Everton chase £15m Dibling alternative

Quite often, it is impossible to read too much into pre-season but, if Everton manager David Moyes has learnt one thing, it is that he requires more attacking difference makers.

Across seven pre-season friendlies, the Toffees won only once, beating EFL League One outfit Port Vale, scoring just six goals across these fixtures, most notably defeated 1-0 by Roma on Saturday, which somewhat damped the grand-opener of Hill Dickinson Stadium.

So, ahead of their Premier League opener, taking on newly-promoted Leeds United at Elland Road on Monday night, Moyes has already brought in some attacking reinforcements, but now has his sights set on even more.

Everton’s need for goals and creativity

So far this summer, Everton have added striker Thierno Barry, arriving from Villarreal for a reported fee of £27m, and attacking midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who has joined from Chelsea for £25m, the pair having scored 11 and five goals for their former clubs respectively last season.

The signing all Evertonians are excited the most about, though, is the arrival of Jack Grealish, who has moved to Merseyside on a season-long loan from Manchester City, while there is an option to make the deal permanent for £50m.

Should that clause be activated, he would break Everton’s transfer record, currently held by Gylfi Sigurðsson.

So, given the huge sums of money involved, with Grealish currently earning £300k-per-week in wages too, albeit Man City will surely be subsidising a huge proportion of that, could the acquisition of a young talent prove to be the better signing?

Well, as reported by TEAMtalk, Everton are interested in signing Tyrique George from Chelsea, with alternatives to Southampton’s Tyler Dibling being considered on the right flank, having seen multiple bids rejected for the £50m teenager.

As for George, the report adds that RB Leipzig are also ‘keen’, while Chelsea are open to a sale at ‘the right price’, with the Blues’ teenager’s estimated transfer market value around £15m, as per Football Transfers.

So, could he soon swap Stamford Bridge for Bramley-Moore Dock?

What Evertonians could expect from Tyrique George

George has been on Chelsea’s books since the age of eight, making his senior debut for the Blues a year ago against Servette in the Conference League play-off round, racking up 26 senior appearances across all competitions throughout the campaign.

He scored his first goal for the club against Legia Warszawa in April, opening his Premier League account at Craven Cottage against West London rivals Fulham a few days later, before also netting against Espérance Sportive de Tunis during Chelsea’s victorious Club World Cup campaign throughout the summer.

These performances saw him named Chelsea’s Academy Player of the Season for 2025, a prestigious accolade previously awarded to Dominic Solanke, Fikayo Tomori, Mason Mount, Reece James, Conor Gallagher, Billy Gilmour, Lewis Hall and other high-profile stars since its inception a decade ago.

Ben Mattinson was certainly impressed, labelling him a “monster”, believing there is “not enough hype” about how good he is, while then-teammate Noni Madueke asserted that George’s “talent is through the roof”, adding that he is “quick and skilful” and possesses “everything to be a fantastic winger”.

So, let’s analyse his statistics in last season’s Conference League, the competition in which the vast majority of his minutes came.

As the table outlines, George was a key attacking contributor for Chelsea in the Conference League last season, ranking especially highly when it came to dribbling metrics, namely progressive carries, carries into the opposition’s penalty area and take-ons.

Thus, it is clear that George is an immensely talented teenager, one that could be available for a bargain price, given Chelsea’s constant desire to buy more and more attackers, currently chasing Alejandro Garnacho and Xavi Simons.

Everton could therefore be the team who benefit, potentially signing George at a bargain price, one that’ll prove to be their best signing of the summer in the medium to long term, even better than the arrival of Grealish.

The teenager is a player on the up and, in the right environment, could thrive, so is exactly the profile of player the Toffees need to be targeting, low cost and opportunistic, if they’re going to get back to challenging for major honours and European qualification.

Grealish, on the other hand, is a major risk, having contributed very little at Manchester City across the last two seasons, seeing a miserly 715 minutes of action in the Premier League last season, starting just seven times, scoring a solitary league goal.

Thus, while 29-year-old Grealish could have an impact in the immediate future, Everton are aiming to compete in the long-term under new owners, the Friedkins, and George, a decade his junior, could star at Bramley-Moore Dock for many seasons to come.