i can reveal Everton’s plans for January are already well underway, with scouts looking for creative players. An attacking midfielder is one of the positions being sought.
The Toffees face an uphill task reignited their interest in Ajax midfielder Mohammed Kudus, who was keen to join Everton in the summer but was blocked from doing so by his club. He has subsequently delivered a string of impressive performances and while he remains of interest, rivals for his signature have emerged.
But it does speak well of the club’s scouting network that he was among the priority targets in a summer where Everton were able to significantly upgrade their squad while turning a profit.
Meanwhile, the club have signed a deal with Elevate Sports Ventures to help secure naming rights and founding sponsors for their new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium.
Everton are also closing in on a new long-term contract for Anthony Gordon.
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It would mean a substantial pay increase for the England Under 21 international, who already has a contract until 2025. But Everton feel that is just reward for a player who has gone from fringe man to key first-team member and reacted well to a summer of speculation that saw the Toffees reject bids from Chelsea, Newcastle and Spurs for him.
Frank Lampard has spoke of his determination to make Gordon a key part of his plans to build a team that plays with energy and high press and will be supplemented by additional investment in the transfer market in January.
Behind the scenes there is real satisfaction at the way Everton navigated a summer that was fraught with challenges, not least a recruitment drive that has bolstered the spine of the team.
There is a real sense of a club making progress after a summer in which the changes implemented by influential director of football Kevin Thelwell began to bear fruit. The latest move is to add highly-rated Carl Darlington as their head of academy coaching.
His role will be to implement a coaching and player development programme across the academy, which has been a key focus of Thelwell’s changes since his appointment in February.
Newcastle’s head of goalkeeping appointment proof of Ashworth’s coaching vision
Newcastle have promoted from within to fill the key head of goalkeeping role vacated by the summer departure of Simon Smith.
Adam Bartlett, 36, who had an extensive career in non-league football in the North East and Yorkshire, will take over from Smith on a permanent basis as Newcastle’s director of football Dan Ashworth stays true to his belief of promoting from within if candidates show enough promise.
Newcastle had plenty of interest in the post but the club want to create an aspirational culture among staff. Bartlett is well thought of and will now take charge of the department, with another goalkeeper coach to be added in the future.
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Ashworth set out his vision in 2020 in a quote dug out by the Training Ground Guru website after Bartlett’s appointment.
“Of all the things I’ve learnt in the 13 years I’ve been a Technical Director, the big one is that it’s about giving young people a chance,” he said.
“That might be a young coach, a young player, a young physio – you don’t know quite what they can do until you give them an opportunity.”
‘Every chance’ English football could still have an independent regulator
A new Government means fresh focus on the independent regulator for football, with some now doubting Liz Truss’ administration will legislate despite previous commitments.
But sources have stressed to i that the regulator still has influential support within the Government and there’s still every chance that it will happen, with the “arguments for it already won”.
The presence of key advisor Jason Stein – a firm opponent of legislation in any walk of life – has clearly spooked some but he is just one voice and there are more who are in support of the regulator, which is backed by the Labour party.
Gary Neville told the Times he would “expect it to be seen through” after being referred to in last year’s Queens Speech and that’s still the view of many on the fan-led review panel.
The department for digital, culture, media and sport are due to publish a white paper in the autumn on the plan and while campaigners would like more haste towards bringing in the regulator, the Premier League’s inability to force their clubs to sign up to an owners charter and significant disagreements over the ‘New deal for football’ settlement with EFL clubs give them further impetus.
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