Season › 2024-25 › News The Rumour Mill Everton set sights on Man City pair to initiate summer rebuild Anjishnu Roy | 11/06/2025 6comments | Jump to last Everton are showing interest in James McAtee and Jack Grealish of Manchester City, according to Mark Douglas of The i Paper. The Blues are prepared for a busy summer as a massive squad rebuild will be underway following several departures. The move to Hill Dickinson Stadium as well as growing optimism following David Moyes’ return are seen as opportunities to recruit players. However, signing the Manchester City pair will be far from simple. “The i Paper understands that Everton are also very keen on Manchester City’s James McAtee, although he has plenty of options both in England and across a host of Bundesliga clubs,” the report said. “There is also understandable interest in his teammate Jack Grealish, although there remains huge uncertainty about what kind of financial commitments that would require and that is on the backburner until City’s stance becomes clearer.” The club is expected to hold a crucial recruitment meeting this week to define its targets more clearly. David Moyes is expected to play an important role along with chief executive Angus Kinnear. Transfer specialist Nick Hammond has begun his work in tandem with Kinnear and is also expected to join the meeting despite not having a permanent role in the club’s offices. “Although there are funds to significantly reshape the squad, The i Paper understands that Everton intend to once again use the loan market – and will likely utilise both of their domestic loans,” the report further stated. The Blues could also be open to two overseas loans, something which they also did last summer. Jack Harrison, Jesper Lindstrom, Armando Broja and Orel Mangala have all returned to their parent clubs following the conclusion of their loan spells at the club. Jarrad Branthwaite “not for sale”, Everton make their position clear According to the report, the Blues have also made it clear that young defender Jarrad Branthwaite is “not for sale” following interest from Chelsea in recent weeks. The 22-year-old has been on the radar of several Premier League clubs but under the new ownership, there is a strong determination to hold on to one of their key assets. Moyes has also requested the club to resist offers for Branthwaite who has a contract until 2027. The Blues rejected two offers from Manchester United for the central defender last summer. Reader Comments (6) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer () Robert Tressell 1 Posted 11/06/2025 at 11:50:38 Grealish again. We’ve done that to death. McAtee is a talented young player - probably short of ever being top class (ie good enough to be a City regular) but still very capable - and certainly the right standard for a team looking to move from relegation fight regulars to European place contenders. He’d be a popular player for us I expect. The question for me is how much does he cost (£25m?) and will he play - because we already have Alcaraz and McNeil for the most advanced position in a midfield 3. Yes we need depth too - that is vital - but how far can we stretch a limited kitty when we need to cover so many positions? We won’t be able to buy everyone we want / need - and we’ll need money to resolve the obvious gaps in the First XI at RB and Right wing / forward. Yes we might be able to plug gaps with frees and loans but still a challenge. Steve Shave 2 Posted 11/06/2025 at 12:19:41 I thought McAtee plays more on the right Robert? Maybe i'm mistaken, anyway not the electric right winger we need but a very good player. Raymond Fox 3 Posted 11/06/2025 at 12:45:28 What would you do if you were Moyes, when you know a poor next season and you could be on your bike, thats not whats required at his age he'll want three years and retire.He's going to spend as much as he possibly can, he's a canny old goat though so he will still love a bargain. I think he will do us proud.Most of these rumours are made up bunkum, just best guesses. Ian Bennett 4 Posted 11/06/2025 at 12:45:36 Most of his games are as a 10 or an 8. He has played off the right as well.Similar profile to Alcaraz, even Ndiaye. Not necessarily a bad thing, as it would bring a consistency to the team style - but we still need a proper right sided pacy threat. Would be creative, but not necessarily a 10+ goal threat.Will be interesting what happens with Mcneil if Mcatee, Alcaraz, Ndiaye and somebody else came in. Large periods on the bench I guess. Stu Darlington 5 Posted 12/06/2025 at 10:04:32 Robert@1You touch on what I believe the major situation facing the club is at the moment.We are losing a large number of players over the summer and as you say we have a very limited kitty to cover what we need.We desperately need a right back and a pacy right winger,plus a creative attacking midfielder.I guess we’ll be able to buy maybe three permanent players,but we need far more than that so will have to rely on out of contract or loan signings, the best of whom may get snapped up by other clubs.That’s a really tough ask when our aim is to be more competitive in the top half of the league and hoping to do well in domestic cup competitions as well as having ambitions to play in European competitions.It will also take time for the players to gel together as a team,making an effective pre season very important.So any money we do have needs to be spent very wisely by people who are hopefully very conscious of what is needed.In this context I find discussions of Jack Grealish and Calvert-Lewins contract totally irrelevant, for a whole host of reasons,many discussed at length on TW.Hence I fear that we will end up with a mish mash of incomers being levered into the team on a “best fit” basis. This is the situation we are facing,I think we should be worried,very worried over the next few weeks Martin Farrington 6 Posted 12/06/2025 at 10:27:42 Two non starters. Too costly. Price and wages.We need Ten players at least.How much quality will that bring with the funds available.Our scouts have mainly proved poor. Academy just isn't.But interesting to see where who will be on the pitch come kick off.According to Thelwell fans, this is good. Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. How to get rid of these ads and support TW © ToffeeWeb