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Transfer deadline day may be “exciting for everyone”, as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall puts it, but his experience of that transfer deadline day at Everton hauled him through the same gamut of emotions as every Evertonian. Excitement turned to bewilderment before the conclusion of the window left the midfielder exasperated, but for entirely different reasons to a fanbase left questioning the club’s direction under The Friedkin Group.
How, now, is the mood in the squad? It is the obvious place to start after a deadline day that left David Moyes with fewer players than he had at the beginning, one striker and no cover for either full-back position. It also featured the US international striker Folarin Balogun walking out on a £40m transfer minutes after submitting a deal sheet. “Really good to be honest,” Dewsbury-Hall insists. “Definitely not the same mood as what I’ve seen on the outside. There’s a good mentality this year of: ‘We’ll show everyone.’” Everton’s performances so far this season support that view.
“I’ve seen all of the reactions, all of the meltdowns, and in all honestly it annoyed me a bit,” Dewsbury-Hall says in forthright and insightful fashion. “I get where people are coming from; everyone wants to sign everyone and have the perfect squad. But there are still 19 lads in this building who are going to hopefully take this club to good things this year. That was getting disregarded.
“I saw people saying: ‘We’ll be lucky to stay up this year.’ What message is that sending to the lads who are already here? I’m not blaming anyone. We get it. It didn’t work. But let’s all be positive – right, it’s done, bang, let’s go – and that’s what we’ve been trying to say in the dressing room. Of course we would have wanted to sign a couple more, but we’re happy with what we’ve got and it’s given us more impetus now to move on.”
Moyes has expressed concern over the signals Everton’s transfer business could send to the dressing room at a time when he is trying to push the team on. So has it had a detrimental impact? “Not really, no,” Dewsbury-Hall insists. “I know we’ve got a smaller squad but we’ve got some really good players. Our starting XI is top, a European starting XI.
“I get it, you need a whole squad, but we’ve got 17, 18 players at a really, really good level. I don’t think a couple of years ago it was at that level. Actually I know it wasn’t. Things can be out of your hands in football and that’s what happened for us. But we quickly realised: ‘Hang on a minute, look around the dressing room – top player, top player, top player.’ If we’re doing the right things we can still be successful.”
Dewsbury-Hall will be crucial to those prospects. The midfielder has flourished since his £28m arrival from Chelsea last summer, his game-time and growing influence vindicating the decision to leave Stamford Bridge behind. “I’m in the prime years of my career,” he says. “I couldn’t afford to spend more years stagnating.” The 28-year-old’s influence extends behind the scenes. This summer, following Séamus Coleman’s departure, he was nominated for a new leadership group that was established to compensate for the loss of the long-serving Everton captain.
“Because Séamus has left such a big hole we need a group of experienced lads to crack on together and keep the standards high and to drive things,” Dewsbury-Hall explains. “It’s just the more experienced lads – [Jordan] Pickford, Tarky [James Tarkowski, the new club captain], Jimmy [James] Garner, myself. The ones that have been playing in the Premier League for years or feel like they are settled at the club.
“It’s nice [to be voted in after just one season] but it’s definitely an impact I wanted to have. I’m really pleased that the lads look at me as someone that can be important for the dressing room.”
That sense of responsibility is evident in Dewsbury-Hall’s mentoring of fellow midfielder Harrison Armstrong, the 19-year-old who almost joined Nottingham Forest before deadline day only for the furious response of Evertonians at Bournemouth to prompt a U-turn from the club’s owners. “They definitely made their feelings known and obviously it worked,” says Dewsbury-Hall. “Big credit to them for that, they were amazing that day. And I know for a fact it made Harrison feel very good and it helped him. He is a very confident lad and well respected in the dressing room for such a young age.
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“If there is anything I can help him with then I will. Shooting’s definitely one because his shooting is sometimes not the best, and I’ve told him that many times. But he’s got pretty much everything else. He always likes to say he’s got a better strike than me so I just tell him to look at the [Crystal] Palace goal [that Dewsbury-Hall scored on the opening day] or the Wolves goal last season. We have good banter.”
The Nottingham-born midfielder is clear in his targets for this season: European qualification, which he contends can be achieved despite the smaller squad, a strong cup run, improvement in his all-round game and a first England call-up. His rising performance levels have not gone unnoticed by Thomas Tuchel, who names his squad next Friday.
Dewsbury-Hall says: “I know I’m the closest I have ever been now. You get a message two weeks before the squad is announced. I got one for the long list for the World Cup and I’ve had one for these next games. It’s nice. It means you are doing OK. It’s a long, long message. It tells you that it’s a legal requirement for us [the Football Association] to tell you in advance that you are in contention and to be available for these dates. It’s a good feeling because you think: ‘OK, I am close,’ but you know you have to keep pushing it to the last minute. It’s up to me. It’s got to be me that forces his hand to choose me. It’s not going to be given to me.”
Nor will anything be given to Everton, but Dewsbury-Hall and company will push on regardless.
