Everton's Season Review: From European Hopes to Mid-Table Struggles

For much of last season, Everton’s gaze was fixed upwards.

Jack Grealish arrived on loan and lit the place up. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall kept deciding tight games. Thierno Barry and Beto, written off early, started bullying centre-backs and finding the net. On 21 March, a 3-0 dismantling of Chelsea at Hill Dickinson Stadium sent Everton eighth, three points off the Champions League places with seven to play.

Europe didn’t just feel possible. It felt probable.

Then the season fell apart.

Everton did not win another league game. Not one. It became the longest winless run since David Moyes walked back through the doors for his second spell in 2025. The turning point came quietly enough: a 2-2 draw at Brentford on 11 April. From there, the form chart was brutal. Over the remainder of the campaign, Everton’s results ranked them in the bottom three. Only Burnley and Wolves, both also winless in that stretch, matched their collapse.

The numbers stripped the romance away. The mood did the rest.

Even as results tailed off, there was still something to cling to. European qualification remained on the table when Sunderland arrived on Merseyside for Everton’s final home game of 2025-26. In his programme notes, CEO Angus Kinnear described himself as “happily dissatisfied” with the campaign – a phrase that jarred with supporters already wrestling with mixed emotions.

Ninety minutes later, it sounded worse. Sunderland, fresh from promotion, won 3-1 and celebrated in Everton’s new home. They would ride that momentum all the way to seventh and a first European campaign in 53 years.

Everton slumped to 13th. Again.

Same position, very different feeling

For Moyes, the irony is sharp. Two seasons back in charge. Two 13th-place finishes. On paper, that sounds like stasis. The context tells another story.

When he returned 18 months ago, Everton were a point above the relegation zone, battered by financial breaches, points deductions and the lingering threat of the drop. He dragged them away from that cliff edge, finishing 23 points clear of the bottom three.

Last summer, backed by the Friedkin Group, Everton spent £97m – a club-record net outlay in a single window – to push on. They finished with one point more and exactly the same league position.

For former midfielder Leon Osman, that does not automatically equal failure.

“When David Moyes first came in, we flew out the blocks and had a great start,” he said. “That continued for well over a year before the first sort of low period, which was the end of last season. I still feel that we made progress last season, which is what we wanted, along with stability.”

Stability is a loaded word at Everton. It has been scarce. Moyes, now 63, has spoken openly about the financial reality. Over the past five years, Everton sit 15th for net spend among current Premier League clubs. They are no longer one of the division’s big chequebooks.

The league table offers awkward counterpoints. Bournemouth spent the least of any Premier League side last summer, actually making a profit of £81m, and finished sixth. Brighton banked £41m and still came eighth.

Everton, by contrast, paid heavily for a season that promised more than it delivered.

New home, old problems

The move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium was meant to be the reset button. A state-of-the-art ground, a fresh identity, a chance to leave the chaos of the past decade behind.

The numbers at home were grim. Everton’s 1.2 points per game at their new stadium was the lowest return by any team in their first Premier League season at a new ground in the competition’s history. Away from home, they ranked in the top seven. On their own turf, they shrank.

Osman sees a club still learning its surroundings, still shaking off years of turbulence. He also points to the moment that changed the feel of the season: Grealish’s injury in January.

The impact was stark. With Grealish on the pitch, Everton won 45% of their games and averaged 1.6 points per match. Without him, the win rate dropped to 22%, the points to one per game. The team that had surged into the European conversation suddenly looked short of ideas and shorter of belief.

“David Moyes is an intense manager and by the end of the season, a small squad couldn’t quite last,” Osman said. “Changes take time. No one is thinking about relegation which shows you what Moyes has done. He’s got 12 months remaining and I’d expect him to see that out.”

Recruitment still searching for a shape

If Bournemouth and Brighton are the poster clubs for sharp, data-driven recruitment, Everton’s transfer strategy still feels half-built.

Under former owner Farhad Moshiri, eight players signed for at least £20m left for nothing. That era of waste has left scars on the wage bill and the balance sheet. After several summers of caution, the Friedkin Group went the other way: nine signings last year, heavy investment in youth, and the hope of resale value down the line.

So far, the returns are mixed.

Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall have justified the outlay and the fanfare. Around them, questions remain. Tyler Dibling, a £35m signing from Southampton, started only six league games. Adam Aznou, the young left-back from Bayern Munich, is still waiting for his Premier League debut. Barry, 23, won more aerial duels than any other player in his first top-flight season, a testament to his physical presence, but his finishing flickered rather than burned. Merlin Rohl, 24, barely featured before finally catching the eye with a run of four starts in May.

Everton know Grealish’s future is central to what comes next. BBC Radio Merseyside’s Giulia Bould reports that the club expect him to re-sign on loan towards the end of the window as he continues his recovery from a stress fracture in his foot. His wages, around £200,000 per week, remain a serious consideration.

Iliman Ndiaye, another key creative outlet, has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia.

“I’d welcome Grealish back but only at a price that suits Everton,” Osman said. “Ndiaye, I’d hate to lose him. There may come a point that the price is right and Everton can reinvest in two or three players but I think they should do everything they can to keep him.”

Experience out, pressure on youth

The dressing room is changing fast. Seamus Coleman and Idrissa Gueye have gone, taking more than 600 Premier League appearances with them. That explains Everton’s interest in adding a profile like Christian Norgaard’s leadership and presence in midfield. It also sharpens the impact of James Garner’s groin surgery, which will rule him out of the start of the season.

For Moyes, it creates a familiar managerial dilemma. He has often trusted experience, often leaned on players who have proved themselves over time. Now he may have to depend on the very youngsters he has been slow to expose to the league.

“They need to show they’re capable and deserve to play,” Osman said. “I’m hoping that a year in, understanding the demands that are required, players like Dibling and George will make that progression and then suddenly our squad looks more trustworthy.”

That is the paradox at the heart of Everton’s current reality. The club has escaped the chaos of points deductions and relegation dogfights. The league position says mid-table. The mood, at times, says underachievement.

Moyes has 12 months left on his contract, a new stadium that still doesn’t quite feel like home, and a squad that must prove it can handle his demands over 38 games, not 30. The foundations look firmer than they have for years.

Now Everton must decide what they want to build on them – and how long they are prepared to wait.