Everton's Flanks: Transitioning Wide Play Under Moyes

Everton’s flanks are being ripped up and redrawn. What looked settled for most of last season is suddenly wide open.

For months, David Moyes went with Dwight McNeil on the right and Iliman Ndiaye on the left, a pairing that gave his side balance and work-rate even when the football turned attritional. Now both could be gone before a ball is kicked in anger.

McNeil is on the brink of finally getting his move to Selhurst Park, a transfer that should have been wrapped up in February. Back then, Crystal Palace had agreed a loan-to-buy deal that would have turned into a £20m permanent switch this summer. McNeil passed his medical. The move was teed up. Then the paperwork missed the deadline and everything collapsed in a blur of frustration and silence.

The fallout was raw. On social media, McNeil’s partner Megan Sharpley laid bare the emotional cost, questioning how a game so publicly conscious of mental health could still “mess and toy” with players in that way. She described an “emotional rollercoaster” and a promise torn away “at the last second with absolutely no explanation”. It was a rare, unvarnished glimpse into the human side of the transfer market.

Now the deal is back on the table, this time with Brennan Johnson involved in the exchange. The details of the structure remain to be confirmed, but the direction of travel is clear: McNeil out, Johnson in. A mainstay of Moyes’ wide play is about to walk out of Finch Farm.

On the opposite flank, uncertainty hangs over Ndiaye. Al Hilal have expressed interest in the forward, whose work off the left gave Everton an outlet and a pressing trigger. If that interest hardens, Moyes could lose both of last season’s first-choice wide men in the same window.

What Does He Have Left?

Jack Grealish is the headline name, and his brief spell on Merseyside last season left a mark. On loan from Manchester City, he played 22 times and lit up the first half of the campaign, knitting attacks together, drawing fouls, and giving Everton a measure of control in the final third. Then came the foot injury in January, and his season was cut short just as he looked fully integrated. A return has not been ruled out, but there is no certainty either. Until a deal is done, Grealish is an idea, not a solution.

Inside the building, the options are intriguing but unproven.

Tyler Dibling arrived from Southampton last summer for £40m, a fee that carried the weight of expectation. Instead, his first year at Goodison turned into a holding pattern. He started only four Premier League games, spent long stretches on the fringes, and then watched Grealish’s arrival push him further down the pecking order. The talent is there; the rhythm and trust from the manager are not, at least not yet. This could be his opening, or another season of cameos.

Tyrique George is at the other end of the spectrum: cheaper, fresher, and on an upward curve. Everton paid £24m to bring him in from Chelsea after a successful loan spell on Merseyside last season. He made 11 appearances, only one of them from the start, but he impressed Moyes with his attitude and intensity. The manager publicly praised him as an “excellent boy with an excellent work-rate” after that initial four-month stint. That kind of endorsement matters. It buys you patience, minutes, and responsibility when a squad is being rebuilt on the fly.

Then there is Merlin Rohl, the flexible option. He played a handful of games out wide last season, shuttling into spaces and covering roles as needed. He is not yet the first name you pencil in on either flank, but in a squad short on established wingers, his ability to operate there gives Moyes another card to play.

Strip it all back and Everton’s wide department looks like a fault line running straight through Moyes’ team. McNeil is poised to leave. Ndiaye has suitors. Grealish is a maybe. Dibling, George and Rohl are possibilities rather than guarantees.

For a manager who built last season’s structure around hard-running, disciplined wide players, the coming weeks will define not just who hugs the touchline, but what this Everton side actually looks like when the new campaign kicks off.