It is a summer of necessary change at Everton — some long overdue, some likely to be unexpected and some with consequences that will not instantly be clear.
From the boardroom to the dressing room, familiar faces are making way for new.
Last week Tom Davies added his name to the outgoing list, calling time on 13 years at his boyhood club.
The 24-year-old had been offered a new contract on reduced terms by Everton but decided, more for footballing reasons than financial, to seek regular first-team football elsewhere after only six league starts over the last two campaigns.
Davies is atypical among most Premier League colleagues. He spends time incognito helping to feed homeless people in Liverpool city centre less than a mile from where he lives, drives a Tesla and prefers high fashion and photography when not developing his sustainability business side hustle. Now he is strongly linked with Serie A minnows Monza.
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Hailing from the Lombardy city better known for its iconic F1 track, Monza finished 11th in Serie A last season, beating Inter, Napoli and Juventus in a memorable first top-flight campaign in 19 years. Their Stadio Brianteo may only hold 15,039 spectators, but the club — who marked International Beatles Day with an Abbey Road tribute tweet on Sunday — may actually be the perfect, left-field destination for a player whose main priority is now to play regular minutes.
And most of all to enjoy it.
⚪️🔴🎸🧑🏼🎤#ACMonza #GlobalBeatlesDay pic.twitter.com/Gvmz7mV6ic
— AC Monza (@ACMonza) June 25, 2023
Davies hinted in his heartfelt farewell to Everton that, like most supporters — he hails from Liverpool and supported the club, too, before joining as a youngster — he has found it difficult lately.
Successive relegation battles, protests and infighting between fans and the club’s board, along with the ongoing threat of FFP-breach punishment, have made Goodison Park a frequently tough place to be around; whether you’re kicking a ball or watching it.
“I’d like to share that the recent times with the club have been difficult for me,” he wrote on Instagram. “I know they have been difficult for you too. I hope that they can be sorted out as soon as possible so that we can get back to the stability we deserve.”
Underlining how the turmoil has affected everyone that cares about Everton, Seamus Coleman’s reply to Davies’ post acknowledged that it “has been a tough couple of years for us but you are one of the reasons we kept going”.
Everton will be losing more than just an experienced 24-year-old, the youngest player to wear the captain’s armband, and a midfielder Sean Dyche frequently used from the bench to help consolidate the victories which eventually just about steered the club clear of the Championship.
Coleman, who himself tries to maintain a culture aimed at avoiding mediocrity, added: “[you] always trained at 100% and set the standards.” It is no small compliment from the skipper and makes it easier to understand why director of football Kevin Thelwell wanted Davies to stay, even if he could not promise him a place in the starting XI every week.
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With Davies goes a bit of that culture. It is why Thelwell and Dyche are so keen for Coleman, also out of contract at the end of the month, to accept his own contract offer.
But why did Davies never fully build on his early promise in royal blue?
In a sense, it was not born of a lack of opportunities. In March, he passed 150 Premier League games for Everton, prompting the realisation that his much-hyped breakthrough among the first of those appearances was almost seven years ago.
Then-manager Roberto Martinez handed Davies his debut at the age of 17 in April 2016, replacing Darron Gibson in a 1-1 draw with Southampton at Goodison. His first start came a month later in the season finale at home to Norwich City under a different manager, with academy boss David Unsworth replacing the departed Spaniard for that match.
It is a wider symptom of the club’s decline in the years since that his most recent appearance, against Fulham in mid-April, came under his 11th Everton manager or head coach (including temporary appointments, with Unsworth and Duncan Ferguson both having two spells in interim charge).
For Davies, who fully burst onto the scene with that memorable goal in a 4-0 win over Manchester City under Ronald Koeman in January 2017, it must feel like a long time ago, too.
Going toe-to-toe against Yaya Toure at Goodison Park that day prompted talk of huge potential and brighter days to come. “Coming into the game, it was a test for me to see where I was as a player, coming up against him,” Davies said at the time. “What it has shown me is that, if I keep working hard, I can reach the level they are at.”
He is far from the only Everton player to not come close to doing so since.
One problem that has hampered Davies through no fault of his own is an inability to find his place, and a consistent role, under that revolving cast of managers — many of whom saw his attributes differently. He has been a holding midfielder, given a more attacking role, and played box to box. He has been in and out of the team.
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Then, when he has had chances to start, he has struggled to consistently prove he has the quality for a long-term future in Everton’s central midfield. That is the bottom line; there have been too few commanding performances. At the same time, his numbers in terms of goals and assists have been modest.
Despite the clear sadness at his departure, reflected in the genuinely affectionate comments from current and former team-mates, a change could be the making of Davies.
And if the next stop is not to be Italy, where is his level? A newly-promoted Premier League club such as Luton might benefit from his top-flight nous and lack of transfer fee, so too Sheffield United.
At Turf Moor, Vincent Kompany is building something interesting and, as a former Manchester City legend, he is likely to remember Davies’ spectacular goal in 2017. Could the Merseysider fit into the Belgian’s brand of fast-paced, attacking football?
Aspirant Championship clubs may covet his signature too, but it is for Davies to decide where he will be best challenged, cherished and more importantly consistently deployed next.
In a summer of churn at Everton, he will not be the last to leave. Dyche’s squad is beginning to look threadbare with Yerry Mina, Conor Coady, Andros Townsend, Niels Nkounkou, Asmir Begovic and Ruben Vinagre also already through the exit too.
As an Evertonian, it may give Davies cause for concern but, when it comes to his career, it is no longer his problem. All the midfielder has to focus on now is finding somewhere he can play with a smile on his face. Everton fans, while not universally heartbroken to lose him in a footballing sense, recognise they are losing a consummate professional.
Whether they’ll be smiling much next term remains, like everything connected to the club, uncertain.
(Top photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images)