Everton head into 2026-27 carrying the weight of a second consecutive 13th-place Premier League finish — a result that has sharpened questions about whether the Friedkin Group are steering the club toward genuine ambition or simply settling for stability.

Manager David Moyes deserves credit for steering the Toffees away from the relegation battles that defined recent years, yet real doubts persist over his capacity to take the club further. The tension between steadying the ship and sailing it to greater waters defines Everton's summer.

A season that promised more

Everton's 2025-26 campaign offered genuine cause for optimism at one stage. A 3-0 demolition of Chelsea on March 21 left them only three points adrift of a Champions League place. What followed was a collapse of painful proportions — just three points gathered from seven remaining matches, with injury-time goals erasing points in three straight games.

That late fade deepened uncertainty around Moyes' future at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Everton's passionate fanbase, now housed in a £750 million ground, expects European football, yet some 17 English clubs have qualified for European competition more recently than the Toffees — including Burnley, Wolves, Sunderland, and Leicester.

CEO Angus Kinnear's description of the club as