Everton’s forward line could be the key to a stronger 2026/27 season
Everton scored just 47 goals in 38 Premier League games last season, with 27 of them coming from Everton’s attacking players.
Beto converted the most with eight goals last season, but Moyes and his recruitment team have been busy in the summer window looking to add more quality ahead of the 2026/27 season.
Sports News Blitz writer Dylan Grady looks into the additions to Everton’s forward line, and how they could help the Toffees put away more chances.
Youth and experience
Everton already have a good mixture of potential and experience in their attacking options, with Iliman Ndiaye, Everton’s most important forward, creating the most chances and being a tricky customer for opposing full-backs.
Moyes has added more youth to his attack, already having 20-year-old Tyler Dibling, who has impressed in pre-season, and 20-year-old Tyrique George, a fellow U21 England international who has made a permanent switch from Chelsea this summer.
George showed the more promising signs out of the two last year despite only joining in January, with performances away at Fulham and Brentford standing out the most.
Everton’s focal point last season was shared by Beto and Thierno Barry, with the latter making the most starts for the Toffees with 21.
Despite Beto making considerably fewer starts with just 13, he did finish as their top scorer with nine goals, with Barry only one behind with eight.
Moyes showed during the season that he liked both of his strikers, and chose their unique qualities and profiles for certain games.
Barry, 23, goes into this season looking to lock down his starting spot, with that £30 million price tag from last summer hoping to look like a steal after this season.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall would definitely have a say in the conversation of being Everton’s most important attacking option.
The former Leicester and Chelsea man made 30 starts for the Toffees, and was used as a substitute once.
The time he didn’t feature was due to a hamstring injury he faced in early December, which ruled him out until late January.
Dewsbury-Hall scored eight goals for the Toffees last season and got four assists on top of that, which put him right in the mix for an England spot for the summer’s World Cup.
However, due to the amount of talent and quality England have in the No.10 role, with the likes of Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers, it would be tricky, to say the least, for Thomas Tuchel to find a way to fit him into his squad.
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Potential arrivals and outgoings
In the last few days, it has been reported that Everton and Crystal Palace have been in contact over the deal to swap Dwight McNeil and Brennan Johnson.
While Johnson only joined the Eagles in January for a club record fee of £35 million and signed on a four-year deal, the swapping of the two attackers is said to be for a ‘straight swap’ with no money involved for the two players.
McNeil only has one year left on his deal, while Johnson has four. It seems quite the rush and urgency from Palace officials to get Johnson off their books.
Johnson certainly has shown quality in his career while at Nottingham Forest and Spurs, but his time at Palace has been quite lacklustre.
He didn’t score a single goal for Palace in the league or the Conference League, getting just two assists.
Johnson also didn’t even come off the bench in the Europa Conference League against Rayo Vallecano, arguably Palace’s biggest ever game in their history.
Due to Johnson being on £110,000 per week and making him the second-highest-paid player at the club, it could be said that the Eagles are cutting their losses with the 25-year-old.
In the 2024/25 season when Spurs won the Europa League, Johnson was Spurs’ top scorer with 18 goals in all competitions, scoring 11 in the Premier League and five in the Europa.
While Johnson can be criticised recently for his performances in a Palace shirt, during his time at Forest and Tottenham, he can be considered efficient in front of goal, which not really any of David Moyes’ attackers have.
Reported a couple of weeks ago was interest from Saudi club Al-Hilal for Iliman Ndiaye, hoping to pair him up on the opposite wing to recent arrival Crysencio Summerville.
However, since then the speculation has cooled down, and the Senegalese man currently looks set to stay on Merseyside.
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Super Jack Grealish
While Jack Grealish’s playtime was cut short due to an Achilles injury in January after beating Aston Villa, his time at Everton will be looked back upon with great pride and positivity.
Everton supporters instantly took to Grealish after getting two assists on his first start against Crystal Palace, for the first goals at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
He was also a great character on and off the pitch, with many of Everton’s staff at Finch Farm said to have ‘’been a great lad to have around the place’’.
The love from the fans was evident as early as August as Everton picked up a 3-2 win away at Wolves, when after the final whistle had gone, Grealish gave his shirt to a supporter.
The supporters in the Molineux away end grabbed Grealish endlessly, and as the now 30-year-old got away, the supporters sang his song in unison, “Super, super Jack, super, super Jack, super Jacky Grealish.”
The Toffees are said to be hopeful of getting his signature again, whether that be on loan again or permanently.
With Everton having a strong defensive spine and structure to their squad, the last piece of the puzzle is in attack, and David Moyes and Everton’s recruitment team are certainly getting to work in the last few weeks of the window.
