Everton have one senior striker, and their owners will reportedly only sanction loans and frees in January

Everton have one senior striker, and the latest word on their owners is that any help for him in January may only come as a loan or a free transfer.

According to Football Insider, The Friedkin Group, who put the club up for sale on 9 October, are only interested in loan players and free transfers in the new year. That comes from unnamed sources, not from the club or the owners, and it sits awkwardly with what David Ornstein said in mid-October, when he had them ready to invest.

It isn’t a brand new claim either. The line first ran on Tuesday 27 October and was repeated on Friday 30 October. Everton were 11th when those pieces were written. They are 14th now, on 10 points from 8 games, with a trip to Newcastle still to come on Monday night.

What has been reported about The Friedkin Group’s January plans?

The first report said the owners have no plans to spend in January and would only consider frees and loans, even if Everton ended up in a relegation battle. It said David Moyes was “furious” and privately believes this squad is only a few injuries away from that kind of fight.

Friday’s version was more careful. Transfer correspondent Pete O’Rourke said on a podcast: “If that’s not the case and The Friedkin Group aren’t willing to put money in, it’s going to be a source of massive frustration to Moyes. Everything at Everton is a bit up in the air…it’s a delicate situation.”

Note the “if”. That is a warning about how Moyes would react, not a description of a row that has already happened. We can’t find anything Moyes or the club have said in public about a loans-only plan, so treat it as a report and nothing firmer.

Why doesn’t it match the Ornstein line?

Because they point in opposite directions. Speaking on a podcast in mid-October, Ornstein said the owners would be “ready to invest” in the January window, “they say”, and that a striker was something he could see coming in.

Those two words matter, because he was passing on the owners’ stated position. Two weeks later, unnamed sources are saying something much tighter. Both can’t be the full picture, and nobody outside the club will know which is right until the window opens. A club up for sale isn’t usually keen on spending big, though.

The summer doesn’t help the owners’ case. Only five Premier League clubs reportedly spent less than Everton’s £88m, and they are said to have the smallest squad in the division, with just 19 outfielders. Beto left for Fiorentina on deadline day with no striker coming the other way, as we covered in why Everton’s transfer window ended in complete chaos. Moyes said on the day the sale news broke that he had felt signs in that window, adding: “I only found out this morning myself along with everybody else. I’m a little bit surprised, but maybe not really that surprised.”

Can Thierno Barry carry this on his own?

He is doing his best. Barry crossed for Hayden Hackney’s goal and scored himself in Thursday’s 3-1 Carabao Cup win over Newcastle, which set up a quarter-final at League Two Fleetwood Town. That took him to nine goal involvements in 11 games this season, after eight in 41 last term.

Four of his goals have come in the cup, though, and the problem has never been his form so much as the numbers. One injury and Moyes has no senior centre-forward at all, with seven months of the season still to run.

Everton January striker targets: who still fits?

If the loans-and-frees line is right, the permanent targets start to look like long shots. Dinamo Zagreb’s Dion Drena Beljo, with 17 goals in 17 games, is the obvious example, because Dinamo turned down €20m bids for him in the summer. Orri Oskarsson has also been linked, and he would presumably face the same question over money.

A loan is where it gets more realistic, which is why the Marcus Rashford talk keeps coming back. He would cost no fee up front, and he can play through the middle. The obstacle is his salary, and we have already been through how the Jack Grealish row could make those wages work.

Why would Everton fans protest at Old Trafford?

Because it may be the closest they get to the owners. The same outlet reported on 28 October that some Everton fan groups are planning a protest when Roma, The Friedkin Group’s other club, visit Manchester United in the Champions League on Tuesday 3 November. Some supporters are said to be looking at buying tickets for the 8pm kick-off.

The grievance is easy to follow. Dan Friedkin has reportedly not visited Liverpool, attended an Everton match or spoken directly to Moyes since the takeover in December 2024. Roma, meanwhile, have won the Conference League and reached a Europa League final under the same owners, and reportedly spent around £104m this summer. Everton have finished 13th twice under them.

It is still only a plan, and there is no word on how many fans might go, or whether Friedkin will be there to see it.

Verdict: Everton can’t gamble on one striker until May

We wouldn’t call the loans-only plan settled. It rests on unnamed sources, it has been around for five days rather than five minutes, and the owners’ position as Ornstein relayed it was something else.

But it fits what happened in the summer, and that’s why Evertonians will believe it. A good loan striker would be a perfectly sensible answer to this, and better than sending Barry out alone until May. What Everton can’t do is reach February with the same one name on the teamsheet, whoever owns the club by then.