Dyche discusses Gordon exit and lack of replacement

Sean Dyche has discussed Anthony Gordon’s exit from Everton and the club’s failure to bring in new additions on deadline day.

Everton failed to make a signing last month despite speculation surrounding a number of players in the closing stages of the January transfer window.

The club’s failure to sign a replacement for Gordon has been criticised, after the winger was allowed to leave for Newcastle in a deal worth up to £45m last week.

Dyche was given little time to bring in additions following his appointment as Everton manager last week and has discussed the difficulty in finding a replacement for Gordon as the deadline approached.

“The timing of that was before me,’ he told a pre-match press conference ahead of Everton’s clash with Arsenal this weekend.

“Trying to react to the situation is a different ball game. The money doesn’t come in one go. Then it is about looking at the players who would fit against what we have.

“Of course there are lists. Most teams know the runners and riders in football; the odd bit of gold, you might find, but generally we know the players. You are hedging your bets that they can affect the group.”

Dyche refused to criticise the Everton board and insisted there was ‘hard work’ behind the scenes in order to get deals done. He remains confident that his current squad contains enough talent to climb out of trouble, with Everton in the Premier League’s relegation places.

“Once I was appointed, all I’ve seen is hard work. The owner, the chairman, Kev [Thelwell, director of football], myself, on the phone constantly. I was there, I can assure you.

“All parties need to say yes, you’ve got to have the finances to get into that situation. But the players have to be better than what we’ve got here; we’ve got some very talented players here. They may have lost their way, we can all debate why things aren’t going well. I’ve never signed players for the sake of it.”

Read – Dyche insists Everton have ‘desire to put things right’