Everton Nears Deal for Chelsea Winger Tyrique George

Everton are moving quickly to lock in one of last season’s more intriguing loan stories, with a deal close for Chelsea winger Tyrique George after his four-month spell on Merseyside.

The 20-year-old arrived in January with a £25m option to buy attached, a figure that always looked steep for a player with no Premier League starts to his name. Everton have gone back to the table and are now understood to be finalising a new structure: a lower initial fee, padded with performance-related add-ons.

It is a move that reflects how highly George is regarded inside Finch Farm, rather than what he has already put on the pitch. He made 11 appearances and started just once, but his impact clearly ran deeper than the raw numbers.

David Moyes, asked in May about the prospect of keeping him, didn’t hide his admiration, calling George “an excellent boy” with an “excellent work-rate”. Those are the kind of references that tend to turn short-term cover into long-term investment.

Everton reshape around youth

George is unlikely to be the only fresh face tied down before pre-season hits full speed. Everton are also close to completing a £16m move for Middlesbrough midfielder Hayden Hackney, another young, technically assured player who fits a longer-term rebuild rather than a short fix.

Attacking midfielder Merlin Rohl, who impressed on loan from SC Freiburg last season, is set to make his stay permanent as well. That trio would give Moyes a very different attacking and midfield profile to the one he inherited, especially with experience walking out of the door.

Idrissa Gana Gueye and Seamus Coleman have both departed following the expiry of their contracts, removing two pillars of the dressing room and a significant amount of Premier League know-how. The message is clear: Everton are turning the page, and they are doing it with players who still have their best years ahead of them.

George’s road out of Chelsea

For George, a permanent switch would end a long, uncertain year on the market. A product of Chelsea’s academy, he has been available for transfer for the past 12 months as the club have tried to balance their books and trim a bloated squad.

He came close to leaving before. Talks with RB Leipzig last summer underlined his reputation across Europe, while a £22m move to Fulham collapsed on deadline day in September 2025. That false start left him in limbo at Stamford Bridge until Everton’s loan offer arrived.

Now, with a manager who has already publicly backed his attitude and a club willing to reshape a deal to get him through the door, George is on the brink of the stability he has been chasing.

Chelsea’s reset under Xabi Alonso

On Chelsea’s side, the move slots neatly into a broader reset under new manager Xabi Alonso. The club have already brought in Marco Palestra from Atalanta and are still tracking Crystal Palace defender Maxence Lacroix, Como’s Jacobo Ramon and Rayo Vallecano full-back Pep Chavarria as they look to retool a squad that stumbled to 10th in the Premier League and missed out on European football.

That failure has consequences. Fewer games, less broadcast and matchday income, and the looming presence of a Uefa settlement agreement for the next three seasons after last summer’s financial breaches mean one thing: players will have to go.

George is unlikely to be the last. Real Madrid are circling Enzo Fernandez, while Como and Inter Milan are among the clubs interested in Trevoh Chalobah. The futures of Benoit Badiashile, Tosin Adarabioyo and Wesley Fofana are also unresolved, as are those of forwards Alejandro Garnacho and Liam Delap.

Chelsea need a leaner, more coherent group. Everton need hungry, ascending talent. If the final details fall into place, Tyrique George’s permanent move to Goodison will sit right at the crossroads of those two very different projects.