Everton's owners were fortunate to avoid a major own goal after initially agreeing to cash in on home-grown hero Harrison Armstrong, reckons former Arsenal striker Alan Smith.
Blues fans woke up on the morning of August 29 to learn that Nottingham Forest were pushing ahead with a £40million deal for the teenage midfielder. Had Armstrong not accepted manager David Moyes' request to play in Everton's game at Bournemouth that day, a move to the City Ground could have been finalised.
Armstrong, the only Scouser in the first team squad, has been with the Blues since the age of five. His sale could have ended a 138-year sequence going back to when the club were founder members of the Football League in 1888. He showed great professionalism and maturity to turn out for 87 minutes in the 1-1 draw at the Vitality Stadium.
Fan pressure forces U-turn
Evertonians who had made the 520-mile return trip from Merseyside to Dorset for the fixture threatened to riot if Armstrong was sold, prompting the club's owners to perform a dramatic U-turn the next day and pull the plug on the deal. Chairman Dan Friedkin is understood to have personally stepped in to make the final decision.
With the West Derby prospect staying put, Everton still pocketed over £100million on deadline day. Their most creative talent Iliman Ndiaye, last season's top scorer Beto, Tim Iroegbunam and Nathan Patterson were all sold, plus Adam Aznou was loaned out. Following the late collapse of the purchase of USA World Cup star Folarin Balogun from Monaco, Moyes was left with a first-team squad of just 18 outfield players containing a solitary striker, left-back and right-back.
Praise for Armstrong's start
Highly decorated and respected sports journalist Henry Winter observed: "At the very least, Everton owe their frustrated fans some form of explanation for that chaotic, embarrassing and deeply disappointing transfer window." Meanwhile, both Phil McNulty, chief football writer for BBC Sport, and Andy Hunter, Merseyside football correspondent for the Guardian, described the situation as "a shambles."
Armstrong has now gone on to start all five of the Blues' Premier League games so far this term while also playing the entire 90 minutes of their 4-0 Carabao Cup win at Preston North End, where he spent the first half of last season on loan. He has also been promoted from the England Under-20s squad to the Under-21s under former Everton star Lee Carsley and could feature against Slovakia at Stoke City's bet365 Stadium tonight.
Speaking courtesy of BestBettingSites.co.uk, Smith, who won a brace of League Championships with Arsenal plus the FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup-Winners' Cup, netting 115 goals in 351 games, said: "Selling Harrison Armstrong would have hurt Everton, there's no doubt, with their small squad. He probably doesn't want to leave now, does he?
"He's playing every week. You think if the club indeed did want to sell him, they probably didn't think that he could do what he's done at the start of the season.
"He's been forced in there due to a lack of options, and sometimes when that happens, a player can surprise a manager.
"So, David Moyes will be really pleased with him. I'm sure he's got a lot of developing to do, but he'll be thankful that the club didn't sell him, and certainly the fans will be as well."
