The start of September and the catastrophe that was the end of the summer transfer window feels like a lifetime ago, but this doesn’t mean it doesn’t still resonate as a monumental landmark in not just Everton’s season, but their near future.

Following the Toffees’ first loss of the season to Chelsea, there are now signs that the fears a lot of fans had following that awful early September night are starting to come true.

David Moyes’ men picked up a couple of decent results following deadline day to successfully quiet some of the discontent, but in truth, the Blues have been riding their luck at times in the current term, and it very much seems as though that has now run out. The genuine concern is what we have left in the tank – even at this early stage in the season.

At the time, the mood was one of “survive until January and restock then” – a mission that started well, but the wheels are just beginning to loosen, and with the Friedkins announcing their impending departure, that adds a most unwelcome ingredient of uncertainty and almost definitely prolongs the agonising wait for reinforcements.

But before we look into the future, let’s assess where we sit now following a deserved first defeat of the campaign.

Stretched to Breaking Point at the Back

Worryingly, the spine of the team is already showing signs of weakness, wear and tear and increasing vulnerability. New right-back Ainsley Maitland-Niles (the only one at the club after years of fruitless searching) has extinguished a cautiously optimistic start with some patchy showings in the last two games, with the ex-Lyon man responsible for both of Hull’s goals last weekend and Chelsea’s first on Sunday.

Additionally, besides the goals themselves, it is clear to see that opposition teams have pinpointed the full-back as a weakness and are getting at him at every opportunity, with a lot of the danger Everton have to see off coming down their right side.

At left-back, we have already seen what happens when Vitalii Mykolenko (the only fit left-back at the club) is injured, as Jarrad Branthwaite has to shift across to that side and Michael Keane and James Tarkowski as a centre-half pairing should not be seen in the top-flight in 2026-27.

Furthermore, Mykolenko himself is hardly an elite left-back and Evertonians have been desiring an upgrade for many years – the fact he is the only left-back on the books, and the Blues are so reliant on him, makes for grim reading.

Overworked in Midfield

In the midfield, there seems to be an overreliance on James Garner and Harrison Armstrong as a double pivot, and the energy they put into games, often misplaced and wasted, means that in a long old season they are likely to suffer serious injury or get burnt out in double-quick time.

The Christian Norgaard experiment started dreadfully as the Dane had an appalling cameo against Chelsea, and while grace must be given due to his lack of match time in the last year or so and no pre-season to add to that, the initial eye test didn’t yield positive results.

Meanwhile, after a positive start to his Everton career, Hayden Hackney seems to be something of a forgotten man on Merseyside, and when eventually and inevitably needed could have been out in the cold for too long to come in and make the desired impact.

Little Joy in the Final Third

The flanks are also an area for concern, despite the Blues actually having gone into the market on both sides of the pitch in the summer. Brennan Johnson is not looking anywhere near a replacement for Iliman Ndiaye, while the more time that goes by, the more it looks as though the acquisition of Jack Grealish was made with both panic and sentiment in mind, rather than cold logic.

A penny for the thoughts of Tyrique George, who had started the season as the Toffees’ best player and is now watching Grealish offer nothing beyond experience and reputation on that side.

Finally, up top, it’s the age-old problem. Thierno Barry has no doubt improved on where he was this time last year, but a prolific Premier League striker he simply isn’t. And no amount of inspirational Instagram reels or necessitated fan backing is going to change that.

A Shopping List With Nowhere to Shop

All of this makes for a nasty-looking brew. And that is before you stir in the complicated position the Friedkins have left the club in.

In the cold light of day, we have a manager whose future is shrouded in uncertainty, and are desperate for a right-back, a left-back, two centre-backs, a number six, an athletic left-sided player, a replacement for Ndiaye and a striker, if not two.

This would all be a pretty daunting, overloaded and unrealistic shopping list even if January was a viable option for the Blues to start a spending spree.

However, the announcement of the Friedkins’ pending departure has thrown a spanner in the works massively, as the waiting game doesn’t just extend to January anymore – they are incredibly unlikely to want to invest in a club they are imminently about to leave.

So, with Everton’s run of luck and invention to acquire results while not playing well running out, the wish list growing by the day and the means to go window shopping seemingly non-existent, it very much appears that all the fears Evertonians had after that dark deadline day night are coming true – and the rest.