Jacob Murphy: The Missing Piece for Everton's Attack

Arne Slot will never be welcomed with open arms in the Everton half of Merseyside. That ship sailed the moment he chose the red side. Yet it is the former Liverpool manager who has, perhaps unwittingly, offered the clearest explanation of why Jacob Murphy might be exactly what Everton need.

The Newcastle winger has emerged as a serious target as the Toffees try to drag themselves from survival scraps into the European conversation. They want goals, they want craft, they want more than one route to goal. Murphy ticks a lot of those boxes – and Slot said as much long before Everton’s interest sharpened.

Slot’s blunt assessment

Speaking in December 2025, before Liverpool faced Leeds United, Slot was asked about his attack and the adaptation of Alexander Isak. His answer raised eyebrows across Merseyside.

“It makes it harder for [Isak] compared to his time at Newcastle but I think it is also him adjusting to his teammates and his teammates adjusting to him,” Slot said. “But it is obvious and clear that we have not the profile of Jacob Murphy, for example, available at this moment at this time.”

Liverpool fans bristled. Admitting that a Newcastle winger offered something his own squad did not was never going to go down well. The remark was mocked, dissected and quickly filed under “things you don’t say as Liverpool manager”.

Strip away the tribal noise, though, and Slot’s point was simple: Murphy offers a specific, valuable profile. A wide player whose first instinct is to serve the striker. A winger who stretches the pitch, delivers early, and feeds the No 9 relentlessly.

That is precisely where Everton have been short.

Everton’s attacking problem

The numbers paint a bleak picture. Last season, Everton sat 15th in the Premier League for shots on target per match. Fifteenth for big chances created. Fifteenth for touches in the opposition box, according to FotMob.

This is a side that often builds pressure, defends with discipline, but then runs out of ideas when it really matters. Too many moves die on the flanks. Too many crosses come from static positions, or never arrive at all.

Everton are still pushing to bring Jack Grealish back to Hill Dickinson Stadium, a move that would add guile and ball-carrying quality between the lines. But they need more than one solution. They need volume from wide areas, runners who think like suppliers, not soloists.

That is where Murphy steps in.

Murphy’s edge

At Newcastle last season, Murphy created more big chances than any other player in Eddie Howe’s squad. Ten in total. No fuss, no fanfare – just consistent end product.

Drop those numbers into Everton’s dressing room and they stand out immediately. That tally of 10 big chances would have put him joint-second in the Toffees’ ranks, level with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and only two behind James Garner.

This is not the profile of a luxury winger who drifts in and out of games. It is the profile of a direct, functional, Premier League-proven attacker who understands his job: get the ball into dangerous areas, early and often.

For a side that has too often starved its centre-forward, that matters.

Why Newcastle’s stance matters

The intriguing twist is that Newcastle now look increasingly open to letting Murphy move on. For Everton, that changes the conversation from wishful thinking to genuine opportunity.

Murphy knows the league. He does not need a year to adjust. He would walk into a side crying out for his strengths: width, work rate, and a supply line that does not dry up when the game gets tight.

Slot’s reputation among Liverpool supporters suffered every time he hinted his squad lacked something. Naming Murphy as a profile they did not have only deepened the frustration. Yet those same words now read very differently from the blue side of the city.

In trying to explain what Liverpool were missing, Slot may have outlined exactly what Everton must add.