Everton were at a critical point when they dismissed Sean Dyche at the beginning of a new era, a change of ownership seeing the Friedkin Group complete a protracted takeover bid at the end of 2024.
But Everton have now passed that juncture. The David Moyes era is well underway. The Toffees are on the up. Tuesday evening’s dour defeat at Molineux against Wolves in the Carabao Cup did serve as a reminder that this club have a long way to go before they reach the ground they wish to reach.
Having left Goodison Park behind and settled into a new home on Bramley Moore-dock, Everton are piecing together a new future, having shipped out much of the deadwood at the end of the 2024/25 season.
Now boasting a squad fit to compete for a top-half Premier League finish, Moyes has struck gold with additions such as Jack Grealish and the raw but talented duo Tyler Dibling and Thierno Barry.
However, Iliman Ndiaye would still stake his claim as the club’s standout forward, having been immense since arriving a little over a year ago.
Iliman Ndiaye's Everton career
Ndiaye missed a fair chunk of the Moyes era as it got going last term, sidelined for a stretch after being substituted against Liverpool in February.
He had been quite the bright spark through the dreary first half of the campaign, though, with analyst Ben Mattinson even marvelling at the “relentless” 25-year-old’s performances and claiming he “could be at least a regular squad player in every Premier League team”.
He’s certainly proved this is the case since joining the Toffees from Marseille for £15m in July 2024, scoring 13 goals in total. Be on the left or the right, he is deadly, and has started strongly this term, netting the first goal at a new home to kickstart Moyes’ first full term back in charge.
Attacking midfield
51
15 (5)
Centre-forward
49
10 (12)
Left winger
41
10 (1)
Right winger
13
3 (2)
This kind of dynamism has borne Everton through a dark patch and into the light. He is the real deal, and quite comfortably one of the most important players on the books.
Pocketing £45k per week, Ndiaye is not one of the club’s top earners, and he will surely expect that to change soon. Indeed, technical director Angus Kinnear will need to offer the versatile winger improved terms if he hopes to stave off the suitors that will come for him – and sooner rather than later at that.
Especially when considering there are other, less reliable members of the Toffees fold who earn a prettier penny than him.
Everton must cash in on high-earning star
Moyes and Everton and TFG did well to free themselves of some high-earning stragglers this summer. Abdoulaye Doucoure, for example, had been a stalwart across his years at Goodison Park, but could no longer justify his £130k-per-week salary and left, relocating to the Middle East.
This isn’t quite the same for Vitalii Mykolenko, who remains a part of the Everton first team, but his sale might be one that Moyes wants to green-light in the coming months.
The Ukrainian has only played two times in the Premier League so far this season, and he was directly at fault for one of Wolves’ goals during that 3-2 win at Molineux in August, with the Liverpool Echo frustrated with the left-back’s efforts and branding him with a 4/10 match rating.
With his attacking play leaving plenty to be desired and a problem with maintaining availability, Mykolenko might be worth selling in 2026, especially since Adam Aznou, 19, has been welcomed to fold with a weight of expectation.
He’s been hailed in the past for his “incredible” mentality by former boss Frank Lampard, but Mykolenko leaves too much to be desired.
James Garner has also deputised commendably at left-back across the opening weeks of the season, with Mykolenko indeed sidelined by injury.
As Everton continue to develop under Moyes’ wing, shaping into a team fit for purpose on a higher rung of the Premier League ladder, so do some fans clamour for a more attack-minded full-back.
Well, they have one in Aznou, who had even been hailed as a “generational” talent by football scout Jacek Kulig in the build-up to his switch from Bayern Munich to Merseyside.
As the Morocco international goes from strength to strength at Everton, so too do Mykolenko’s chances of falling down the pecking order increase.
Given that a €30m bid from Napoli was turned down during the summer, senior Blues officials may come to regret not taking the money and running, for if Mykolenko’s injury problems persist, there’s every chance he will be offloaded for a smaller fee down the line.
Former Everton scout Bryan King has also chipped in on the situation, saying after the Liverpool loss, “He was injured during pre-season, and that’s never a good sign for a player.”
He did acknowledge that the 26-year-old wasn’t the only poor performer during that defeat, but Sofascore record that he lost five of six contested duels and gave the ball away 13 times. Hardly convincing.
And neither was it an illustration of the full-back’s rather lofty £58k-per-week salary, placing him above Ndoaye on the wage bill.
Mykolenko might be a solid defender, but his track record on the fitness front and persistent struggles to provide attacking support that will be needed as Everton continue to evolve mean that change might be afoot.
He is out of contract at the end of the season, and the club might just come to regret not cashing in for a hefty sum while they could, especially if he plays a peripheral role throughout.
Whether the club can fetch a sum for him in January remains to be seen, but with contract talks slated for deeper into the season, there may yet be time to cash in for a figure not too dissimilar than that which was offered by Napoli a few months ago.
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