Everton's record summer outlay helps spark Premier League revival under David Moyes

David Moyes's return to Everton in January has coincided with a marked turnaround for the club, which this season sit fifth in the Premier League after a summer of record recruitment and a move to a new stadium.

Eight months after Moyes took charge with the club one point above the relegation zone, Everton have closed what would have been a perilous gap and are 23 points clear of the drop. The club completed nine signings in the summer window at a net cost of about £97 million based on initial fees — the highest single‑window net outlay in the club's history — and have moved into the 52,769‑capacity Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Everton's overhaul was required after the departures of nine senior players, including Abdoulaye Doucouré, Dominic Calvert‑Lewin, Jack Harrison and Ashley Young. The club's summer recruitment included high‑profile arrivals on loan and permanent deals, with Jack Grealish's season‑long loan among the most eye‑catching moves. Grealish provided two assists in each of his first two Premier League starts for Everton, a level of direct goal involvement he had achieved only twice previously in 191 league appearances.

Other arrivals included Kiernan Dewsbury‑Hall, signed from Chelsea for an initial £24m and noted for creating more chances per game than any Everton player since the start of last season, and Thierno Barry, a reported £27m signing from Villarreal who has shown promising hold‑up play. Tyler Dibling, whose fee could rise to £40m, represents Everton's largest single outlay this summer but had yet to make a league appearance at the time of reporting. A loan clause for Merlin Rohl from Freiburg could lift the season's net spend to about £114m if triggered.

Club finances and broader strategy helped facilitate the spending. A takeover by the Friedkin Group converted significant debts into equity and allowed struggling finances to be restructured on more favourable terms. Between January 2021 and January 2025 the club generated roughly £86m from player sales, helping to balance the books after a prolonged period of limited transfer activity. Most of the new signings were completed after the Premier League's financial year closed on June 30, a timing that the club has said helps manage profit and sustainability regulation calculations.

The move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium — providing more than 13,000 additional seats compared with Goodison Park and increased corporate hospitality capacity — is expected to boost match‑day and commercial revenue in coming seasons.

Everton's outlay remains below the very biggest spenders in the league; they ranked seventh for net expenditure in the summer window, some £24m behind sixth‑placed Manchester City. Data from Opta indicates Everton are among the sides outperforming expected points so far this season, with only Liverpool doing so to a greater extent. The club's improvement has depended not only on new signings but on retention and form from established squad members: Seamus Coleman and Michael Keane were kept at the club, with Keane singled out for strong performances.

Former Everton midfielder Leon Osman, who observed the club's pre‑season tour, described the window as "exciting and outstanding for one window" but cautioned that further defensive reinforcements and a proven goal scorer remain desirable. Osman added that Moyes has assembled players who "will be good in the dressing room" and that keeping long‑serving leaders had been significant.

Everton have twice been penalised with points deductions in recent years for breaches of profit and sustainability rules and narrowly avoided relegation two seasons earlier. Club officials and supporters have framed this summer's spending and structural changes as an attempt to correct a period in which sizeable fees paid for players later left the club without significant returns. Under previous ownership, players signed for large fees departed for little or no transfer compensation on several occasions, a pattern the club says it has sought to avoid with its adjusted transfer strategy.

On the pitch, Everton's form since the start of May has been among the best in the division, a run that has propelled them into contention for higher‑placed finishes. Moyes has been cautious in public about over‑inflated expectations, with supporters and former players flagging both realistic targets such as consolidation in the top half and loftier aims like contending for silverware; Everton's last trophy came in 1995.

The club can still modify its squad in the January window, and a series of contractual clauses and loan‑to‑buy arrangements mean the final season‑long accounting on transfers could change. For now, Everton's combination of significant summer investment, stadium move and an upturn in results signal a clear change in trajectory from the relegation fight that defined the start of Moyes's second spell in charge.