Ashley Young 18

Ashley Young was the first signing Everton made after Sean Dyche took over after he completed the formalities on a free transfer in July 2023.

The veteran defender, who left Aston Villa the month before as a free agent when his contract there expired, signed an initial one-year deal after successfully coming through a medical and flew out to join his new team-mates at the Blues' summer training camp in the Alps.

Young, who turned 38 just days previously, had a matching offer from newly-promoted Luton Town but opted to join Everton where he promised to add depth and experience in the right-back and right-wing positions.

The Stevenage-born player began his career at Watford and played 157 League games in his first spell with Villa between 2007 and 2011 but he is most known for almost a decade at Manchester United where he made 261 appearances in all competitions, scoring 19 times.

He was also capped 39 times by England and spent a year in Serie A with Internazionale between 2020 and 2021, playing another 59 matches and weighing in with 5 goals.

A somewhat polarising figure at times, perhaps because of Dyche's preference for Young's experience over the youth of Nathan Patterson and some occasional mistakes and lapses in judgement that belied his advanced years, Young eventually justified his signing by adding that depth and versatility that Everton's small squad needed, particularly towards the end of the season when all of Seamus Coleman, Patterson and Vitalii Mykolenko were absent through injury.

With transfer funds at a premium and a number of players departing in the summer of 2024 when their contracts expired, the decision was taken to offer Young a new one-year contract which he accepted and signed in late June to take him almost to his 40th birthday in the Blues' colours.

Despite rampant criticism of his inclusion in Sean Dyche's team, Young would go on to defy the critics and show the benefit of his experience as part of Everton's increasingly robust defence as the shut-out to often deny even the top teams any goals.

FactFile