Everton's hierarchy faces a major test after Nottingham Forest launched an attempt to sign Harrison Armstrong. The teenager, who has started both Everton games this season, is the subject of a £40m deal being pursued by the club, according to The Athletic.
The move comes with just days left before the closure of the transfer window and with Everton already braced for a battle to keep hold of key man Iliman Ndiaye.
Moyes raises reinvestment fears
Speaking on Friday, David Moyes expressed concern that it is already too late to adequately reinvest money from player sales to improve a squad that is currently smaller than it was at the end of last season.
The interest in Armstrong poses a significant challenge for Everton. The England youth international is viewed as a star of the future - and potentially the present - by much of the fanbase. His rise through the academy at Finch Farm and his success in loan spells at Derby County and Preston North End have been a source of pride for Blues.
That has grown with his first team role at the start of a campaign in which rivals Liverpool do not boast a homegrown player from the city in their squad.
Crowded midfield and ownership questions
Central midfield is a place of strength within the Everton squad, with Hayden Hackney, Merlin Rohl and Christian Norgaard added to the permanent ranks this summer. With James Garner returning to fitness and Tim Iroegbunam, whose move to Hull City recently collapsed, also nearing a comeback from injury, it is one of few crowded areas in the squad.
Should a sale of Armstrong be contemplated it would raise questions about the ambitions of the club's owners, the Friedkin Group, however. CEO Angus Kinnear last week challenged David Moyes to push for Europe and projected confidence that further additions to the squad would be made.
Yet with days to go before the transfer deadline, Everton are braced for a fight to keep Ndiaye amid interest from Manchester City and, now, Armstrong.
Competing views on ambition
Moyes stressed he did not want to lose Ndiaye on Friday and raised fears he would not have time to spend any money that came in from that - or any other - completed sale.
He said: "I think it would be very difficult to get it reinvested if anything came in. We are getting into a really late period now."
The interest in Ndiaye and Armstrong is set a backdrop of tension at Everton, with Kinnear and Moyes appearing to have competing views on what a reasonable ambition for the squad would be this season.
On Kinnear's belief a push for Europe is a goal for this campaign, Moyes said ahead of the Premier League tie at Bournemouth: "I think there would be a lot of work to do to put us in that category, but nobody put us in that category last year and for most of the season we ran close. The positives we would take are that we probably didn't expect to do it last year, so we probably go into this season thinking pretty much the same, but you never know. We have started the season well and the players have started the games good, so that gives me hope that it could be a possibility."
