Everton's Flanks in Flux: A Summer of Change

Everton’s flanks are being ripped up and rewritten. David Moyes built much of last season with Dwight McNeil on one side and Iliman Ndiaye on the other. Both could soon be gone. The wide areas, once the most settled part of his team, are now the biggest question mark.

From certainty to chaos on the wings

For months, McNeil on the right and Ndiaye on the left gave Everton a clear identity. They worked, they pressed, they carried the ball. Moyes knew exactly what he was getting.

Now? McNeil is poised to head to Crystal Palace in a revived deal that has been months in the making, while Al Hilal are circling Ndiaye. The opening day of the new season may see Everton line up with an entirely different pair of wingers.

The McNeil saga has already taken a toll. Back in February, Palace agreed a loan-to-buy move that would have turned into a £20m permanent transfer this summer. McNeil passed his medical. Bags packed, mind made up. Then the move collapsed at the last moment when the paperwork was not completed in time.

The fallout spilled beyond the pitch. On social media, McNeil’s partner Megan Sharpley delivered a blistering verdict on the process, questioning how such emotional upheaval could be brushed off just because footballers earn big money. She described being “dragged along on an emotional rollercoaster” and having something “torn away… at the last second with absolutely no explanation”. It was a rare, raw glimpse into the human cost of transfer brinkmanship.

Now the deal is back on the table, this time with Brennan Johnson involved in a swap arrangement. The stakes are higher, the reshaping of Everton’s attack more dramatic.

Grealish, uncertainty and the ghosts of last season

Jack Grealish briefly looked like the answer. On loan from Manchester City, he played 22 games, lighting up the first half of the campaign before a foot injury in January stopped him cold. His impact was clear; his future is anything but. A return remains uncertain, and Moyes cannot build a plan on “maybe”.

Without clarity on Grealish, Everton’s wide picture becomes even more fragile. The manager has to look inside his own squad, to players who have flickered rather than fully burned.

Dibling and George: talent waiting for trust

Tyler Dibling arrived from Southampton last summer for £40m, a fee that carried heavy expectation. What followed was a season spent mostly in the shadows. Just four Premier League starts. His path to the team blocked almost as soon as he walked through the door by the arrival of Grealish.

This was supposed to be his breakthrough. Instead, it became a holding pattern.

Tyrique George sits at the other end of the spectrum: lower profile, lower fee, but rising stock. Signed permanently from Chelsea for £24m after a successful loan spell on Merseyside, he made 11 appearances last season, starting only once. That was enough to catch Moyes’ eye. The manager called him an “excellent boy with an excellent work-rate” at the end of his initial four-month stay.

Those are not throwaway words from Moyes. He values work-rate almost as highly as end product. George may not yet be a guaranteed starter, but he has momentum, trust and a clear path to more minutes if McNeil and Ndiaye depart.

Merlin Rohl and the shape of what comes next

Merlin Rohl also enters the conversation. Used at times out wide, he offers another internal solution, a different profile who can plug gaps and shift roles as Moyes tweaks his shape. He is not yet the headline act on the flank, but he is firmly in the manager’s deck of cards.

Put it all together and Everton’s wide options feel less like a settled hierarchy and more like an open casting call. McNeil’s likely exit, Ndiaye’s possible move, Grealish’s uncertain future and the rise of George and Dibling point to a summer of hard decisions.

Moyes has built his career on structure and reliability, on knowing exactly what each player gives him. Now his wings are in flux. The question is no longer who starts on opening day, but what kind of Everton we will see once the dust finally settles on this rebuild out wide.