Harrison Armstrong Represents Hope for a New Everton... That’s Why He Can’t Be Sold

Surely Everton have a structure now whereby they wont sell their best players? The club is rebuilding and Harrison is key to this.
He plays with energy and purpose abd maturitu bryond his years and I pray by the fact he plaued today he isn't getting sold.

Still developing but what a prospect..

What happens between now Tuesday night, who knows, but hopefully Everton won trade Harrison.

I'd be very surprised if TFG are remotely interested in selling Armstrong.

Ndiaye, yes. Age and form mean that he will never again be worth as much as he is now (circa £70m). So you could see the logic in cashing in and trusting George, Johnson, Dibling and maybe Grealish on loan.

Armstrong would be a short term boost to the finances - but we would be losing a player who (a) could be a First XI player for the next 10 years or more and (b) could be worth double by the end of the season (£40m is really not a big fee at all). It's the sort of thing we might have done pre-TFG when we were teetering on insolvency - but not now. It doesn't make footballing or financial sense.

If you ever need reminding just how far we have fallen down footballs pyramid this is stark reminder. Forest must think that there is a chance that we might sell young Harrison presumably believing that they can offer him a better chance of success. I think that this close season transfer market has gone mad, with Clubs trading players for vastly inflated sums, whilst thus far we seem to have been prudent and sensible.

But were we to even consider selling young Harrison to a 'smaller' Club we would destroy any notion that we take our Academy seriously, hoping that we can one day have a nucellus of home grown players. It would just make No sense and would seriously question just what is the Clubs strategy and ambition.

I remember once many years ago going to Goodison when somebody in the Park End was holding up a poster with the words, ' If Dave goes we all go '. He was of course referring to Dave Hickson, sadly it seems some things don't change.

The long agonising wait for a RB is over.
We have agreed personal terms with Fulham’s Kenny Tete.

Looks like Kinnear was true to his word after all.

Tete. About as underwhelming as it could get possibly get.
The next few days could get very hairy if we lose players and don’t get quality through the door.

Hello Ell. As I've written for weeks on Twitter, Everton are in the strongest financial position we have been in for 30 years. This is backed up by Angus Kinnear's own words in his BBC Radio Merseyside interview (URL: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0p53nc0) last week where he stated our revenue numbers, which have actively exceeded expectations.

- 2023/2024 Revenue: £172 million (Audited Baseline)

- 2024/2025 Revenue: £196 million (+13.9% Growth)

- 2025/2026 Revenue: £265 million (+35.2% Growth — Unaudited CEO figure)

For the current 2026/2027 cycle, a conservative +8.5% estimate projects a baseline revenue of £287.5 million. If we secure an 8th-place finish or higher plus European qualification, our revenues will easily exceed £300 million. We can safely project the +8.5% baseline because season ticket prices alone were increased by 10%, alongside incoming revenue from CMC Markets, new commercial sponsorships, and non-matchday stadium events.

Our structural organic growth rate is currently outpacing almost everyone in the Premier League. Our 4-year target CAGR outclasses our immediate peers—even when factoring in their premium European football prize distributions:

- Everton: +15.0% CAGR (Upside Target)

- Aston Villa: +14.12% CAGR

- Arsenal: +12.14% CAGR

- Tottenham Hotspur: +5.50% CAGR

While launching a large CAGR from a smaller revenue base is naturally easier to achieve, it proves mathematically that the historic financial gap between us and the top of the pyramid is actively narrowing. Furthermore, since The Friedkin Group (TFG) took the keys, our loan-servicing interest costs have been cut cleanly in half, and operational cash flow is up.

Quite simply, there is absolutely no business logic to selling Harrison Armstrong to a domestic competitor for a derisory fee.

1. SCR compliance is not an issue (we sit comfortably below the 80% mark).

2. Cash flow is not an issue.

3. Debt management is not an issue.

On every single fundamental corporate metric, Everton is performing beautifully.

As a business, this club still carries the painful scars of 20 years ago when Bill Kenwright sold our future for personal, selfish reasons. That single Wayne Rooney sale scarred a generation and held this club back for decades. I wrote earlier this summer on this very site about the urgent need to completely discard the "plucky little Everton" mentality (https://evertonia.com/submissions/46082.html) and continue to push the club to act like a giant. I was hoping that shift was finally coming to pass, but seeing David Ornstein's face on TNT Sports this morning reporting a Forest bid brings back the worst memories.

Unlike clubs like Nottingham Forest, we structurally do not need a big player sale to comply with the league's Squad Cost Ratio rules. We already comply.The mere contemplation of selling Harrison Armstrong is deeply troubling. It defies sporting and corporate logic. The fanbase expected the club to build a long-term team around the core of Armstrong, Jarrad Branthwaite, Jordan Pickford, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. To cash in now defies any logic at all

Kenny Tete - a year after we first tried to sign him.

Silver lining - he is at least an experienced specialist and should instantly improve our first XI. Low key signings like this sometimes help the team as a whole to click.

Downside - despite the improvement, only Hull definitely have a worse RB than us, still.

Money is obviously still very tight indeed.

Mark I don't know where you got those figures from - but most of the publicly available stuff has us at around £196m revenue - essentially neck and neck with Palace. That's a touch ahead of Brentford and Bournemouth and behind Brighton and Forest. Your figures might be right, I honestly don't know, but I haven't seen anything remotely that high anywhere.

Also, just because a club makes a bid for a player - doesn't mean that player's existing club is contemplating sale. It just means another club is trying to buy. A number of our own failed bids this summer seem to back that up. Let's hope that's how it plays out with Armstrong.

Robert (8) Mark’s figure of £265m revenue for 2025/26 is correct based on what we heard from Angus Kinnear recently.

I usually err on the side of pragmatism but selling Armstrong for £40m or anything like that at this point in his career would be shameful. Not one Evertonian I have met today, and I have met many, thinks it makes any sense from a footballing or financial perspective. It would destroy any hope of building a young squad with an identity, energy and talent.

Another article dripping with misery.

Some of our fans wouldn't have it any other way.

The club is on the up and there is a lot to be optimistic about.

Robert (8) I am directly quoting Angus Kinnear and his BBC Radio Merseyside interview he gave last week for 2025/2026 (URL: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0p53nc0)

The source is cited I would suggest you listen to the detail yourself. It is free to listen to for UK residents.

This is from the CEO of the club as explained in the comment. It is the unaudited reported revenue yet to be published at Companies House but is based on his statement.

It also favourably compares to The Esk's projections dated 18 May 2026 : Title: "Everton: the projected financial cost of missing Europe" (URL: https://theesk.org/2026/05/18/everton-the-projected-financial-cost-of-missing-europe/). Where The Esk projected Everton revenue at £250 million to £260 million for 2025/2026.

The £196 million figure is for the 2024/2025 last season at Goodison Park. The business has fundamentally transformed from that period and so those figures are totally out of date to current Everton -reality.

I posted in another place that I don’t think Armstrong will be sold.

The facts seem to be that Forest have made a bid in the region of £40 M for the player,hardly surprising given the players ability and potential.
What is surprising is that if other top clubs are aware that he is possibly available that there doesn’t appear to be any evidence of their interest.

There’s also no evidence so far that Everton are in negotiations with Forest over a deal,surely there would be offers and counter offers flying about all of which takes time and time is fast running out.

All this has a funny smell about it.

Couldn’t be perhaps,that the club are content to let this run to divert attention from their complete failure to deliver the players we need namely 2FB’s,a coverCB and a goal scorer?

Of course another scenario could be that TFG could really be the Machiavellian asset stripping American business men that many Evertonians believe they are.

The next few days could prove very interesting.

John (9) it would not simply be shameful. It would be an act of corporate self harm. You are correct. Not a single Everton fan I have spoken to thinks this is a good idea. My 80 year old father (first Everton game 1963 Everton vs Inter Milan) thinks and I quote "this is crackers".

The fundamental view is you cannot build "a team" if you continue to sell out your best and most promising players from up under you and the fans that do the paying to build the team!

That is what Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) rules cause. The owners aren't paying now. Equity injections to fund football operations costs in SCR scope are banned. We fans are. With every penny we put into the club.

Harrison Armstrong has Champions League class written all over him. He has been at the heart of our unbeaten start to the season. He is one of us. It's wonderful to have a boyhood Evertonian in the dressing room, to explain to teammates from elsewhere what this club means to fans.

Until news of this possible sale broke, Evertonians were at their most optimistic for a long, long time. Now we, or at least many Blues I know, are seething. The vibes have gone from positive to negative. I know of several Blues who have said today they're finished with Everton if this sale goes ahead. For them, it's the straw that breaks the camel's back.

The lad is still a teenager. Does he want to move away just yet?

I am praying that the lad simply says: No, I am staying. I want to play for Everton.

That will make him a hero.

He will have plenty of opportunities to move on in the future. And to sunnier places than Nottingham.

Supposedly, Fulham are happy to do the Tete deal as they are a signing 28yr old Andrei Ratju from Rayo Vallecano.

Intrigued to see how Ratju performs as he is bang in our preferred age range for the position.

Bobby (10), would you be happy if we sold our brightest academy product, who could possibly be in the Elliot Anderson value bracket within 3 years, for just £40m to a club that finished below us in two of the last two seasons?

Apart from the initial cash boost and, possibly, another new signing before the window (of what quality?) there is nothing positive about doing that deal.

The bitter irony is that people were suddenly starting to feel some optimism with Armstrong in the team over the past few weeks!

Encouraging to see the revenue figures improve then Mark - as this is what will enable us to kick on as a club going forwards. For context though, revenue of £260m is still not a great deal in Premier League terms. For example, that's still £100m adrift of where Villa were two years ago - and £300m adrift of where Spurs were two years ago.

Whatever the case, we still seem to be approaching this summer window as though we are poor. Personally I doubt that is TFG milking the club, more a case of building better longer term foundations.

Our skinflint summer spending doesn't necessarily translate to doom and gloom either. The five players we've bought this summer all look like good signings. As I have said above in this thread, Tete is underwhelming but a low key signing like that in the right position can help a team to click.

There may yet be one or even two more incoming transfers before the window shuts - so best to reserve judgement until then. In the meantime, a very solid start to the opening three games (compared with some of our big spending rivals).

Robert (17), that figure for Aston Villa is with them having Champions League (2024/2025) and for context they have also had: Europa League (2025/2026) then Champions League (2026/2027). Along with a previous year Europa League (2023/2024). Everton haven't had Europe for 9 years.

Everton's growth is pure organic growth from structural advantages (the stadium and/or commercial revenue) for which we have a window of opportunity. It contains zero European revenues unlike Aston Villa

You're making the mistake of looking at headline figures and not: growth rate or CAGR %.

Growth rate is what is key and if Everton get Europe we will relatively quickly over take competitors. Because of that base growth rate. No one has a higher organic growth rate CAGR % than Everton right now. As I demonstrated earlier.

It is that absence of organic growth rate that led Aston Villa to have to sell players under PSR (prior to 01 June 2026) and SCR (as of 01 June 2026) because their revenue to football operations costs ratio isn't sufficient. Hence why they are now doing ground redevelopment to address their structural weakness.

Everton do not have that issue. The Ground is in place that Aston Villa is trying to reach now as quickly as possible.

Also because SCR looks at current year only, unlike PSR. Everton have a structural advantage on other clubs they won't bridge for 2 to 5 years in many cases.

Similar issue for Forest and others. Forest have to find another big sale next year to fund their SCR. Just like Elliot Anderson this summer. They do not comply organically with SCR, without player sales. Everton do. We now are in a rush to try and get Europe to slingshot our revenues past our competitors.

If this does come to pass, then may I suggest that we drop the “Nil Satis …..” Latin motto that we’ve had for the past 148 years, and substitute it with “Laete Insatisfactus”

Everton are not competing with the top six now. They are competing with the new data driven Clubs, the Nottingham forests, the Bournemouth's, the Brightons, the Palaces and Ipswich of the football works, all who have a better infrastructure physically and Managerially to attract youth players.

The truth is that while Banthwaite and idaye are where the money is,they are not the Champions League level physically / technically that Premier Clubs are looking for.But the other option that they are looking for if they can't afford Champions League level is the proven young players with potentiol.Which Everton do have, though are lagging in developing..

This is a wake up call for us all,if Everyone are pimping this potential in the shop window.This does not confirm to a progressive plan.I think we all know that.

While we are financially more viable compared to the past, we are, as the gentlemen mentioned above, still miles away from raking in top-tier revenue.

Also:

1) That £38 Million payment to Burnley is becoming more a factor on the books as time goes by. We might still be in the midst of arbitration process and have not paid that amount, but it seems the fund is now in accrual.

2) TFG is preparing to start a new National Hockey League (NHL) team in either Houston (their HQ) or nearby Austin by either 2027 or 2028. The potential entry fee to the "NHL Fraternity" is USD 700 Million (£517 Million eq.)

While TFG might have lined up funding lines from banks and financial institutions for the NHL Entry Fees, but what happened with us (and Roma) this summer in terms of transfers certainly suggest that the 2 big fat elephants above might have made TFG more prudent than they can.

Mark#14

Great analysis.I also suggest that you look at training infrastructure which is a bit of a eye opener when compared to all the data driven Clubs.A young player bar he likes alot of blue, would be more impressed.Nowadays younger players come through academies from a young age.There is probably plenty of information on training and management facilities when they make their selection on where they want to go.Everton for years hadn't been the best career option and it may be considered a stepping stone into a better shop window.That is where the glaring problem lies at Everyon..In the same period Everton have spent £4 million(( a Council Loan ) whilst Man City have spent £200 million, just to show you where the upper bar is. All the top 7 Clubs own their own training ground and have spent considerably more than Everton on training infrastructure and data driven investment.

That is why Armstrong is consenting to being in the shop window.

I really hope to God that we refuse the bid, but we have seen players sold at Newcastle, Villa and most likely Spuds with European experience for big amounts. None of our current crop has that. The way it's going if we start selling the best of what we have, then they are even less likely to achieve it in the near future if they are lucky. We are feeding those with money will be the accusation and it will be hard to deny.

I have banged the drum about a lack of unison at the top of the club, been skeptical about our CEOs media push to fend off criticism and his promised phase 2 of a rebuild. For once, no matter how much you are critical of Moyes, this is not his doing, he is not happy, hasn't been since being branded his efforts were branded as a failure for not getting a European place.

His demeanor is angry, dejected, frustrated. In short it seems he has little say in what he used to think that he had the final say in transfers.

We are some 48 hours from the deadline, three of Evertons better players are subject of realistic interest. O'Brien, lliman and now Harrison with no stated interest on several who should go.

That's not a rebuilding, that's asset stripping. Bringing in 30 year olds is a season stop gap, nothing else. Kick the can down the road, bank the profit, change the manager. Repeat.

Moyes will be gone, the slick mouthpiece continues to expand revenues while fans tear their hair out and of course, all is going to plan for the silent TFG.

A 30 year old is coming, Richarlison is leaving Spurs, Grealish might I'd we can do a loan deal. Nothing like the best...a far more pragmatic motto for TFG.