It is shaping up to be a decent season at the Hill Dickinson Stadium for Everton and the return of David Moyes has more than proven to be a success story, albeit the loyal Toffees faithful have had to roll with the expected ups and downs and we could potentially have two more ups in the shape of John Stones and Jarrod Bowen if the claims are true.
With two games to go in the domestic 2025/26 Premier League campaign Everton are sat in 10th place in the top flight table, and although it is largely unlikely, back to back wins now against Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur could see us move into 6th place and the European spots if other results were to go our way.
63 year old Moyes’ return has been slightly different from what most in the wider world of football expected, as we are more on the front foot than thought and should we achieve an unexpected European spot at the end of the campaign, we would have also done it without on loan 30 year old Jack Grealish given the injury that he picked up back in January. Those using football betting sites at the beginning of the year probably would not have expected the kind of campaign that we have had.
Given this kind of progress, fans will certainly be hoping to see some key moves made in the summer transfer window as clinching one of the European spots in the 2026/27 campaign would have to be one of our upper aims for the year. We already know about the speculation rumour mill links suggesting that we are looking into bringing England international centre half John Stones home as his contract with Manchester City expires during the off season, and we are now being linked with fellow England star Jarrod Bowen.
It is believed that the 30 year old could finally be moving on this summer from West Ham United and the London Stadium even if they ultimately survive the drop and finish outside of the relegation zone. Should their future lie in the Championship, you certainly cannot imagine that someone of Bowen’s talents would settle for life back in the second tier of the English game and the Hammers would likely look to cash in given the financial issues that relegation would pose for them.
If he does move on, Everton certainly will not be the only club interested in securing his services as many in the wider world of the game are suggesting Liverpool may want him as a replacement for Mohamed Salah, Newcastle United are linked given the expectation that Anthony Gordon will be moving on and possibly to German Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, and others such as Aston Villa have long been known to hold an interest, but have seen prior offers for him rebuffed.
With talk of a possible £60 million transfer fee though, that would be above our upper limits for the last few years, but it would not be out of the question if we were looking at the free agent route for the likes of Stones and Grealish, and then the wage demands stacked up properly.
It is certainly worth watching at this point with a week or so left in the campaign, and obviously creeping up the table in the meantime would improve our potential budgets slightly as we looked ahead anyway.
