The Blue Frontier - American Everton Analysis

The Blue Frontier brings the full trio together for Part Three of its 2025/26 Everton Team Assessment, turning a long-running full-back problem into something slightly more useful than another list of rumors.
 
James Boyman, Shan Khan and Ryan Williams carry forward the four major squad needs identified earlier in the series: more open-play creation, better progression, stronger ball retention under pressure and improved athleticism. They apply that framework to Everton's current options, starting with Vitalii Mykolenko, before using Wyscout data, physical metrics, film study and reported fees to assess the market.
Hugo Bueno and Kellen Fisher stand out as realistic left-back options, while Rico Lewis, Djed Spence, Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Raoul Bellanova, Lutsharel Geertruida, Devyne Rensch, Guéla Doué and Héctor Fort lead a wider right-back discussion. The episode ends with each host building an ideal plan and a more Moyes-shaped version, separating attainable upgrades from inflated fees, tactical mismatches and the players Everton probably should have found a year earlier.

Left-back targets
1. Jayden Oosterwolde
2. Hugo Bueno
3. Nathan Aké
4. El Hadji Malick Diouf
5. Rico Henry
6. Oleksandr Zinchenko
7. Darlin Yongwa
8. Matt Targett
9. Mika Mármol
10. Ali Maamar
11. Kellen Fisher
12. Martin Luciano
13. Joaquín Seys
14. Adrien Truffert
15. Samuel Iling-Junior
16. Vanderlan
17. Lucas Esquivel
18. Nathaniel Brown
19. Román Vega
20. Caleb Wiley
Right-back targets
21. Rico Lewis
22. Djed Spence
23. Brooke Norton-Cuffy
24. Raoul Bellanova
25. Aaron Wan-Bissaka
26. Neco Williams
27. Lutsharel Geertruida
28. Wesley
29. Zakaria El Ouahdi
30. Óscar Mingueza
31. Joel Veltman
32. Thomas Meunier
33. Ricardo Pereira
34. Sacha Boey
35. Kyle Walker-Peters
36. Jackson Tchatchoua
37. Alberto Costa
38. Alidu Seidu
39. Anton Gaaei
40. Héctor Fort
41. Iván Fresneda
42. Vanderson
43. Jordan Teze
44. Wilfried Singo
45. Joe Scally
46. Guéla Doué
47. Tiago Santos
48. Devyne Rensch
49. Marc Pubill
50. Agustín Giay
51. Givairo Read
52. Juanlu Sánchez
53. Timothy Weah
54. Alex Freeman

LINKS: https://linktr.ee/thebluefrontier

EVERTON 25/26 SQUAD ASSESSMENT PART 2: MIDFIELDERS. With Hayden Hackney's move from Middlesbrough finalized, Shan and Ryan dive straight into Everton's CAM, CM, and DM positions. In true Blue Frontier fashion, they build on the four needs laid out in Part 1 — more open play creation, better progression, stronger ball retention and press resistance, plus greater athleticism — then run the current squad through Wyscout indexes and on-ball metrics. We get into the rankings of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall at CAM as well as James Garner at CM, and illustrate how the absence of a disciplined, ball-progressing six stands out clearly. They give a full breakdown on Hayden Hackney, balancing his elite progression and activity against high turnovers, risky decision-making, and what he will need to adjust from the Champtionship to the Premier League. Rumors around targets like Mandela Keita are weighed alongside free agents, relegated options, and data-driven names such as Hugo Larsson and Pablo Maia. With David Moyes locked into the 4-2-3-1, they assess fit, budget reality, and whether recruitment is finally targeting the right gaps.
 
LINKS: https://linktr.ee/thebluefrontier

At long last, The Blue Frontier heads into the offseason with its annual Everton squad assessment. James, Shan, and Ryan break down the team from every angle, using overall results, attacking and defensive outcomes, physical data, style-of-play metrics, and individual performance numbers to get at the real question: what does Everton need to fix before the summer transfer window?
The trio looks beyond the surface of 49 points and a -3 goal difference, digging into David Moyes' direct attacking approach, Everton's struggles against pressure, league-low substitution usage, defensive drop-off, transition-heavy attack, and the need for more ball retention, progression, open-play creation, and athleticism. 
Beto, Barry, Iliman Ndiaye, Jack Grealish, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, James Garner, Jarrad Branthwaite, and Jordan Pickford all come under the microscope. The episode ends with four key areas Everton must improve, setting the foundation for future position-by-position transfer analysis.
 
Links: https://linktr.ee/thebluefrontier

Everton close the Premier League season with a flat 1-0 away loss to Tottenham on May 24, 2026, helping Spurs secure survival and giving Everton supporters one final grim data point in a month-long collapse. James and Ryan try to rise above the obvious frustration, reviewing the match with a fair but unsentimental eye before turning to the bigger question: was this just late-season recency bias, or a warning about Everton's actual trajectory?
The episode covers Iliman Ndiaye's central role, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's struggles, Jake O'Brien's rough matchup with Mathys Tel, João Palhinha's match-winning influence, and the late energy from Tyrique George, Charly Alcaraz, and Harrison Armstrong. With Everton finishing 13th, just one point better than last season, the discussion widens to David Moyes, squad building, youth development, transfer value, and whether "stability" is progress or just a nicer word for standing still.
 
LINKS: https://linktr.ee/thebluefrontier

Everton's Premier League home campaign ends with a 1–3 defeat to Sunderland on May 17, and with it, any remaining hope of European football next season. The Blue Frontier breaks down a match that told the same story in ninety minutes that the last six weeks have been telling: a fluky lead, a predictable collapse, and substitutions that answered nobody's questions. James, Ryan, and Shan walk through a first half that produced a Merlin Röhl opener courtesy of a Granit Xhaka deflection, a second half where Brian Brobbey and Enzo Le Fee punished an aging and exhausted backline, and a third Sunderland goal that Tarkowski and Keane couldn't track down. But the match is almost secondary. The bigger conversation is Angus Kinnear's mid-week statement backing David Moyes, published two days before Everton shipped three at home. Was it a loyalty declaration, a PR misfire, or both? Ryan runs the numbers on squad value creation (the results are not kind), Shan makes the case for Andoni Iraola, and James asks why Everton keep spending serious money on players who never see the pitch. If you want an honest, data-literate reckoning with what this season actually produced (and what it means for the summer) this is the episode.
 
LINKS: https://linktr.ee/thebluefrontier