Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's Confidence Amid Transfer Chaos

Transfer deadline day is supposed to be fun. Chaos on the ticker, rumours on loop, a jolt of hope with every “breaking news” strap.

For Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, his first real taste of it at Everton felt very different.

The midfielder rode the same emotional rollercoaster as the fanbase: excitement, confusion, then something close to disbelief as the window slammed shut with David Moyes holding fewer players than he started with, one recognised striker and no natural cover at either full-back. To cap it all, Folarin Balogun walked away from a £40m move in the dying minutes, deal sheet already filed.

Evertonians saw a club under The Friedkin Group veering off course. Dewsbury-Hall saw something else.

“We’ll show everyone”

How’s the mood now, inside a squad that watched the cavalry fail to arrive?

“Really good to be honest,” Dewsbury-Hall says. No hesitation. “Definitely not the same mood as what I’ve seen on the outside. There’s a good mentality this year of: ‘We’ll show everyone.’”

Everton’s performances so far back that up. The dressing room has not matched the panic of social media.

“I’ve seen all of the reactions, all of the meltdowns, and in all honestly it annoyed me a bit,” he admits. The tone is blunt, not barbed. “I get where people are coming from; everyone wants to sign everyone and have the perfect squad. But there are still 19 lads in this building who are going to hopefully take this club to good things this year. That was getting disregarded.

“I saw 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.”

Moyes has already voiced his concern about the signal that kind of window sends to a group he is trying to push towards Europe. Dewsbury-Hall, though, refuses to indulge any sense of self‑pity.

“Not really, no,” he says when asked if the business hurt the squad. “I know we’ve got a smaller squad but we’ve got some really good players. Our starting XI is top, 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. Things can be out of your hands in football 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.”

From Stamford Bridge to the centre of the room

Dewsbury-Hall has become central to that belief. Since his £28m move from Chelsea last summer, he has grown into the role he felt he could never quite claim at Stamford Bridge.

“I’m in the prime years of my career,” he says. “I couldn’t afford to spend more years stagnating.”

On the pitch, his influence has been obvious. Off it, it has been quietly formalised. When Séamus Coleman departed in the summer, leaving a void that could not be filled by one man, Everton built a leadership group. Dewsbury-Hall was voted in.

“Because Séamus has left such a big hole we need a group of experienced lads to crack on together and keep the standards high and to drive things,” he explains. “It’s just the more experienced lads – [Jordan] Pickford, Tarky [James Tarkowski, the new club captain], Jimmy [James] Garner, myself. The ones that have been playing in the Premier League for years or feel like they are settled at the club.

“It’s nice [to be voted in after just one season] but it’s definitely an impact I wanted to have. I’m really pleased that the lads look at me as someone that can be important for the dressing room.”

That status shows in the way he has taken Harrison Armstrong under his wing. The 19-year-old midfielder came within a whisker of leaving on deadline day, a move to Nottingham Forest so close that many assumed it was done. Then Everton’s travelling support at Bournemouth erupted in fury, the owners felt the backlash, and the deal was scrapped.

“They definitely made their feelings known and obviously it worked,” Dewsbury-Hall says. “Big credit to them for that, they were amazing that day. And I know for a fact it made Harrison feel very good and it helped him. He is a very confident lad and well respected in the dressing room for such a young age.

“If there is anything I can help him with then I will. Shooting’s definitely one because his shooting is sometimes not the best, and I’ve told him that many times. But he’s got pretty much everything else. He always likes to say he’s got a better strike than me so I just tell him to look at the [Crystal] Palace goal [that Dewsbury-Hall scored on the opening day] or the Wolves goal last season. We have good banter.”

Europe, cups and England

The targets are not shy. Dewsbury-Hall is clear: European qualification, a serious tilt at a cup, improvement across his game and, looming above it all, a first England call-up.

His form has already caught the eye of Thomas Tuchel, who names his squad next Friday. Dewsbury-Hall has felt the door creak open.

“I know I’m the closest I have ever been now,” he says. “You get a message two weeks before the squad is announced. I got one for the long list for the World Cup and I’ve had one for these next games. It’s nice. It means you are doing OK.

“It’s a long, long message. It tells you that it’s a legal requirement for us [the Football Association] to tell you in advance that you are in contention and to be available for these dates. It’s a good feeling because you think: ‘OK, I am close,’ but you know you have to keep pushing it to the last minute. It’s up to me. It’s got to be me that forces his hand to choose me. It’s not going to be given to me.”

That line could double as Everton’s mantra for the season.

Nothing will be given to them. Not by the market, not by the fixture list, not by a league that punishes thin squads and exposed weaknesses.

Dewsbury-Hall knows it. So do the 18 “top players” he keeps pointing at in that dressing room. The window has closed; the argument, as far as they are concerned, has not.