Jacob Murphy: The Winger Everton Needs for European Ambitions

Arne Slot’s stock on the blue half of Merseyside has never exactly been high. Yet, almost by accident, the former Liverpool manager may have delivered the clearest argument for why Jacob Murphy is precisely the kind of forward Everton now need.

The winger Liverpool “didn’t have” – but Everton might

Everton’s summer brief is simple enough on paper: find goals, find creativity, find a way into Europe. They want Jack Grealish back at Hill Dickinson Stadium, but one marquee name will not fix an attack that has been short of ideas and incision for too long. They need numbers. They need profiles. They need variety.

That is where Murphy enters the conversation.

The Newcastle winger has been a Premier League fixture for years, a reliable cog in Eddie Howe’s high-tempo machine. He is not the headline act, but he is often the one feeding it. For a club that finished last season stuck in mid-table for almost every key attacking metric, that matters.

Everton were 15th in the league for shots on target per match.

15th for big chances created.

15th for touches in the opposition box, according to FotMob.

Those are the numbers of a side that works hard, defends in numbers, but runs out of ideas when the pitch tilts in its favour. It is exactly the kind of problem a supply-first wide player can help solve.

Slot’s unwanted compliment

Slot’s most telling line on Murphy came not in praise of Newcastle, but in frustration at his own Liverpool squad.

Speaking before facing Leeds United in December 2025, he admitted that Liverpool lacked Murphy’s specific profile as he assessed how Alexander Isak had adapted to life away from Tyneside.

“It makes it harder for [Isak] compared to his time at Newcastle but I think it is also him adjusting to his teammates and his teammates adjusting to him,” Slot said. “But it is obvious and clear that we have not the profile of Jacob Murphy, for example, available at this moment at this time.”

Liverpool fans bristled. The idea that their forward line, packed with talent, was missing something embodied by Murphy did not land well. Slot’s reputation dipped another notch.

Strip away the rivalry, though, and the comment is revealing. Slot was pointing at a very specific type of winger: one who lives to serve the striker, who stretches the pitch, who delivers early and often. A facilitator, not a finisher.

That is exactly what Everton lack.

Why Murphy fits the Everton puzzle

At Newcastle last season, Murphy created more big chances than any other player in Howe’s squad. Ten in total. At Everton, that tally would have put him joint-second, level with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and only two behind James Garner.

For a side that so often labours to carve out clear openings, that kind of output is not a luxury. It is a necessity.

Murphy’s game is built on repetition and reliability. He runs, he crosses, he combines. He gives his centre-forward something to attack, again and again. When a team sits deep, he keeps asking questions. When a game opens up, he punishes space.

Everton’s current wide options offer plenty of industry and flashes of quality, but not enough consistent service. Too many moves break down before the final ball. Too many attacks end with a hopeful shot rather than a measured cut-back or a driven cross.

Murphy changes that equation. He does not transform Everton into a free-scoring side on his own, but he shifts their attacking balance towards supply rather than improvisation. For a club aiming to step into European contention, those extra five or ten big chances across a season can be the difference between mid-table and the pack chasing continental football.

Newcastle’s stance and Everton’s need

The picture emerging from Newcastle suggests a willingness to listen if Everton push hard enough. Squad evolution at St James’ Park means certain roles are up for grabs, and Murphy’s future is no longer untouchable.

For Everton, that opens a rare lane: a Premier League-proven creator, still hungry, still with the legs to play the demanding wide role their system cries out for.

Slot might not have intended it, and he certainly did not say it with Goodison in mind, but his assessment cut to the heart of the matter. Liverpool did not have a Jacob Murphy.

Everton, if they are serious about Europe, probably should.