Ashley Williams' Grealish and Delap demand for Everton ignores the reality at both clubs

Ashley Williams says Everton's summer transfer window has been so uneventful that the club will be lucky to repeat last season's 13th-place finish, and his solution is a double swoop for Jack Grealish and Liam Delap. It is eye-catching punditry. It is not, on the evidence available, a realistic transfer scenario for either player.

The former Everton and Wales defender's comments, made on talkSPORT's Kick Off show, land at a moment when Everton have actually been busy in the market, just not loudly. The Toffees have made five summer signings for a combined £74million, according to talkSPORT's report on Williams' comments, yet Williams argues none of it moves the needle.

What Ashley Williams actually said and why he's calling Everton 'boring'

The quote in full context

Williams did not mince his words when assessing David Moyes' summer rebuild, framing Everton's business as safe rather than ambitious.

"I just think it's a little bit boring. If you're an Everton fan, it's so boring at the minute. Everyone else around you is talking about incomings, outgoings, what you're trying to do. What are Everton trying to do? I The best thing they could hope for is 13th again this season," Williams said.

He was equally blunt about the individual arrivals, naming Christian Norgaard, Merlin Rohl and Hayden Hackney as signings that will not lift Everton beyond mid-table. "With all due respect... they're not getting the fans excited at all," he said, adding that Everton still lack a genuine out-and-out striker despite the presence of Beto and Thierno Barry.

Coleman's exit and the dressing-room impact

Williams' strongest point may be the least glamorous one. He highlighted the departure of long-serving captain Seamus Coleman as a loss that goes beyond the right-back slot.

"You've lost Seamus Coleman, which is never mind right-back position, just what you've lost in the dressing room is massive," Williams said. It is a fair concern about leadership and squad depth, distinct from his more speculative demands for marquee attacking reinforcements.

The reality check: where do Grealish and Delap really stand?

Grealish's path back runs through the Etihad, not Merseyside

Williams' call for Everton to sign Grealish overlooks a fairly significant detail: the winger appears to be working his way back into Manchester City's plans rather than out the exit door. Grealish made his first appearance for City in 453 days when he came on at half-time against Arsenal in the Community Shield, and boss Enzo Maresca has since suggested there could be a route back into the fold, according to talkSPORT's report on the Grealish situation.

That is a meaningfully different narrative to a player being pushed towards the exit. A returning squad player being reintegrated by his manager is not the profile of an imminent departure, let alone one to a club outside the European places.

Delap's Chelsea future is a squad-trimming exercise, not an Everton pursuit

The Delap situation is similarly murkier than Williams' framing suggests. Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso is reportedly assessing which of four fringe or surplus players might leave before deadline day as he trims a bloated squad, according to talkSPORT's exclusive on Chelsea's deadline-day plans. That report frames any Delap exit as a Chelsea-driven decision about squad numbers, with no mention of Everton interest at all.

Reporting elsewhere on the summer's transfer merry-go-round underlines how much speculation is circulating across the Premier League right now, from the Guardian's daily transfer rumours column linking Manchester City with a move for Alexis Mac Allister to talk of Newcastle's interest in City's Nico Gonzalez. Williams' Grealish and Delap suggestion sits firmly in that same category: plausible-sounding, but unattached to any actual reported interest from Everton.

Everton's actual summer business: £74m in, but is it enough?

The confirmed arrivals so far

Strip away the speculation and Everton's summer looks like incremental, unglamorous squad-building rather than inactivity. The club have made five signings this summer for a combined £74million, with Williams specifically referencing:

• Christian Norgaard - added to the midfield
• Merlin Rohl - a further midfield addition
• Hayden Hackney - another midfield signing

That is solid, if unspectacular, business by the standards of a club that finished 13th last season. The issue Williams identifies is not that Everton have done nothing, but that none of it addresses the two glaring gaps he sees: a proven striker and adequate cover for Coleman's void at right-back.

Where the squad still falls short

Moyes currently has Beto and Thierno Barry as his central striking options, neither of whom Williams believes is capable of lifting Everton clear of mid-table. Williams did credit Moyes for stabilising the club in its first season at its new stadium, calling it "an excellent job" given how difficult such transitions can be for other clubs.

But he argued that phase of consolidation should now be over. "Now let's see, let's show a bit of ambition to do something," he said, framing this summer as the moment Everton needed to kick on rather than simply repeat last season's survival job.

What happens next

Everton's transfer window remains open, and there is nothing in the reporting to suggest talks over Grealish or Delap are live or even under consideration at Goodison Park's new home. Both players' futures are being shaped by decisions inside Manchester City and Chelsea respectively, not by any known Everton pursuit.

The more grounded question for Moyes is whether his existing forward options, plus whatever late business Everton do complete, can improve on 13th. Williams' criticism of the squad's ceiling may prove prescient regardless of who arrives, but tying that argument to two players with no genuine connection to Everton risks distorting what is otherwise a fair critique of a cautious summer.

Expect scrutiny to intensify on Everton's out-and-out striker options as deadline day approaches, with Williams' comments likely to fuel fan frustration even if the specific fixes he proposes remain unlikely to materialise.