Keith Wyness shares strong Everton prediction after unexpected development
Everton may be unready for European football next season despite the Toffees finding themselves in an excellent position to qualify.
This is coming from Keith Wyness, who exclusively told Football Insider that their squad might not be able to handle the extra games.
The Toffees are currently ninth in the table, ahead of their match against Man United on Monday, and could potentially go up to seventh with a win.
Everton have not been in Europe since the 2017-18 campaign, when they were grouped in the Europa League.
Keith Wyness: Everton would be better pushing for Europe next season
Under David Moyes, Everton have quickly become a solid mid-table outfit, with fears of relegation out of the window.
While the Toffees have missed some great opportunities to climb the Premier League further, they currently find themselves in a great spot.
With England almost guaranteed to get an extra European place this season, Everton are in a prime position to qualify for the Europa League or the Europa Conference League.
However, speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Wyness does not believe European qualification would be a good thing for the Toffees this campaign.
He said: “You know, I’m in two minds about this just now as to what would be success. Of course, the popular side would be, you know, European qualification, but I just, I’m not sure if the squad is quite ready for Thursday, Sunday.
Insert in the HTML Body“We’ve seen a lot of clubs fold up that hurdle. But then again, there is the summer, chance to strengthen, which could be a positive sign.
“But I think obviously the fans now all my Everton fans I’d spoken to and friends all said last year, we’ll be happy with mid-table, no threat of relegation.
“But of course, once you get up there, the temptation is to keep pushing and wanting to go further. So of course, European football will be considered a success.
“Moyes has said as much, but I’m just cautioning to think, will we really be ready and would one more season of rebuilding then pushing on really be the right time to go for it?”
What issues would Everton face in a European campaign?
The biggest issue for Everton if they were to qualify for Europe would be the size of their squad.
To date, Everton have used the fewest number of players in the Premier League this season at just 22.
While it is clear that Moyes likes a small squad, this simply wouldn’t be doable if they were to qualify for Europe, and have potentially an extra eight matches at minimum.
Therefore, if this extra workload were added, it could see them plummet down the table, and potentially find themselves back in a relegation battle.
As a result, multiple new signings would be needed to bolster these numbers. However, it remains to be seen if the players would be good enough to compete in Europe and the Premier League.
To read more about Everton’s European push, look to our expert team on Goodison News.