LONDON — Everton boss David Moyes expressed his disappointment at being left with a threadbare squad in the final days of the transfer window but is hopeful the Toffees have enough to avoid a relegation battle.
A late move for Monaco striker Folarin Balogun collapsed on a chaotic deadline day, while Iliman Ndiaye was sold to Manchester City.
As a result, Moyes has been left with only 18 senior outfield players, including just one recognised striker.
“Disappointed we didn’t do more business, disappointed things didn’t go our way in the end,” said Moyes at a pre-match press conference ahead of Manchester United’s visit on Sunday.
“But sometimes in football you have to live with disappointments and we will and we’ll move on,” he added according to AFP.
Monaco managing director Thiago Scuro said that Balogun pulled out of a move back to the English Premier League over his treatment by Everton.
An issue with the USA international’s medical saw Everton attempt to renegotiate the terms of a reported £40 million ($54 million) move.
However, both clubs were still prepared to progress with a deal until Balogun pulled the plug himself.
“There were lots of different bits to it. It wasn’t anybody’s fault,” Moyes added. “Ultimately it happens in football a lot. The player had a problem in his medical and that was simply it.”
Everton had been in contention to qualify for Europe until a late dip in form last season saw them finish 13th.
Moyes has repeatedly stressed his desire to get the club back into European football and said his players now had to prove the doubters wrong in the season ahead.
“I’m getting too old now to be sitting around at the bottom end. I’ve said that to the players here when I came in. The job is that we challenge as close to the top end of the league as we can,” said the former Manchester United boss.
“I’ve got to say, they’ve done a brilliant job of it last year, and I don’t think we were expected to do so well as what we’ve done.
“I’ve got to hope that we can do that again. There might not be a great expectation on us at this moment in time, but behind the scenes I’m rallying them.”
