Rome wasn’t built in a day. And neither will David Moyes’ new Everton be realised less than a year after he took the reins from Sean Dyche, whose project had fallen apart as the Friedkin Group’s much-anticipated takeover from Farhad Moshiri was completed.
The 3-0 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur served Moyes’ team their first competitive defeat at the Hill Dickinson, pinning them in 14th place in the Premier League, with 11 points, as the European pack begin to steal away.
It is very early in the campaign, and predicting where most sides will land when all is said and done is pretty much dancing on the head of a pin. In any case, the Merseysiders know that they have limitations within their squad, namely, lacking the right full-backs or reliable and prolific goalscoring options.
While Everton signed Thierno Barry from Villarreal for a £27m fee this summer, the France U21 international has yet to find his feet in the Premier League.
Compounding this problem is Beto’s wastefulness in front of goal. With nine goals, the 27-year-old is the joint-top scorer at Everton since Moyes returned, but most of this haul was bagged during a ferocious purple patch last season, five goals in four games.
Change may well be afoot in 2026, and Moyes will be conferring with technical director Angus Kinnear as he considers adding another goalscorer to the ranks.
Everton's plans for a new striker
Richarlison has been linked with an emotional return to Merseyside of late. You might have heard. The Tottenham forward was supposedly on Moyes’ radar this summer, but nothing came of the ostensible interest.
Now, according to former Goodison Park CEO Keith Wyness, the Toffees could be in line to seal the Brazilian’s signature in January, bringing back a fan favourite and solving a glaring problem.
The issue is that Richarlison would be a stop-gap solution, and while he has enjoyed bursts of clinical form with Spurs, too many times has he drifted in and out of form, suffering more than his share of injuries besides.
25/26
9
3 (2)
24/25
15
4 (1)
23/24
28
11 (4)
22/23
27
1 (4)
This season, the 29-year-old has scored three goals and assisted two more – the last assist coming, of course, against Everton on Sunday as he delivered for Pape Matar Sarr to head home. However, Richarlison has just one goal in his past 13, having bagged a brace on the opening day of the season against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Whether the £90k-per-week forward would make a progressive return to Merseyside remains to be seen, but maybe Everton would be better off not knowing. Would he truly prove an upgrade on Beto and Barry?
In any case, Everton don’t need to push for such a short-term fix when they have a third candidate to turn things around in the final third.
Everton have a better option than Richarlison
Tyler Dibling hasn’t clicked into gear at Everton after joining from Southampton for £42m this summer, but the silky attacking midfielder has so much potential.
If he finds form, Moyes could turn to his “creator of chaos” – as noted by analyst Ben Mattinson – in Iliman Ndiaye as a makeshift striker, covering for Beto and Barry in their woes.
The Senegal international has been one of Everton’s standout stars since joining from Marseille in 2024, and after finishing as the club’s top scorer for the 2024/25 campaign with 11 goals – despite missing part of Moyes’ reintroduction to Goodison Park – Ndiaye has carried that vein of form across the summer, notching three goals and supplying one assist from nine Premier League appearances this term.
Hailed by content creator Jacob Horsfall as “one of the best the Championship has ever seen” during his earlier stint with Sheffield United, Ndiaye has translated his quality to the Premier League – and then some.
While he is typically a left-sided forward, the 25-year-old has featured primarily on the right this term to accommodate Jack Grealish, and his natural-born clinical edge suggests he could be a fine makeshift striker this season.
Surely he would prove himself a bigger talent than Richarlison, making more of an impact than the Brazilian, who has ebbed and flowed, ebbed and flowed, since leaving Everton for Tottenham in a £60m package three years ago.
Ndiaye, in any case, has risen in stock as Richarlison’s own has depreciated. Tottenham are actually keen on Everton’s goalscoring talisman, and while TFG have priced him at £70m in retaliation, there’s no doubt the crafty Lilywhites would seek to entertain a form of swap deal if the chance arises.
It’s telling that Ndiaye sits alongside Beto as Everton’s top scorer since Moyes returned in January, and that having featured less often than the Bissau-Guinean.
Iliman Ndiaye
26
9
Beto
30
9
Abdoulaye Doucoure
17
3
Charly Alcaraz
25
3
Michael Keane
15
2
Jake O’Brien
19
2
Would Richarlison have outscored the Senegalese, had he played this year in Moyes’ squad? It’s hard to argue that he would have, with analyst Ben Mattinson arguing he “could play for a top six side”.
This is his quality, with FBref recording that he ranks among the top 5% of attacking midfielders and wingers in Europe for successful take-ons, the top 2% for ball recoveries and the top 7% for tackles won per 90, underlining just how dynamic and robust his skillset is.
And Ndiaye, furthermore, has yet to miss a single big chance in the Premier League this term, maintaining his prolific quality despite being shipped out to a new area of the field by Moyes.
Would Ndiaye be a long-term answer at number nine? Probably not. But given the finances that would be involved in bringing Richarlison back to the club, making this left-field tactical decision might not be a bad thing on Moyes’ part.
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