Everton's Pre-Season Begins!

Today will be Everton’s first official game of the season, as the first pre-season test is being played against Accrington Stanley at the Wham Stadium.

The game is available to watch through Everton TV, with the club just recently releasing new information regarding streaming packages for pre-season events. Evertonians are able to purchase a MatchPass for the game against Accrington Stanley for £7.99. Whereas if you would prefer to watch both fixtures, Accrington Stanley and Blackburn Rovers, taking place on Saturday 19th July, the cost increases to £9.99. If you're already a Forever Blue, Forever Blue+, Season Ticket or Premium Member, you can receive 25% off the cost of the double-header subscription.

Although the bulk of Everton’s pre-season will occur in the United States of America, as the Premier League US Summer Series goes ahead between July 26 and August 3. West Ham, Manchester United, Bournemouth and, of course, the Toffees are set to play one game against each other opponent across 3 stadiums across the country: MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, Soldier Field in Chicago and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Accrington Stanley will face three other opponents in their pre-season to prepare for possibly another challenging year in Football League Two. Last season, Accrington finished 21st in the league, just escaping relegation. Although tight, Accrington managed to finish 8 points above Carlisle, the highest-placing team to get relegated that year, with Morecambe finishing bottom. Within 46 games, John Doolan’s side managed to obtain 50 points, with the club winning 12, drawing 14, and losing 20 across the campaign. Accrington face Wigan Athletic, Rotherham and Northern West Non-League Div One side Clitheroe within less than two weeks as the first game of the League Two campaign begins August 2nd against Gillingham.

Everton’s first game of the Premier League season is on the 18th of August, where the Toffees will travel to Leeds to face the newly promoted side, who will certainly be up for the occasion, with Daniel Farke’s side winning the Championship last season, reaching 100 points, alongside Burnley too, with Leeds United coming out on top on goal difference.

The Toffees’ recruitment at this stage is slow, but there is no doubt that David Moyes and the backroom team will be working on potential deals behind the scenes, ensuring the squad is in the best position to go into an extremely promising campaign under new owners, a new stadium, and Moyes’ first full season in charge. Everton have already confirmed the deal of Thierno Barry from Villarreal as a replacement for Dominic Calvert-Lewin and potential competition for Beto, whose place on the team sheet was rarely interrupted since Moyes returned in January of this year. As well as new contracts for Idrissa Gana Gueye, Michael Keane, Jarrad Branthwaite, Seamus Coleman, and lots of contracts for kids in the academy!

However, there may be some worried faces, as the two-week to one-signing ratio will not cut it due to the lack of players at the club currently and the need for at least 4-6 new players to bolster the squad, especially backups to the first team lineup. It seems the club are working on that though, as according to various news outlets, Everton are close to finalising the deal of Mark Travers from Bournemouth as backup goalkeeper. Following the exit of both Virginia and Begovic from Everton, following the expiry of their contracts, the Blues need replacements. Travers was on loan at Middlesborough last season, playing 17 times and helping the club finish mid-table, and now the Cherries are close to completing the signing of Chelsea goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, meaning Travers will more than likely become out of favour, meaning a £4m + add-ons for the goalkeeper may turn out to be a good move. According to Sky Sports, an official announcement is expected within the next couple of hours.

For Accrington Stanley, their transfer business so far has been extremely cheap, in fact free! The departures of Seb Quirk, Liam Isherwood, Jimmy Knowles, Ashley Hunter, Jay Rich-Baghuelou, Aaron Pickles, and Lewis Trickett and the expiry of loan deals for Everton goalkeeper Billy Crellin, Blackburn U21 fullback Jake Batty, and finally Southampton U21 goalkeeper Oliver Wright mean there is a big hole to be filled within the side. So far the club has brought in two National League North players, Freddie Sass, a left back from King’s Lynn, and Issac Sinclair, a right winger from Curzon Ashton, both players 23 years old, as well as two new goalkeepers, Oliver Wright from Southampton U21 and James Rogerson from the club’s academy. The club has let 10 players go, and as of the 15th of July, has only signed 4, meaning Doolan has some work to do before the season kicks off!

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Thank you for reading my pre-match article!