Time to cash in — The players Everton should sell this summer | OneFootball

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There is plenty of focus, and fairly so, on the players Everton need to bring in this summer, as the Toffees continue their squad rebuild.

But, there is still the need to be sensible with finances. While there is no real way of knowing the club’s exact budget, it is expected that Everton will be spending around about what they did last year — roughly, in the £120M region.

However, sales will be required to help fund the kitty and possibly add to it. So, here is who I’d be looking to move on for a fee this summer.

Just as a note, Idrissa Gana Gueye has not been included in this list since, if he does depart, it will be on a free transfer.

DWIGHT MCNEIL

Let’s start with the simple one.

McNeil should have gone in January, and if not for a last-gasp change of heart from Crystal Palace, he would have been playing for the Eagles.

There were a couple of decent performances from McNeil, particularly in the late winter/early spring, but it is time to move him on. He will always get credit for helping Everton through tough times, though the club need much better.

TIM IROEGBUNAM

The 2025-26 season was a generally positive one for Iroegbunam, whose development has continued.

However, with just a year left on his deal (albeit Everton do hold an option), I believe it’s time to really consider whether Iroegbunam is really the calibre of midfielder Everton require.

Everton can’t carry a bloated squad. They seemingly want to bring in 2 central midfielders, albeit that could depend on Gueye’s future.

Harrison Armstrong needs minutes and Merlin Röhl has only just signed on a permanent deal following the activation of the clause in his loan move, and Iroegbunam’s value is probably at its highest right now.

If a bid upwards of £15M were to come in, then I would be cashing in.

NATHAN PATTERSON

Injuries have severely hampered Patterson’s Everton career, and the right-back has been unfortunate in that regard.

Has he ever been great when he has played? Not particularly. Then again, I do struggle to think of matches in which he has been absolutely terrible, too.

However, it’s time for Everton and Patterson to part ways. Hopefully, the Scotland international gets a chance to shine in the World Cup, and that could help keep his value high enough for the Toffees to recoup a decent enough fee.

MICHAEL KEANE

It has gone under the radar a bit, but when Keane was awarded a new deal earlier this year, it was not Everton simply activating the existing clause in his contract. Instead, they offered the 33-year-old completely fresh terms.

In my opinion, that sums up what is still wrong with Everton.

I have no issues with Keane as a professional. I also do not have a problem with him staying on as a fourth-choice centre-back. But if he is playing 30+ games, then is it any surprise that the team ends up finishing in mid-table?

The one positive is that Keane now has a couple of years to run and, as such, could actually attract a small fee should a club be interested. And if there is any interest, then I would like to see Everton act decisively and realise they need a better, younger option to come in and help revitalise a struggling defence.

CARLOS ALCARAZ

I’m a fan of Alcaraz, but it doesn’t seem Moyes is as keen on the Argentine.

The playmaker can be erratic on the ball, and compared to the usual cool and composure of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Alcaraz can definitely be found wanting in that department.

Moyes could have made more use of him, but 1 goal and 1 assist, even if his game time was limited, isn’t good enough from the 23-year-old. While I would not necessarily be rushing to push Alcaraz out of the door, given Everton only paid £12M for him, then flipping him should a decent offer come in probably makes sense, albeit the Toffees would then need to add another attacking midfielder into the mix.

ILIMAN NDIAYE*

Ndiaye’s name is asterisked because I do not wish to sell him.

The Senegal attacker is one of Everton’s best players, and he is capable of magical moments and far too often, the burden has been placed squarely on his shoulders.

However, Ndiaye — according to reports — has so far elected not to agree to Everton’s contract offers, and whatever that is down to, it means the club will have to consider their options should a big enough bid come in.

Personally, I’d be looking for no less than £60M, given the current market for attackers and the fact that Ndiaye has 3 years left on his contract.

If an offer of that size were to arrive, though, then I would probably shake hands and look to reinvest those funds into players who may possibly provide more in terms of output, even if they are not quite as entertaining as Ndiaye at his best.

Andrew Ellams 1 Posted 09/06/2026 at 11:45:36

We need to be very careful who leaves this summer because the squad is paper thin and there isn't going to be a budget for wholesale replacements.

Dave Lynch 3 Posted 09/06/2026 at 12:22:38

Alcaraz is light-years ahead of McNeil, he should be kept.

Moyes should be on a game by game contract, he wouldn't last till half-time in my book.

Rob Halligan 4 Posted 09/06/2026 at 12:26:19

Whilst I agree about Patterson not exactly setting the world alight during his time with us, should he be sold, it would leave us with no recognised right-back on the books.

We all want Jake O'Brien playing in his natural position ie centre-back, not as a stand-in right-back. Same goes with Jimmy Garner. Also, should either or both O'Brien and Garner be out injured, then who steps in?

I would be keeping Patterson as late as possible in the transfer window, in the hope that we have signed at least one decent right-back.

5 Posted 09/06/2026 at 12:45:20

Rob 4

Surely the criteria for keeping Patterson shouldn't be what do we do if O,Brien and Garner get injured. I know it may be hard for some of our younger posters to comprehend this, but back in the day we had a reserve team and when a first team player was injured we would bring in the guy playing in his position. But the idiots running the game decided they didnt want to have a reserve league were those trying to impress the manager played in what was called the Central league. Where all the top teams had a reserve team so you had internationals coming back from injury play and there would be some youngsters. But now we have a 1st team consisting of 26 players, and behind that is an U21 side. But the step up from U21 to 1st team is massive hence why so few youngsters come through.

Raymond Fox 6 Posted 09/06/2026 at 12:58:29

Firstly it depends if Moyes is our manager or not. If he is, he obviously doesn't fancy Patterson of Alcaraz so we might as well sell those two. Then we have the head scratchers of Dibling and Aznou, are they going to be good enough or not? It seems Ndiaye - I can never remember how to spell his name- could be on his bike or maybe not, he deserves a better contract that's for sure.

It must be a nightmare trying to put a really good squad together, some players want to wait till the last minute before they will sign and if you sell you need to replace with better or at least equal which is far from easy.

John Collins 7 Posted 09/06/2026 at 13:02:47

Imo.

Three out of the current back four will start our first game next season.

If we sign Hackney, it could be 4 current squad players will start the first game in the back four

Adrian Phillips 8 Posted 09/06/2026 at 13:06:34

Paul Hewitt 9 Posted 09/06/2026 at 13:07:52

I see crystal palace are willing to pay the asking price for hackney, while we try to get a few quid knocked off. Nothing ever changes.

Of course, we have to look at the manager and his attitude to some players, who could actually be quite good with a different manager/coach.

Of the mentioned ones, I put Alcaraz as the one who fits in to this category. OK, if we have only pds120m to spend, let's look at how much we can collect from McNeill, Keane, Patterson and Iroegbunam. I'm leaving Ndiaye aside for now, as he is a different case entirely.

Let's say, we get an average of 10m for each of the other 4 of them - so 40m (might be on the bright side of life to expect this). But leaves us with 160m Sell Barry as IMO he will never fit truly in to the role in the EPL. Say, 15mil. So the kitty becomes 175m. Keep Beto. But we need another striker, too. Conundrum - as good as he is (and I really do like his skills) does Ndiaye fit in to our current needs? Mmmmm! difficult question. If we decide he is really good but will not suit our current "needs" we have maybe a further 75m - kitty becomes 250m.

Big question (let's be positive on this). To build a squad capable of a top 6 which players or (type of) would each of you all suggest we should buy to fill this budget.

To start this off, I would suggest we keep George and do not sign Grealish. Other than this there are many of you on here that have better knowledge than I do with players from other teams/countries etc.

Adrian Phillips 11 Posted 09/06/2026 at 13:18:35

You are worried about a bloated squad? Are we talking about the same team? We have the smallest squad in the league; we have no depth and backup to cover injuries and afcon which were major issues affecting performance last season. In fact we struggled at times to put a bench together with Moyes resorting to 2 backup goalies for some matches, albeit he was making a point to evertons hierarchy. It is fine to sell if we have replacements. But with a shoestring budget, an indifferent transfer record and kinnear flirting (so far with very limited success) to emulate a dortmund or a brighton model, we need to be very careful.