"Supporters aren't always wrong." David Moyes was asked about Everton fans chanting against the sale of Harrison Armstrong, and he did not brush it off.
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Nottingham Forest bid £40m on Saturday for the 19-year-old England Under-19 midfielder. Armstrong started that afternoon at the Vitality Stadium, and the travelling Everton support spent chunks of the game chanting that there would be "a riot" if he left.
What Moyes actually said
"I think you always have to consider supporters; supporters aren't always wrong," the Everton manager said afterwards.
He went on to note that he has also worked at clubs where the loudest voices were not the most useful ones. That balance is the honest version of the answer. Moyes has been in the job long enough to know that fan pressure sometimes saves a club from a bad decision and sometimes traps it in one.
Armstrong is the sort of player Everton cannot easily replace
He came through Finch Farm and is rated as highly as anyone the academy has produced in years. Everton have spent the past decade selling promising players to balance the books and then paying more to replace them with worse options.
£40m for a 19-year-old with limited senior minutes is a large fee by any measure. It is also exactly the sort of offer that ends up accepted at 22:45 on deadline day.
The match itself
Bournemouth 1-1 Everton. Alex Scott put the home side in front on 41 minutes with a deflected effort from the edge of the box, assisted by Evanilson. It stayed that way until the first minute of stoppage time, when James Tarkowski thumped home after confusion in the Bournemouth area following a corner.
It was Marco Rose's first home game as Bournemouth manager, and he will feel two points went missing.
Key details
- Bournemouth 1-1 Everton at the Vitality Stadium
- Scott 41' (assist Evanilson); Tarkowski 90+1'
- Forest's bid for Armstrong reported at £40m
- Armstrong started the match despite the speculation
- Window closes 23:00 BST, Monday 31 August
Where this ends
Everton have not said no publicly and they have not said yes. Forest have money, a manager who wants specific players, and 48 hours to spend it. They also agreed a £22m deal for Crystal Palace's Daniel Munoz on Friday.
Moyes will have a view on whether the money is worth it. So will the supporters who were singing about it on Saturday. On this occasion those two views appear to be in the same place, which does not always happen at Everton.
Sources: BBC Sport
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