Jason Knight to Everton edges closer – ‘I’m playing in the David Moyes system’
David Moyes is the perfect manager to help Jason Knight make the step up from Bristol City to the Premier League with Everton.
Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson argued Knight could be an ideal fit in Everton’s midfield under Moyes’ style of football.
Everton will soon be in the midst of a hugely transitional period both on and off the pitch, with their move from Goodison Park to Bramley-Moore Dock and over a dozen players whose futures are up in the air.
With Abdoulaye Doucoure and Idrissa Gueye both out of contract and loanees Orel Mangala and Carlos Alcaraz currently in line to return to parent clubs, Moyes will have a clear need to strengthen in midfield.
Robinson has told Football Insider that Knight could be next in a long line of players Moyes has plucked from the Championship and developed into top-flight regulars, with Chris Rigg also on Everton’s radar.
Bristol City’s 6-0 aggregate defeat to Sheffield United in the Championship play-offs saw them dumped out of Premier League contention, but this is good news for the Blues with regards to Knight’s price tag.
Jason Knight transfer a no-brainer for Everton
With The Friedkin Group likely to back Moyes to the hilt ahead of a busy transfer window at Everton, Knight is one player whose Championship experience and low price tag represents a low-risk signing.
Speaking on the new Inside Track, Robinson suggested that Bristol City‘s failure to reach the Premier League will allow Everton to swoop in and sign the Republic of Ireland international for a cut-price fee.
“He’s a player that David Moyes has liked for a while – he ticks a lot of boxes for Everton and the way that David Moyes plays that central midfield role”, Robinson told Football Insider.
“[Knight] is still only 24; he’s a player Moyes will look at and think, ‘he’s a good quality player who’s still young and I can make him better – playing in the David Moyes system’.
“With Bristol City now, they’ve obviously not made the play-off final with no hopes of getting into the Premier League – he’s a player that all of a sudden becomes very achievable for Everton.
“His price tag’s going to be very, very different to if Bristol City were a Premier League team.
“The bigger clubs from the Premier League will look over and hand-pick the players that they want – he’s certainly one that David Moyes has been linked with for a while, and I can see him fitting in [at] Everton.”
Incomings needed as Everton contracts saga continues
Although Knight could represent a low-risk, high-reward transfer for Evertonians in terms of both his fee and on-field impact, Moyes may be hesitant to throw the 24-year-old in at the deep end next season.
Former Toffees CEO Keith Wyness told Football Insider that he expects three of Everton’s out-of-contract players to sign new deals this summer, but Doucoure is one who appears set for the exit door.
Everton are hopeful they can make Carlos Alcaraz’s loan spell permanent and are already in negotiations with Flamengo, but a player of Knight’s calibre in the second-tier is exactly the kind of transfer Moyes will be looking to complete.