Everton Left with One Striker: When PSR Turns a Premier League Club into a 'Retail Store'

At 2 AM, my phone buzzed. A number zero – the number of goals Everton could expect from their attack for the first half of the season. Not because they have no scorers, but because they are left with only one recognized striker: Thierno Barry. And he just entered the season carrying the weight of an entire club. People call me a heretic, but I only see what they refuse to look at. On Monday night, the January 2027 transfer window closed with a horrific collapse for Everton. The £40 million deal for Folarin Balogun from Monaco – a deal negotiated until the last minute – fell through. Monaco accepted a lower upfront payment in exchange for more add-ons, but still ran out of time. Everton submitted a deal sheet, but time was not on their side. Result: David Moyes has only one striker for the first half of 2027. That night I stammered, but history does not. Look at the big picture. Everton sold Beto to Fiorentina for £15.5 million. They sold Iliman Ndiaye to Manchester City for £60 million plus £5 million in add-ons. They sold Tim Iroegbunam to Hull City for an initial £15 million, and Nathan Patterson to Torino for an undisclosed fee. Total player sales: over £90 million. Spending: only £4.2 million on Ainsley Maitland-Niles from Lyon. This is a club managing PSR (Profit and Sustainability Rules) – the Premier League's financial fair play – in a starkly transparent way. Tactical analysis: The single-point dependency on Barry is the defining tactical constraint. Moyes has no choice but to play Barry every match or deploy a false-nine system the squad was not built for. Losing Ndiaye – the team's most dangerous attacker – means losing both creativity and unpredictability. Jack Grealish returns on loan from City, but he is a winger, not a striker. Though Grealish played well for Everton last season before a broken foot in February 2026, at age 30 and after a serious injury, he cannot solve the centre-forward problem. Loan enquiries for Joshua Zirkzee from Manchester United and Tammy Abraham from Aston Villa were both rejected. This shows Moyes recognized the gap, but could not close it. Everton's tactics are now 'one gun, one bullet' – if Barry gets injured or suspended, the entire attacking system collapses. Contrarian angle: Could the collapsed Balogun deal actually be good for Everton's finances? £40 million is a panic price for a striker who has never consistently performed at the top level at Monaco. The lower upfront payment structure with more add-ons indicates Everton's cash flow is tight. Avoiding this outlay preserves liquidity, but the sporting cost is enormous. If Everton get relegated, the revenue loss will exceed £100 million – many times the £40 million. I see a familiar script: a club previously deducted points for PSR breaches, now selling its best stars to comply, but digging its own sporting grave. The attempted sale of Harrison Armstrong – an academy product – to Nottingham Forest is a public-opinion flashpoint. Everton fans will not forgive the hierarchy for selling the future to save the balance sheet. Jack Grealish is the only bright spot. He says he 'feels loved' at Everton. A free loan, and if his City contract expires in summer 2027, Everton could sign him on a free transfer. This is a financially smart move, but it does not change the reality that Everton's attack is a single arrow. I have followed English football for 22 years. I have seen big clubs collapse due to poor management. Everton is walking a fine line. My conclusion: They will have to fight to stay up with a squad severely lacking depth. If Barry gets injured, Moyes will have to use a strikerless formation – a major gamble. And if they go down, the entire PSR strategy will be seen as a disaster. They print my old articles and call them 'heretical'. But I was right about Wu Lei in 2026, right about Mbappé in 2026. And I will be right about Everton in 2027: a club sacrificing the present to save the future, but that future may never arrive.