David Moyes has made clear he would prefer to keep Harrison Armstrong, but Everton’s manager says the final call on the 19-year-old’s future will be a club decision after a reported £40m offer from Nottingham Forest.
Moyes did not sound eager to lose another player during a summer in which he has already raised concerns about Everton’s squad size. Asked about Armstrong, he said he does not think the club can afford to lose players, especially not its better ones, and added that he had little more to say about the reported offer.
He also framed the situation as one for the club rather than the manager alone, which leaves the door open to a broader discussion inside Everton about whether the fee is too important to ignore or whether the squad depth is too thin to allow the move.
Why Armstrong matters to Everton
Armstrong’s recent involvement has only increased the sense that Everton may want to keep him. He played the full 90 minutes in the 1-1 draw at Bournemouth, where travelling Everton fans were already making their opposition to a sale clear. Moyes said Armstrong “played really well” and did a lot of good work, even if he ran out of legs later in the game.
That performance matters because it came at a time when Everton are trying to build around a good basis while still strengthening the squad. Moyes has repeatedly pointed to the need for more depth, saying the club could do with strengthening and hoping it can build on what it has. Losing a 19-year-old with growing first-team involvement would naturally add pressure to that plan.
Forest’s interest in Armstrong also lands in a wider transfer picture. In the same round-up, Nottingham Forest agreed a deal with Crystal Palace for Daniel Muñoz worth an initial £22m, with a medical due in the next few days. Muñoz moved to Selhurst Park in 2024 under Oliver Glasner, so this is another example of a busy transfer market moving quickly around Everton’s own situation.
What comes next
For now, Moyes is keeping the focus on the club’s internal decision-making. He said supporters have to be considered and that supporters are not always wrong, which suggests Everton know there would be resistance if they chose to cash in on Armstrong. The next step will be whether the club believes the reported £40m offer changes the calculation, or whether the need for depth outweighs the appeal of the fee.
Either way, Armstrong’s future has become one of the summer’s more notable Everton questions. Moyes has made his preference plain. The hard part now is whether the club agrees with him.
