looms large for those of an Everton persuasion. In fact, David Moyes will lead his troops out just twice more before hallowed Goodison Park will be consigned to history.
Time was when Everton would fail to mark this new era with impactful activity on the transfer front, in the planning room. But this is an exciting new project on Merseyside and Moyes is back to front it.
While the Scottish tactician will expect powers to bring in a wealth of fresh quality this summer, he will of course need to part with a few of the rusted-over parts of the Toffees make-up.
And he won’t be afraid to do it.
Why Moyes will get rid of Everton's deadwood
Everton have no less than 15 players reaching the conclusion of their contracts this summer – some are out on loan or indeed are reaching the end of their loan stints at Goodison Park.
Abdoulaye Doucoure, for example, is expected to leave. Sure, he scored the winning goal at the City Ground last weekend, but the 32-year-old isn’t popping up with such moments with the frequency to justify his £130k-per-week salary, the loftiest at the club.
Moyes isn’t afraid to cut ties with his higher-profile stars, something he’s going to need to enact with another member of the squad, a player shaping up to be the 61-year-old’s next version of James Beattie.
Beattie spent two-and-a-half seasons under Moyes’ management at Everton, signed from Southampton for £6m in January 2005 after rejecting a move to Aston Villa.
Beattie was a talented centre-forward, hard to handle and powerful in the final third. He likely didn’t make too many friends with opposing defenders. He also didn’t make a friend out of Moyes, it would appear…
Across 85 appearances for the Merseysiders, Beattie only managed to score 15 goals, interestingly with 11 of them posted across the 2005/06 season before he provided a woeful product on his final term as a Toffee.
A five-cap England international, Beattie moved on to Sheffield United in 2007, the Blades breaking their transfer record and paying £4m for a player who had fallen by the wayside at Everton.
In fact, Moyes and his number nine had come to blows on numerous occasions, having to discipline his man after a headbutt on William Gallas in 2005 and Beattie later suggesting Everton didn’t treat him with respect while he played there.
His talent and focal presence got him far, but Moyes showed that he’s willing to make a tough decision for his team, and he’s going to have to make a similar one in the weeks ahead, with Everton needing to part ways with their new version of Beattie.
Moyes' new James Beattie
While he’s served at the club for a long time, Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s best days appear to be long past, with The Athletic’s Paddy Boyland noting he has been “struggling” through the 2024/25 season.
Out of contract at the end of the season, Calvert-Lewin – who the Toffees signed from Sheffield United in 2016 – has toiled through what looks to be his final campaign as an Everton player, with a cruel injury picked up in January stunting any budding rebirth hinted at after Moyes’ return.
Still out of action, the 27-year-old surely needs to be axed this summer, with his inconsistencies and past successes suggesting that he is in a similar boat to Beattie way back when, albeit the older man being actively shoved out to sign for the Blades.
24/25
22
3
6.11 (-3.11)
23/24
32
7
12.93 (-5.93)
22/23
17
2
5.84 (-3.84)
Though DCL doesn’t share Beattie’s supposedly volatile temperment, he has been chained down by injuries and consequent issues, with his wasteful finishing and heavy wage rubber-stamping the expected decision to cut ties.
Calvert-Lewin has given Goodison Park so many fond memories. In his pomp, the long-discarded England international was among the most dangerous strikers in the Premier League, leading talent scout Jacek Kulig to remark in 2020 that “Carlo Ancelotti created a monster.”
But the truth is Calvert-Lewin’s finest days are behind him, at least in Evertonian Blue. With Beto looking like twice the player he was since Moyes came along and funding being handed ahead of the summer window, parting with the striker is sure to be the right decision.
Moyes proved before, with Beattie, that he’s not afraid to make a cut for the greater good of the team, and he must maintain this approach now.
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