Everton chief executive Angus Kinnear has said keeping top players is an increasing challenge for established Premier League clubs, even when teams are performing well. Kinnear made the comments in an interview with BBC Radio Merseyside as he addressed Everton’s attempts to hold on to attacker Iliman Ndiaye and pursue a possible return for last season’s loanee Jack Grealish.
- Everton CEO Angus Kinnear said retaining top players is increasingly difficult even for successful Premier League clubs (BBC).
- Kinnear named Iliman Ndiaye as a player Everton want to keep and said the club has remained in contact over Jack Grealish (BBC).
- Kinnear linked the challenge to financial rules including the Premier League squad cost ratio and cited Everton’s past sanction for breaching sustainability rules (BBC).
- There were no confirmed transfers for Ndiaye or Grealish in the cited report; the comments outline Everton’s strategy, not completed deals.
What Kinnear said
According to the BBC report, Kinnear said Everton’s aim is to retain key players such as Ndiaye so they can contribute to the club’s objectives, and that he hopes Ndiaye remains at Goodison Park for years to come. He also confirmed Everton have kept in contact over a potential return for Grealish, who spent last season on loan at the club.
Kinnear warned that clubs that have recently performed well still face difficulty holding on to their best players. He pointed to examples of clubs such as Newcastle United and Aston Villa selling significant players this summer as evidence that successful teams are not immune from turnover.
Financial context Everton cited
The BBC piece notes two regulatory frameworks Kinnear referenced: the Premier League’s squad cost ratio (SCR), which limits clubs to spending 85% of revenue on playing staff, and UEFA’s 70% figure for clubs in European competition. Kinnear stressed Everton’s commitment to operating within those financial rules and said the club has experienced firsthand the consequences of failing to do so; the article recalls Everton’s eight-point deduction in 2023–24 for breaches of profit and sustainability rules.
Kinnear described the balance Everton must strike: be ambitious in recruitment and wages but avoid breaching SCR limits or other sustainability thresholds. He said that approach means the club will not attempt a window in which it “blows the doors off” if doing so would imperil those financial foundations.
Players mentioned and the transfer landscape
The BBC report links Iliman Ndiaye, 26, to interest from Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal and notes his output last season—six goals and three assists—as context for the attention he is attracting. Kinnear framed Ndiaye as one of Everton’s leading players whom the club wants to keep.
Jack Grealish, 30, who spent last season on loan at Everton from manchester City, is described as remaining a Manchester City player. The article says Everton and Grealish have maintained contact; Kinnear emphasised they must respect Manchester City’s position while noting Grealish undertook his rehabilitation at Everton last season and settled with the club.
The BBC story also reports that Newcastle have sold players including Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon during the summer window, and that Aston Villa sold Morgan Rogers to Chelsea, using those moves to illustrate that even clubs on an upward trajectory are involved in player turnover.
Why this matters for Everton and similar clubs
- Squad stability: Losing high-performing players can disrupt team momentum and force tactical or recruitment adjustments mid-cycle. Kinnear’s comments underline Everton’s desire to keep core contributors.
- Financial sustainability: The club is explicitly tying transfer strategy to compliance with SCR and other rules, signalling priority for long-term operational health over short-term spending spikes.
- Market pressures: The wider transfer market, including moves involving wealthy buyers and leagues outside Europe, can make it harder for clubs without comparable financial firepower to match offers.
What comes next
Everton begin their season at home to Crystal Palace, with the BBC noting the fixture and Kinnear reiterating manager David Moyes’s belief that the squad can make further progress this season. On the transfer front, the evidence in the BBC report is limited to Everton’s intentions and market context: Ndiaye has been linked with moves away and Grealish’s future remains with Manchester City for now. There is no confirmation in the sources that Everton have agreed any permanent deals for either player.
Timeline of key, verified items from the report
- Prior season (2023–24): Everton received an eight-point deduction after breaching profit and sustainability rules (as referenced in the BBC coverage).
- July 2024: Iliman Ndiaye joined Everton from Marseille (BBC note providing background).
- Summer 2026 reporting: Kinnear’s interview with BBC Radio Merseyside in which he discussed retention challenges and named Ndiaye and Grealish as players of interest (source: BBC report).
- Summer 2026 transfer context: Newcastle and Aston Villa are reported to have sold key players during the window, cited by the BBC as wider evidence of turnover among successful clubs.
Practical implications for Everton fans and observers
Supporters should treat comments from Kinnear as the club outlining a policy preference: keep top performers where possible, but not at the cost of breaching financial rules. Any speculation about completed transfers or offers should be checked against official club announcements; as of the BBC report, there were no confirmed permanent moves for Ndiaye or Grealish away from Everton.
How sources align and where they don’t
The article relies on the BBC’s reporting of Kinnear’s interview. Other items in the evidence packet discuss retention in non-football contexts but do not provide football-specific facts and so were not used to expand on Everton’s situation. There are no contradictory claims in the verified BBC material about Everton’s stance; the report presents Kinnear’s view that retaining top talent is challenging and links that position to financial constraints and recent market examples.
Bottom line
Everton’s chief executive has publicly framed retaining leading players as a growing problem for established Premier League clubs, citing regulatory limits on spending and recent high-profile sales elsewhere. The club says it wants to keep players such as Iliman Ndiaye and would like to re-engage Jack Grealish, but emphasises any activity will respect financial sustainability and existing contractual arrangements.