Everton midfielder issues emotional farewell as loan deal terminated early
Everton have had a pragmatic start to the January transfer window.
David Moyes is currently dealing with a bit of a selection crisis at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, thanks to injuries and two of his players at the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Idrissa Gana Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye don’t look to be heading back to England anytime soon after Senegal qualified from their AFCON group to set up a round of 16 showdown with Sudan, while Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jarrad Branthwaite, Michael Keane, Carlos Alcaraz and Seamus Coleman are all sidelined with injuries.
Fortunately, Jack Grealish returned to the side in Everton’s 2-0 win at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday, but it’s still an awful time of year to be dealing with so many first-team players being unavailable.
However, Moyes has one or two aces up his sleeve when it comes to instantly beefing up his options ahead of Everton‘s first match of 2026 against Brentford at the Hill Dickinson on Sunday.
Everton terminate two loan deals in quick succession
As a result of their selection crisis, the Toffees have decided to call an end to Martin Sherif‘s loan spell at Rotherham and terminate Harrison Armstrong’s stay at Preston.
While it seems unlikely that 19-year-old forward Sherif will be someone who Moyes uses regularly in the coming weeks, rising star Armstrong is certainly going to be someone on the Everton manager’s radar when it comes to selecting his teams.
Armstrong has been in impressive form while on loan at Preston in the first half of the Championship campaign, while also spending the last half of last season at Derby.
As stats by Sofascore show, the Liverpool-born central midfielder’s form has improved at Deepdale, suggesting that he’s on an upward trend that should see him start to feature more regularly for the Toffees senior side.
After Preston announced Armstrong’s return on Instagram on New Year’s Day, the midfielder posted on his story to bid farewell to the Lancashire club.
He wrote: “Some club. It’s been a pleasure, Preston.”
Armstrong played 17 times for Preston in the Championship, scoring one goal and supplying one assist.
Can Harrison Armstrong be in Everton’s squad vs Brentford?
Everton ended their 2025 in style at Nottingham Forest, rounding off what has been a very productive year for the Merseyside club.
They made progress under the new owners, re-hired Moyes as manager, avoided relegation from the Premier League, moved into their new home at Bramley-Moore Dock and now sit eighth in the table at the halfway point of the season.
| Team | GW15 | GW16 | GW17 | GW18 | GW19 |
| Everton | W | L | L | D | W |
| Brentford | L | D | W | W | D |
Evertonians will no doubt be hoping they can continue the positivity in 2026, with Keith Andrews’ Brentford their first opponents of the year on Sunday.
Brentford are ninth in the table and have picked up two wins and two draws in their last four games, making them the most in-form team outside of the top four.
As the deadline for new signings is midday on Friday, Armstrong should be available to go straight into Moyes’ squad for that game on Sunday.
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