Everton Face £40m Raid For Teenage Midfielder: What’s The Right Decision For The Toffees?

Everton Face £40m Raid For Teenage Midfielder: What’s The Right Decision For The Toffees? Nottingham Forest are in advanced talks to sign 19-year-old central midfielder Harrison Armstrong from Everton in a deal worth around £40 million, with a sell-on clause included for the Merseyside club. David Ornstein of The Athletic broke the story on August 29, 2026, confirming that Forest are aggressively chasing the England youth international after Elliott Anderson’s departure to Manchester City freed up significant transfer funds, reportedly £115 million, for Oliver Glasner to spend. Everton fans travelling to the 1-1 draw at Bournemouth today were already making their feelings absolutely clear, chanting threats of a riot at the Vitality Stadium while Armstrong himself was out on the pitch logging 87 minutes. The teenager’s story this season reads like a scriptwriter’s draft. Two loan spells in the Championship, 15 appearances for Derby, 17 for Preston, where he scored his first senior goal and added two assists, were followed by a direct recall under David Moyes in January. He then racked up 13 Premier League appearances, 531 minutes, and an 81% passing completion rate. This season, operating alongside Hayden Hackney, Armstrong’s 89% passing accuracy across 177 minutes in 2026/27 shows a player already functioning well above his age bracket. Everton’s stance on Harrison Armstrong must be an outright no EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND – AUGUST 12: Harrison Armstrong of Everton in action during the during the pre-season friendly match between Newcastle United and Everton at Scottish Gas Murrayfield on August 12, 2026 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) Forest ‘s interest makes complete logical sense for them. They need progressive midfield mobility immediately, and Armstrong provides them with a good option. But the timing of this interest exposes a real problem for Everton, not a financial one, but a structural one. Strip Armstrong from Moyes’ squad right now and there’s nobody left to fill that progressive role. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Merlin Röhl are already embedded. The Hackney-Armstrong axis has been Moyes’ entire summer project. The £40m figure is good money on paper. But Armstrong’s ceiling is considerably higher, realistically £60m or beyond after a full season of 30-plus top-flight starts. Selling a homegrown Finch Farm graduate to a direct Premier League rival in the window’s final hours, with no credible replacement possible, would repeat every mistake Everton have made with Rooney, Barkley, and Gordon before him.