# What the Everton dressing room is feeling after transfer window

**By:** Joe Thomas  
**Published:** 2026-09-11T16:00:00Z  
**Source:** [Liverpool Echo](https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/what-everton-dressing-room-feeling-34602320)

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Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, voted into the squad's senior leadership team this summer, believes Everton's players can overcome transfer window disappointment to deliver progress for deserving supporters

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jack Grealish during the Everton training session at Finch Farm on Wednesday this week (Image: Tony McArdle - Everton FC/Everton FC via Getty Images)

The Everton dressing room is fuelled by a desire to prove doubters wrong and show the world the talent within it can shine through.
The players are well aware transfer deadline day could have gone better - they, too, were watching the drama unfold across 24 hours that saw the club bring in Jack Grealish and Ainsley Maitland-Niles but lose four others, including star man Iliman Ndiaye, and fail to sign Falorin Balogun.
But for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, one of the leading voices in the squad, the message is clear: The season did not end on September 2.
Charged by the belief European qualification could still be possible, he said: "I’ve seen all of the stuff, all of the meltdowns and this and that, and in all honestly it annoyed me a bit because, I get where people are coming from, everyone wants to sign everyone and have the perfect squad, but there are still [a group of] lads in this building who are going to hopefully take this club to good things this year."
It is a message of ambition from Dewsbury-Hall, who kickstarted his season with a stunning finish to put Everton on the road to an opening day home2-0 win over Crystal Palace. One Carabao Cup and two Premier League games later, David Moyes' side remain unbeaten - largely thanks to the immediate impact of one of deadline day's lesser talking points, the arrival of Maitland-Niles, scoring a 96th-minute leveller against Manchester United on Sunday.
That resilience - eight days earlier James Tarkowski had slammed in a last-gasp equaliser at Bournemouth - is one cause for hope for the season ahead. Dewsbury-Hall says manager Moyes had been central to creating that desire to fight.
He added: "Moments like the weekend definitely help as well. And the weekend before as well. It’s showed the mentality of the lads that in the first three games of the season we have scored two late equalisers against two very good teams. Moments like that are definitely going to help and it's going to take us far this year if we keep that mentality of ‘we’re not out of it’ until the final minute. It’s really pleasing."
The Man Utd game was the first played after the end of the transfer window, one that left the Blues short of players and with a smaller squad than last season, despite CEO Angus Kinnear setting out in May and August that the plan was to strengthen.
The reaction to a day that left Everton again in the headlines for the wrong reasons was one of concern for the campaign ahead. Dewsbury-Hall wants the whole club to believe this does not have to be a season in which it goes backwards - or even stands still.
He said: "I know we've got a smaller squad but we've got some really good players. I’ve been speaking about this. Our starting XI is top, like it's a European starting XI. I get it, you need a whole squad, but we've got 17, 18 players at a really, really good level. I don't think a couple of years ago it was at that level, actually I know it wasn't.
"Obviously you want to add a couple more if you can but in football things are out of your hands and that’s what happened for us. But we quickly realised, hang on a minute, look around the dressing room - top player, top player, top player. If we're doing the right things we can still be successful... That was getting disregarded.
"I was seeing people saying: ‘We’ll be lucky to stay up this year’ What message is that sending to the lads who are already here? I’m not blaming anyone. We get it. It didn’t work. But let’s all be positive - right, it’s done, bang, let's go - and that's what we've been trying to say in the dressing room.
"Of course we would have wanted to sign a couple more but we're happy with what we've got and it’s given us more impetus now to move on."
Should Everton sign one of these free agent attackers?

Concerns over how deadline day played out, with the departures of Ndiaye, Nathan Patterson, Tim Iroegbunam and Beto in deals that raised close to £100m, were intensified by the misjudgement by owners the Friedkin Group to explore the sale of Harrison Armstrong to Nottingham Forest before a fan protest at Bournemouth, where the away end promised to 'riot' should the move be sanctioned.
Dewsbury-Hall said the players were well aware of the point the supporters were making, which made the late equaliser even more satisfying.
He said: "They definitely made their feelings known and obviously it worked. Big credit to them for that. To be fair, they were amazing that day. And I know for a fact it made Harrison feel very good and it helped him. He's had a great start to the season. So that's going to help his confidence even more."
The Armstrong debacle and deadline day were followed by reports the Friedkin Group were looking for outside investment in the club they took over less than two years ago, providing another layer of concern to a fanbase desperate for stability.
Dewsbury-Hall can only speak about matters on the pitch, however, and the message from Finch Farm is clear. Asked whether Europe was possible this season, the 28-year-old was adamant: "For sure, definitely. Yeah it is."
Everton faded at the end of last season, seven winless games leading to the campaign ending in a whimper at Tottenham Hotspur, where the Blues head this weekend. Even with a smaller squad, Dewsbury-Hall believes the team would be in a better position to seize a similar opportunity should it materialise.
Explaining why, he said: "Experience, for one. That was the first year in I don’t know how many years where we have been really pushing for Europe until the last day. Having that in our locker is massive. If we are in that position again… it was almost a bit alien to us as a club last year. Everyone might be a bit jittery behind the scenes: 'Oh… oh… oh.' Now if we are in this position again, we have been in it before, we know what we did wrong and are learning from those mistakes.
"We are not going to be playing 50 games this year, if people are doing the right things, on and off the pitch, that’s on us and the club so when it comes to the last 10-15 games, we are not lagging. Experience is the biggest thing, we have to learn from that. I know I will, the lads will. That’s the difference this year."