17/03/2025 20comments  |  Jump to last

The relentless Rumour Mill continues to churn away despite the opening of the transfer window still months away.  One name that seems to crop up persistently is West Bromwich Albion winger Tom Fellows. According to journalist Alan Nixon, Everton have ‘kept up’ their interest in the Championship star.

Fellows, 20, has impressed in the Championship this season. His pace, dribbling ability, and attacking instinct make him a promising prospect. Reports suggest he is open to a move to the Premier League, especially if West Brom fail to secure promotion. The Baggies currently hold sixth place, but the play-off race remains wide open, with Bristol City and Middlesbrough in close pursuit. If West Brom miss out, Fellows could be available for a reasonable fee.

Fellows is still in the early stages of his development. However, his ability to take on defenders, his direct style of play, and his positional versatility suggest he could transition well into Moyes’ system. Everton’s struggles in wide areas have been evident this season, and adding a player like Fellows, who is eager to prove himself, could provide the team with a valuable option.

Everton’s scouting department will apparently continue to monitor Fellows for the rest of the campaign, assessing his performances and progress. While there is no indication of a formal bid yet, interest in the player is believed by some observers to be strong.

While some may argue that Fellows is unproven at the Premier League level, he could be the type of signing that pays off in the long term. A relatively low-cost, investment in a player eager to prove himself on the biggest stage, in a team revitalised by the astute management of David Moyes, moving into a fantastic new stadium at the start of next season.

 

Reader Comments (20)

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Si Pulford
1 Posted 17/03/2025 at 07:59:52
He’s the type of player I’d like us to be looking at. His form has dipped since the new year but that may be a blessing in disguise in terms of a reasonable sum. Signing players from the championship used to be tried and tested but you can now buy full Internationals from other leagues around Europe for less than some of the feed the better championship (especially English) command.
At 20 he’s perfect for me.
John Raftery
2 Posted 17/03/2025 at 09:19:52
I am very impressed by another player currently playing in the Championship. His name is Harrison Armstrong.

He was Man of the Match last week and followed that with a cracking goal at Plymouth on Saturday.

Mike Price
3 Posted 17/03/2025 at 09:45:17
He's a decent player but doesn't have pace.

We need fast players; that has to be a prerequisite.

Danny O'Neill
4 Posted 17/03/2025 at 09:54:53
I don't know enough about the player to judge.

I agree with John. Armstrong impressed me in the few cameos we saw of him. Hopefully the loan will have benefited him and he can rejoin the Everton first team squad for next season. I'd like to see Dixon there too.

Robert Tressell
5 Posted 17/03/2025 at 10:32:37
Mike, I agree we need pace.

Mixed reports about Fellows having pace - and I can't comment particularly.

He does have excellent assist stats in a very strong league - and will be pretty cheap too by all accounts (under £20m). But if he really is lacking in pace he'll struggle to have an impact in the Premier League (as per Harrison).

As for Armstrong and Dixon, they need games. No point keeping them in the squad next season to play fewer than, say, 5 games (which might be 10 minutes here or there or cup games against crap opposition).

Much better for them to be on loan in the Championship or Eredivisie etc playing 38 or more games.

Sam Hoare
6 Posted 17/03/2025 at 10:47:16
Fellows would seem like quite a Moyes-esque player. Talented for sure and with room to improve still but perhaps unlikely to reach the very top levels. He has a little pace from what I've seen but not the searing kind that forces defenses back… more McNeil than Bowen.

Unlike McNeil, he looks to be pretty ambidextrous which is useful and though mainly a right winger can do it on the left too which is useful.

I'd hope we might aim a little higher (Nuamah for example has higher potential in my opinion) but for around £15M Fellows's versatility and experience in English football could make him appealing to Moyes.

Though I really hope it won't be Moyes who's in charge of all transfer decisions. Seeing how limited West Ham were this weekend after some serious spending under Moyes was not a great advert for his recent recruitment credentials.

Danny O'Neill
7 Posted 17/03/2025 at 13:23:09
Good post Sam although the experience in English football doesn't bother me. It's not important in my view.

For some it doesn't work out either football wise or struggling to settle, but that could be said about any transfer. The plenty of examples of players coming from abroad who have been a success, as much as those who haven't been.

Look at the Swedish lad for Newcastle.

Tony Abrahams
8 Posted 17/03/2025 at 14:23:34
Moyes doesn’t fill me with great confidence with regards signing players either Sam, but surely we have got to give the man a chance 🤷‍♂️

Bowen was always a player worth taking a punt on so maybe Fellows, is another? The player who really impressed me on Saturday was the number 14 - Kudos, another player who was heavily linked with Everton, after we ran out of money!

Ian Bennett
9 Posted 17/03/2025 at 14:29:55
No one really knows who was buying players at West ham. Was it the board, director of football or Moyes. Just as much of a mess as ours.

Kudus, Soucek, Paqueta and Bowen were good signings, but it looks like they all had a go at spending the Rice money...

Robert Tressell
10 Posted 17/03/2025 at 15:16:49
Moyes has a long track record of spending a small budget well; and a more generous budget poorly.

Big signings cost £65m to £125m these days. These are out of reach.

This is Rich 6 territory plus Newcastle.

The richest 9 (which includes Newcastle, Villa and West Ham) have all been spending in the £40m to £65m bracket too.

If we attempted to sign players in this category, we would just end up with very overpriced average players - as we saw in the early Moshiri years.

It's more likely we'll spend money on mostly cheap (ie sub £20m) with possibly a few mid price players (£20m to £40m) of the likes that Brentford, Forest and Bournemouth have been stocking up on.

If that's right, Moyes will probably help spend fairly well (although in fairness very much in line with what Thelwell was doing anyway).

Tony Abrahams
11 Posted 17/03/2025 at 15:36:21
Which bracket tends to be the most rewarding Robert?

Good players cost a lot of money but given the choice, I’d much prefer us to sign a few hungry ones who have both the willpower and the character to succeed🤞

Robert Tressell
12 Posted 17/03/2025 at 15:53:39
It depends almost entirely on what our net spend budget is Tony.

That sets the tone for the club's ambition.

You can see that in the sub £20m category you can still buy some "ready made" good but not great players - players who might be comfortably good enough for the Prem, but not (yet) good enough for the European places or Champions League.

In the level above (£20m to £40m) where (taking account of inflation in transfer fees) Moyes did much of his shopping first time around, you can get players who are good enough for European football but maybe peak below Champions League level.

You can buck the trend a bit. Indeed I'm optimistic that Alcaraz offers a much higher ceiling than his price tag suggests. But it's a real challenge to do that consistently.

You can also buck the trend by buying high potential players age 16 to 21 - but have to accept these are hit and miss - and require patience and well structured development.

Raymond Fox
13 Posted 17/03/2025 at 15:56:08
You need to watch players for a number of full games to get a proper Idea of their ability. Off the clips he seems nippy enough, they are all his best bits though.

Having said that the very best players stand out instantly, but really we are not in that price bracket, we are shopping in the almost good enough for the champion league level as usual.

If Moyes cant recognise a good player by now I'll eat my hat, so I would trust him to find the right players.
I also think we are much more attractive to players now with new owners and a brand new stadium full of 50 thousand fans.

Derek Knox
14 Posted 17/03/2025 at 16:50:46
A lot of these so called £65M+ players haven't started out like that, I am a firm believer that bargains are there to be had if spotted early enough. I would put Moyes, or his contacts, amongst the best at spotting these sort of upcoming stars.

Of course other scouts are out there too for other Clubs, so there is little chance of having first dibs !

On the obverse side of the coin, how many very highly priced players turn out to be flops ?

Sam Hoare
15 Posted 17/03/2025 at 17:00:53
Tony@8, of course, I'm not writing Moyes off at all but I do think the game has moved on since managers were given control of recruitment and for good reasons. As Ian@9 points out he may not have been responsible for the poorer West Ham buys but certainly during his time there they spent alot of money without getting much better.

I firmly believe that our best way forward is a structured approach like Robert T alludes to with a DOF or sporting director overseeing the style and direction of the club so that any managerial change does not require a reset. This is broadly speaking what Brighton, Brentford, Bournemouth and Palace have done to good effect.

Lets see who else comes in and how we spend out money this summer.

Robert Tressell
16 Posted 17/03/2025 at 17:14:35
Derek # 14, absolutely. I remember watching a load of footage of a Swedish Eritraen 16 year old looking raw but talented in the Swedish league. He ends up at Dortmund for a then chunky fee for a 16/17 year old. Goes on loan to the Netherlands and does well. Surplus to requirements at Dortmund he ends up at Sociedad and does pretty well - clearly has lots of talent but end product unclear. Newcastle then buy him, Isak, for £65m.

We (like other clubs) had the option to buy when he left Sweden and when he left Dortmund.

The only way to get these players on the cheap is to take a risk on young Champions League talent. You have to also buy at decent volume because many just won't make it.

There are so many outrageously gifted teenagers who end up never making it.

Moyes has no track record with this at all. There might be one or two but I can't think of a single player he has bought in this sort of category.

Maybe Baines and Fellaini but these were much more established players when Moyes bought them. Stones (his last ever signing for us) is probably the best example.

Robert Tressell
17 Posted 17/03/2025 at 17:17:21
Sam - absolutely. And because of our financial situation we often point to what clubs like Bournemouth, Brighton and Brentford do in terms of youth plsyer recruitment and development - but the RS, Chelsea, City, Arsenal etc etc are all at it and in probably even greater volumes.
John Chambers
18 Posted 17/03/2025 at 17:25:05
Before we look at players from outside the club I think now we are safe, I know mathematically we could be caught but it’s not realistic, we should look at some of the existing options. O’Brien has shown that we had talent at the club but we’re not using it. So let’s use the next few weeks to try a few things out. Let’s pair Branthwaite and O’Brien, let’s give Patterson and Dixon some games, try Garner, Iregbounam and Alcaraz a go in centre mid, give Chermiti a few starts.
I’m not sure what else may be possible with any of the U21’s but let’s at least have a look at some options to help shape the summer rebuild
Jay Harris
19 Posted 17/03/2025 at 17:37:47
The real secret to successful recruiting is having suitably qualified people out there identifying the up-and-coming talent that would succeed at PL levels.

The unfortunate thing is other clubs have already started down this route, so we are well behind the likes of Chelsea, Brighton etc. and it is ok for Moyes to rubber stamp new recruits, but he can't be out there identifying players given the demands of managing the first team.

Personal opinion is there are some good players going down this season who would be less of a risk than the likes of Fellows.

Hutchison and Delap at Ipswich. Kyle Walker Peters from Southampton, Soumare, Ndidi and Daka at Leicester to name but a few.

I also have high hopes for some of our academy to come through like Omar Benjamin and Martin Shariff.

Jonathan Oppenheimer
20 Posted 17/03/2025 at 17:49:44
John (18), in theory I agree, but the problem is our next 5 matches are against the top teams in the league, so putting new guys out there or trying new formations in those matches can backfire. You can erode confidence, make players with potential look awful, and hurt team morale if it leads to us getting picked apart.

That said, I’d very much like to see Alcaraz, Patterson, Iroebugnam, and Chermiti get a run of games to see what they’re capable of. Just want to make sure we’re not setting them up for failure.


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