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While I may not be an Evertonian at heart, even I am starting to feel slightly peeved. First we learn that Jack Grealish is apparently wanted in Italy more than he is on Merseyside. Now Liam Delap – a player I had always assumed, perhaps wrongly, was high on David Moyes’s list of striker targets – looks to be Nottingham Forest-bound. Maybe I’m putting two and two together and getting five. The Grealish story is based on a report that Everton have cooled their interest. Only last week, Angus Kinnear was talking about how much the club would “love” to have him back. Delap isn’t necessarily a player Everton need, either. Thierno Barry is here; he scored against Crystal Palace on Saturday, and Beto remains an Everton player… for now. But I still find both stories frustrating. I hope Everton have something else lined up I’ve been positive about the direction Everton have taken under The Friedkin Group, and I think with good reason. There is a stability around the club which simply wasn’t there for a long time. Moyes has returned, the move to the Hill Dickinson has been made, and Everton finally seem to be looking forward rather than permanently putting out fires. But this squad still needs work. Grealish made sense last season. More than that, he seemed to make sense of Everton. He enjoyed being here. The supporters took to him. He looked happy playing football again and, before injury intervened, there was enough to make the idea of another season together seem perfectly logical. So if Man City really are prepared to let him leave for something approaching £10m, I struggle with the idea that Everton might not be interested. No such thing as too many good players Some will argue, ‘but now we have Tyrique George on a permanent ‘, but I’d counter that by saying you can never have too many good players. And Grealish is a good player. Perhaps Moyes has decided otherwise. If he has, he knows more about what his squad needs than I do. Then there is Delap. Everton wanted him last summer. Moyes made his pitch, but Delap chose Chelsea and Champions League football. We couldn’t really argue with that. What bothers me more is that, 12 months later, the opportunity appears to have come around again. Delap is 23, Moyes clearly rated him and Chelsea are prepared to do business. Yet Nottingham Forest look like being the club who get him. Again, there may be a very good reason for that. There probably is. And there are still several days of the window left. Everton might have business lined up which will make me look rather silly for writing this (was ever thus). I genuinely hope so. All about… the timing The timing hasn’t helped, either. On the same day, Steve Walsh has been back on BBC Radio 5 Live talking about Everton’s failure to sign a teenage Erling Haaland for a few million. Different owners. Different recruitment team. Different Everton. It has absolutely nothing to do with the decisions being made now. But you couldn’t really make it up. Haaland was the one that got away. Delap appears to be doing it for a second time. Grealish may yet end up in Italy. I’m not even an Evertonian. And I’m getting slightly annoyed.