Here’s something that hasn’t been said for a while: is it an exciting time to be an Evertonian?
On Saturday, the Toffees’ men’s first team played their first-ever match at Hill Dickinson Stadium, a pre-season friendly against Roma, preparing to welcome Brighton to Bramley-Moore Dock for the first-ever Premier League fixture there in under a fortnight.
Meantime, the Friedkin Group completed their takeover in December, bringing to an end Farhad Moshiri’s ill-fated reign, while returning hero David Moyes steadied the ship after being re-appointed manager, so they’ll go into the new season with optimism.
With that in mind, could the Blues be about to make a big splash in the transfer market by signing an “explosive” young talent?
Everton's next business in the transfer window
As the table below documents, Everton have already spent around £78m this summer.
Dewsbury-Hall
Midfielder
Chelsea
£25m
Barry
Striker
Villarreal
£27m
Alcaraz
Midfielder
Flamengo
£15m
Aznou
Left-back
Bayern Munich
£7.8m
Travers
Goalkeeper
Bournemouth
£4m
On top of all these confirmed signings, David Ornstein and Gregg Evans of the Athletic reported on Monday morning that Everton ‘have agreed a deal’ to sign Jack Grealish on a season-long loan from Manchester City.
The England international played just 715 minutes in the Premier League last season, very much seeking to re-launch his career on Merseyside, but the Blues might not be finished there, potentially eyeing a player reminiscent of a young Grealish.
That’s because, according to Toffees insider Alan Myers, manager Moyes is tempted by the idea of signing winger Omari Hutchinson from Ipswich Town.
Nottingham Forest have already seen a £35m bid rejected by the Tractor Boys, who paid £22m to Chelsea to make Hutchinson’s move to Suffolk permanent just last summer.
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With Brentford also in the hunt, journalist Graeme Bailey believes the 21-year-old to be valued at around £40m, which would make him Everton’s third-most expensive signing of all time, behind only Richarlison.
Nevertheless, new owners the Friedkins, are ambitious, so could Hutchinson be their statement signing ahead of the new stadium era?
What Omari Hutchinson would bring to Everton
Despite his tender age, Hutchinson has been highly rated for many years now, most notably seen as one of Arsenal’s finest young talents, before he made the move across London to join Chelsea in the summer of 2022.
He saw just 49 minutes of senior football in a Chelsea shirt, but has really exploded onto the scene at Ipswich Town, a key figure in their promotion-winning campaign, before also impressing even though the Tractor Boys suffered Premier League relegation.
During the summer too, Hutchinson was a key figure as England retained the U21 European Championships, starting five of the six matches, scoring during the victory over Germany in the final at Bratislava.
Said to possess “explosive speed” by one Arsenal content creator, he’s left many impressed by his excellent work rate and ability to drive at defenders.
Indeed, Simon Johnson of the Athletic believes that his “flair” makes him “such a joy to watch”, citing Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna who stated “he works really, really hard… and he has got a great mindset”.
That explosive dribbling ability certainly sounds reminiscent of a young Grealish, so let’s assess how the duo compare to one another.
Appearances
31
36
Minutes
2,593
3,234
Goals
3
8
Assists
2
5
All statistics below are on a per-90 basis:
Shots
1.6
2
Shots on target %
40%
31.9%
Progressive carries
97
212
Attempted take-ons
137
117
Take-on success %
37.2%
62.4%
Big chances created
0.21
0.22
Shot-creating actions
2.82
5.51
Goal-creating actions
0.21
0.5
As the table documents, Grealish’s statistics from the 2019/20 campaign – the peak so far of his career – are more impressive than those of Hutchinson last season, although there are caveats and the numbers are comparable when it comes to key metrics.
That season, Grealish was 24 years old, three years older than Hutchinson is right now, while it was his seventh season as a senior professional, compared to just Hutchinson’s second.
Thus, it’s no surprise that Grealish’s numbers are largely more impressive, although there are clear stylistic similarities, with Hutchinson actually attempting more take-ons, while the duo created a near-identical number of big chances per-90.
During his heyday at Aston Villa, Richard Jolly of the Independent believed Grealish was ‘one of the most exciting attacking players in world football’, a statement that could well be said about Hutchinson in the near future, so will the pair become teammates at Everton by the end of this month?