Greg O’Keeffe has claimed on the All Together Now podcast that Everton’s dressing room atmosphere will be very split this pre-season.
Despite a disastrous time of things last season, the mood within the Everton squad and fanbase was one of joy and delight come the end of the season, as people could tell from the pitch invasion as they managed to maintain their Premier League status.
However, now that things have settled down over the summer, the reality will be starting to kick in for some fans and players as it’s now into the second week of July and the Toffees have signed one free agent and lost Richarlison.
O’Keeffe believes that some players will be happy about going into the new season, while others will be thinking about their next move.
He said (16:55): “I think there’s probably still a little bit of a mixed vibe at Finch Farm. Generally, footballers are, by and large, quite a resilient bunch maybe when you’re in the thick of it; you just get on with it to a degree.
“They’ve had amazing holidays on 12-star luxury yachts or whatever they’ve been doing and are back at work with a tan and the possibility to kick a ball around the pitch and see their mates, I don’t think there’ll be any weeping, gnashing or fretting.
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“It might be different for players who really really feel and are the club like Seamus Coleman and Anthony Gordon – they’ll be looking at it going well, where’s the new players? We’ve lost Richarlison.
“Gav mentioned earlier, you probably have some players still there, Yerry Mina and Gomez of course, who feel as if it’s time for them to move on.”
TIF Thoughts on Everton’s current situation…
As O’Keeffe spoke about, some players that love the club and feel part of it may well be slightly worried heading back into pre-season thinking the squad has got worse by losing Richarlison, so inevitably, another relegation battle could be just around the corner.
It’s no surprise though because considering they’ve just pocketed £60m from the sale of Richarlison, the Toffees are being linked with players that have not really set the Premier League alight in the form of Morgan Gibbs-White, Keane Lewis-Potter and Billy Gilmour, so it’s certainly going to be interesting how the rest of the summer window materialises.