- Everton are preparing to offer Moyes a new contract this summer, reports say.
- The club sat one point above the relegation zone when he arrived.
- Everton are now eighth and three points outside the Champions League places.
Everton are preparing to offer David Moyes a new contract this summer, according to The Guardian, after a turnaround that has lifted the club from relegation trouble into the European conversation.
Moyes signed a two-and-a-half-year deal when he replaced Sean Dyche in January 2025, an appointment widely framed as short-term. The Friedkin Group had completed their takeover only the previous month, and Everton were one point above the relegation zone. The job was stabilisation, not ambition.
That assessment has now changed. Everton are now eighth in the Premier League and three points outside the Champions League places with seven matches left.
The report says the Texan-based ownership group, led by chairman Dan Friedkin, are convinced Moyes is the right man to take the club forward. Formal talks are not expected until the end of the season, but there is said to be confidence at the club that the 62-year-old is ready to extend his second spell.
From rescue job to longer-term fit
The proposed contract signals a shift in how Everton’s owners view the manager. When Marc Watts, the incoming executive chairman, spoke after the takeover in December 2024, his language was cautious: financial stability first, restoring Everton’s league position, and “will take time.” Offering Moyes new terms 14 months later would suggest the timeline has accelerated.
Moyes managed Everton for 11 years between 2002 and 2013, reaching the FA Cup final in 2009 and qualifying for the Champions League preliminaries in 2005.
That first spell gave him significant influence over recruitment, and The Guardian reports that the club believe he is at his best working with experienced players, citing Jack Grealish and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall as examples of the type of signing that suits his approach. Any new deal could come with him having a greater say over the make-up of the squad.
Moyes is keeping the focus on the pitch
Moyes himself has played down the contract talk. He said last week: “I’m not too worried about that, I’m fine.”
But after Everton’s 3-0 win over Chelsea on 22 March, he offered a telling comment. Asked about his future, he pointed to the word “European” and said it “changed an awful lot of things at West Ham the minute we got European football. It altered a lot of the way we all looked.”
But there is one complication. The Friedkin Group also own Roma, and UEFA rules prevent clubs under the same ownership from competing in the same European competition.
The Guardian reports that the ownership group say they are confident of avoiding issues and have an alternative structural solution in place if both clubs qualify for the same tournament.
Moyes was hired to move Everton away from the relegation zone. The proposed offer suggests the ownership group have stopped treating him as a short-term appointment and is now looking to build the club around him.
