Of the seven first-team additions Everton made over the summer, four of those were linked with Premier League rivals – and Monday night’s opponents – West Ham United at one point or another.
And, in a few cases, this was more than idle transfer window chit-chat.
While Thierno Barry was only ever really linked with West Ham United in the press – David Moyes was ‘delighted’ with Everton securing the former Villarreal striker for an eye-watering £27 million – Hammers News can confirm that both Kyle Macaulay and Graham Potter were big fans of Tyler Dibling at Southampton.
Alongside Mateus Fernandes, Dibling was one of very few positives in a disastrous campaign for the Saints.
According to The Athletic, meanwhile, Chelsea offered Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to West Ham as a sweetener in a potential deal for Mohammed Kudus.
That approach was rebuffed. The Hammers only wanted cash, so accepted a £54.5 million bid from bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur instead a few weeks later.
In the case of Jack Grealish, West Ham snubbed the Manchester City loanee due to reservations over his defensive work-rate and his suitability for Graham Potter’s 3-4-2-1 system.
A system Potter would turn his back on just two weeks into the new season.
Now, West Ham travel to Merseyside facing an Everton side who have got Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall performing at the peak of their powers once again.
Graham Potter hails Everton’s Jack Grealish and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall before West Ham clash
While Potter has high hopes for a Fernandes – Diouf partnership, Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall have been a revelation down the left-hand flank at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Alongside the tricky Iliman Ndiaye and the wasteful but hard-working Beto, the Toffees have more than enough attacking weapons to puncture further holes in an already leaking hull.
“They have been good, as you would expect from a David Moyes team,” Potter said during his Friday press conference. “Very well organised. They have made some good additions, and they’ve got the new stadium which has obviously given everybody a lift.
“They will be strong. It will be a tough game.
“We are aware of Jack’s quality, of course. Beto is a threat for them up front. Ndiaye coming off the side, Dewsbury-Hall finds good space…
“So, they have lots of options. It will be a tough game.”
Potter and his players may be ‘aware of Jack’s quality’, but unfortunately his bosses at the London Stadium appeared less convinced.
“We see Grealish as an individual who has had his troubles. [He] doesn’t track back enough for our system and the way the manager wants to play,” the top spokesman for West Ham’s board exclusively told Hammers News.
“But if David Moyes can get him back to what he once was, then it is a great signing for Everton.”
Potter demands improvements after West Ham’s Crystal Palace defeat
Reverting to a role reminiscent of his free-roving position at Aston Villa, Grealish has indeed been a man reborn on Moyes’ watch. West Ham’s Malick Diouf tops the European charts for assists from full-back with three, but Grealish already has four.
The most in the Premier League so far.
While Potter praised Diouf’s impact on Friday, the West Ham boss accepts the criticism which has fallen upon him like an avalanche during a miserable start to the campaign. He believes that there are still a few green shoots, although one man’s positivity is another’s delusion.
“No game is the same. If you said to me you will keep a clean sheet and score three goals [like at Nottingham Forest], we will take that obviously!,” Potter admits.
“We did a lot well [in some of our matches]. Against Sunderland, ironically, we did a lot well until we conceded the goal. There are always bits in games you can take.
“From our perspective, we need to be better than we were in the first half against Crystal Palace in terms of the balance between defence and attack. I thought we got that wrong, so that needs to improve.”
