Dibling pursuit can’t hide fear of false start for Evertonpublished at 09:20 British Summer Time
09:20 BST
Simon Stone
BBC Sport chief football news reporter in Atlanta
By his own admission, David Moyes is not immediately drawn to Snoop Dogg’s music.
But there is a sentence in one of the best-selling and influential rap artists of all time’s most famous songs that probably sums up Moyes’ mood at the moment. Halfway through Drop It Like It’s Hot, Snoop declares “I can’t fake it”.
And having finished with one point, and bottom of the Premier League Summer Series table, after losing their previous three pre-season matches, the results are starting to be a concern – Moyes can’t fake it.
Lack of movement on the transfer front has been a running commentary in Moyes’ engagement with the media throughout Everton’s 12-day trip.
Southampton’s exciting talent Tyler Dibling is one of those Moyes expects Everton to land this week. Dibling clearly has Premier League experience and his arrival would be a positive, yet, at 19, he is also one for the future.
But it wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Getting Farhad Moshiri out was felt by many supporters to have come at the perfect time, with ideas of new investment to coincide with the long-anticipated move to the magnificent Hill Dickinson Stadium. Yet Moyes wonders whether the vision has got in the way of reality.
“There could be teething problems at the start,” he said. “Whether it be the stadium, whether it be with new owners, whether it be all sorts of things coming in.
“All Evertonians are looking to the future now. They don’t want to look back on the past. We want to believe that something better is ahead of us.
“I think it will be better. My job is to give them a team to enjoy coming to watch. I thought we might have been a bit further down the line by now, but we’re not.”