
David Moyes admitted Everton were “not ready to start the Premier League season” just over two weeks away from the big kick-off.
Moyes has repeatedly highlighted the Toffees’ sluggish transfer window as a reason for concern and he again called for urgency after the 2-1 defeat to West Ham in the Summer Series in Chicago overnight.
Idrissa Gana Gueye put Moyes’ men in front but a mistake from new goalkeeper Mark Travers enabled Lucas Paqueta to equalise and substitute Niclas Fullkrug netted the winner for the Hammers midway through the second half.
Moyes insists he was not concerned by the result – or the defeats to Bournemouth and Blackburn and the draw with Accrington that preceded it – but he is growing increasingly frustrated with a lack of progress on player recruitment.
Everton have signed four players so far this summer – Travers, midfielder Charly Alcaraz, striker Thierno Barry and left-back Adam Aznou – but Moyes wants at least five more.
He said: “We’re not ready to perform well enough in this tournament. We’re not ready to start the Premier League season.
“I’m not overly concerned [by the results] because I don’t have the players which I need and what I want.
“And obviously, we’re up against it right from the start. We knew before we came [to the US] we were going to be really up against it. So, it was never going to be us coming here and winning [games].
“I think our attacking play at the moment has been really poor. I think we’ve not created enough chances anywhere.
“I think the way we’re playing in that area of the pitch at the moment has been really below par. But we’ve made individual mistakes which has shown us up for that as well.
“It stood out tonight, some goalkeeping mistakes. At the weekend we made a couple of mistakes against Bournemouth.”
Next up for Everton is a clash with Moyes’ former side Manchester United in Atlanta on Sunday.
By then, the Scot will hope to have bolstered a squad that he believes is lacking in numbers.
He added: “There’s a bigger turnover of players now at clubs. They used to say, ‘Hey, let’s sign maybe three or maybe four players tops every season’.
“But because of the way the bigger squads and maybe boys who not getting a game, they want to go, you find that there’s a bigger revolving door of players. So a lot of clubs will be signing quite big numbers, which they are now, more than what was done in the past if you look at it.
“We wanted to have the players in a lot sooner, especially coming here [to the US], I knew we were going to be incredibly short.”
Time is running out for Moyes and Everton, who open their Premier League campaign at newly promoted Leeds on August 18.
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2025-07-31 10:49:06