Everton are not the force they once were, but with David Moyes back in the dugout, they are making headway at the first stage of the 2026/27 campaign.

This summer's disastrous transfer window doesn't appear to have derailed Moyes' project, with Everton having enjoyed an unbeaten start to the Premier League season.

However, tougher tests lie ahead, and the leadership team will be acutely aware that their threadbare squad must survive the winter until, perhaps, technical director Angus Kinnear is free to make some signings during the January transfer market.

Sadly, Everton have regressed - on paper. Iliman Ndiaye has signed for Manchester City in a £65m deal, and while Everton failed to secure a number of deadline-day deals in attack, days earlier, they fumbled Richarlison, and that could prove the costliest of them all.

Why Richarlison would have been perfect for Everton

Everton arguably drew the best form from Richarlison across his five-year stint on Merseyside, then selling him to Tottenham Hotspur for £60m in 2022.

The 29-year-old has ebbed and flowed along with the rest of them in north London, but he is now ostracised from Roberto De Zerbi's squad, cut adrift after inflammatory comments and a push to leave the club this summer.

In August, it looked like Everton might secure an exciting deal to bring him back, but that fell through, with the parties unable to agree to terms.

His mercurial nature, knowledge of the club and the fanbase and how to thrive as the spearhead, and his ability to score goals with comparative consistency, would have been perfect for an Everton side who only have Thierno Barry as an option at No. 9 this season.

However, there are different routes Moyes can now explore, one of which being the

Moyes could unleash his new Richarlison

Everton might not have signed Richarlison, and they might have sold most of their attacking work-force, but there are contingency options for Moyes to consider.

Brennan Johnson is one of them. The summer signing from Crystal Palace might have struggled to impress so far, but his killer instincts in the box have been showcased before. At Tottenham, during the 2024/25 campaign during which he scored the winning goal against Manchester United in the Europa League final, Johnson scored 18 goals and supplied seven assists in all competitions.

Principally playing off the right, Johnson is dynamic and has been fielded across a variety of positions in the past. He can do a job as a left-sider, but 20 goals and five assists over 55 career appearances as a centre-forward suggests he could do a job there for Everton.

It's hardly a big claim to assert that, right now, Johnson is not as good a player as Richarlison, but he has shown in the past an ability to score and assist consistently in the Premier League.

The past two years have been unkind to the Wales international, who will need to rediscover his Midas touch in the danger area if he is going to start offering tangible results for an Everton team who need every last resource they can muster.

In the Premier League this season, Johnson has undoubtedly left a lot to be desired after switching with Dwight McNeil in a deal believed to be worth in the region of £21m. However, though he doesn't duel and dribble with much intensity, he has completed the one dribble he has attempted thus far, and he has also won 50% of his ground battles, averaging out at two per game.

This is to say that more impetus and energy from the Welshman could bear dividends in his fight for resurgence, and if he can bring such an incisive battling mentality to the front of the field, he could emerge as Everton's new Richarlison, with the Brazilian attacker also confident across a range of offensive roles.

Johnson has shown in the past that he knows how to score goals at the highest level. Most of his finishes are from close range, a product of good timing and anticipation.

He might not have as much flair as someone such as Richarlison, but the summer recruit could prove a difference-maker over the coming weeks and months, should Moyes be bold enough to make this tweak.