David Moyes on Everton’s £35m Compensation Bill and Transfer Plans
David Moyes insists Everton’s record compensation bill to Burnley will not derail his plans for the summer – and says he has been reassured the club’s transfer strategy remains intact.
Everton have been ordered to pay around £35m to Burnley after an independent commission ruled that the Clarets were entitled to compensation over the Toffees’ breaches of the Premier League’s Profit & Sustainability Rules in the 2021/22 season. It is the largest such award the league has seen.
The ruling arrives on top of the eight-point deduction Everton absorbed during the 2023/24 campaign for the same breaches. Burnley argued that, had those points been taken in the season to which the charges related, they would have avoided relegation. The commission agreed.
Everton have appealed, issuing a statement saying they “believe the ruling is fundamentally flawed in both law and fact”.
Moyes, speaking on talkSPORT, did not hide his frustration at seeing the issue flare up again.
“I’m not up to the situation exactly how it is and obviously the club are challenging it at the moment as well, which is really important, but it’s really disappointing,” he said.
The former West Ham manager then widened the lens, wondering what kind of precedent has now been set.
“I don’t know if this opens a huge can of worms with other events as well. Teams who have maybe not got promoted, for example, because the Premier League teams are having problems with PSR.
“I felt that we had paid our dues, if that’s right, and we had done it already, but for this to come back to us, it feels like an individual case.
“But I don’t know if it’s going to open up more things for other clubs to do something similar.”
The pressure on Everton’s balance sheet is obvious. A compensation hit of around £35m, on top of legal costs, lands in a financial landscape already shaped by PSR scrutiny and previous sanctions. Supporters fear that such a blow must inevitably cut into the playing budget.
Moyes says he has been told otherwise.
Asked directly whether the verdict would affect recruitment, he was unequivocal about the message from above.
“They told me no.
“They told me that it wouldn’t have any effect on it and look I was aware of this probably four or five weeks ago when it was happening that this would be the case.”
He knows the scepticism outside the boardroom. Fans have watched years of financial missteps and squad churn and are braced for more belt-tightening. Moyes, though, is clinging to the assurances and to the sense that Everton, for long spells last season, were finally building something on the pitch.
“But I’m hoping that it doesn’t because last season, as you rightly say, we had a good season except the last month or so when we sort of blew up and we were in a really, really strong position.
“So if it’s anything I hope it’s a message to the Premier League. It’s so difficult. If you don’t do well you can find yourself in trouble again. We don’t want to be back in those situations we were in the past.”
The other key factor is ownership. The Friedkin Group completed their takeover with full knowledge of the potential PSR fallout, according to Moyes. That, he argues, is another reason to believe the football operation will not be sacrificed.
“My understanding is that the Friedkins were aware of this when they were buying the club and there was a possibility this could happen.
“So the answer to that is I really hope it has no effect on what we’re going to do in the summer.”
Hope, though, is not the same as certainty. The legal battle will run on, the numbers will be pored over, and the transfer window will offer the clearest indication of how hard this ruling really bites.
