Former boxer and lifelong Everton fan Tony Bellew has been speaking about his hopes for the Blues<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n\n05:00, 03 May 2026<\/span>Updated 07:18, 03 May 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Tony Bellew admits he\u2019s praying that Everton can keep hold of Iliman Ndiaye this summer and add Jack Grealish permanently but would also take back Richarlison \u201cin a heartbeat\u201d if Tottenham Hotspur are relegated.<\/p>\n
The Blues host Manchester City on Monday night in their penultimate home game of the season at Hill Dickinson Stadium. In the reverse fixture at the Etihad Stadium on October 18, Ndiaye produced one of his most impressive displays in an Everton shirt to date in the first half, but his side, who were profligate on the day in front of goal, were undone by Erling Haaland\u2019s ruthless finishing after the break and beaten 2-0.<\/p>\n
The Senegal international has made history by scoring the final goal at Goodison Park (he netted both in the 2-0 win over Southampton) and the first goal at Hill Dickinson Stadium (as Brighton & Hove Albion were also beaten 2-0) but he missed out on a hat-trick of landmarks in the Blues\u2019 last home game when his opener against Liverpool was ruled out for offside in the first derby match by the Mersey waterfront.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Everton wanted to pair Stan Collymore with Duncan Ferguson as transfer snub ‘key’ to exit explained<\/span><\/span>READ MORE: Wayne Rooney says David Moyes knows what Everton supporters want and criticism ‘does my head in’<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nWhen asked in his pre-match press conference for the 2-2 draw at Brentford last month about other teams potentially casting admiring glances at Ndiaye, manager David Moyes replied: \u201cHe is the last person I would consider selling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former cruiserweight world champion Bellew wants to see his beloved Blues bringing in stars rather than selling them this summer.<\/p>\n
Speaking to nysportsday, the 43-year-old said: \u201cIf Spurs go down that club is getting absolutely raided. That Micky van de Ven is some player.”<\/p>\n
Asked if he would like to see Richarlison return to Everton if the north London club (currently third from bottom with 34 points from 34 games) drop into the Championship, Bellew said: \u201cOh absolutely. In a heartbeat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just praying no one comes and makes a silly money bid for Iliman Ndiaye in the summer. I haven\u2019t seen any other player in the Premier League this season who wants to work as hard going backwards as he does going forwards. He\u2019s exceptional.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a difficult couple of months for Jack Grealish because you\u2019ve got to understand he\u2019s been at Manchester City and had those massive highs. Then you come to Everton where expectations are a lot lower and now he\u2019s had this injury, which is so hard on him because he was playing really good football.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was the most fouled player in the league, which tells a story in itself. We\u2019ve missed his ability to go at players and dribble with the ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the gaffer has managed the squad brilliantly since he\u2019s been out. I know he\u2019s got a year left at City, but I don\u2019t know if anything has been or will be sorted for next season, but I\u2019m hoping it can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everton go into the final month of the season in the bottom half of the table but can still qualify for Europe. With the Blues having been out of continental competition since 2017, \u2018The Bomber\u2019 reckons the team need to win at least a couple of their final four matches to return.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIf we\u2019d beaten Liverpool we\u2019d have been on 50 points, gone above Chelsea and been two points behind Liverpool. But then we go and lose away to West Ham and it\u2019s a completely different picture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the Premier League this season. Two wins can send you right up and two defeats can drop you right back down.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re able to get something against (Manchester) City on Monday night, which is a big ask, that would be huge. But I think the deciding games now are Spurs away and home to Sunderland.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can get two wins I believe we can get Europe but if we can\u2019t salvage two wins from these last four games, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to happen. I want to take my kids round Europe, I want them to see Everton Football Club play abroad.<\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully, I\u2019ve been lucky enough to see it, when we beat Wolfsburg 4-1 back in 2014, that was one of my favourite nights ever as an Everton fan. It was brilliant and if we do qualify it\u2019s then on the owners to invest more and strengthen the squad because then we need to repeat it the following year.\u201d<\/p>\n
FOLLOW OUR EVERTON FC FACEBOOK PAGE!<\/strong> <\/strong>Latest EFC news and analysis from via the Liverpool Echo\u2019s dedicated FB page<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\nRegardless of whether Everton secure European qualification or not this year, Bellew believes that with The Friedkin Group in control and having brought Moyes back as manager, the club\u2019s future remains bright.<\/p>\n
The Glaswegian gaffer became only the third manager after multiple title winners Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United and Arsene Wenger of Arsenal to take charge of 750 Premier League games last time out at West Ham United, but a 2-1 loss at his previous employers \u2013 the first time in their history that the Blues have lost consecutive games in stoppage time \u2013 have led to some online rumblings among the fanbase.<\/p>\n
Bellew said: \u201cI don\u2019t know who\u2019s been giving him (Moyes) stick because it wasn\u2019t anyone sitting near me, that\u2019s for sure. He\u2019s been absolutely brilliant.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo play the hand with the cards he\u2019s been dealt has been phenomenal. He\u2019s spent very little money.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a model now at our football club \u2013 a brilliant set of owners who are proper football people \u2013 this is not a fella playing Championship Manager. We\u2019ve got some exciting young players, the best of whom are probably going to get sold, but I\u2019ve got no problem with that because if you come to Everton and do really well, that means we do really well as a club.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you do well and use Everton as a stepping stone that means you do well, we do well and everyone\u2019s happy. But eventually you get to a stage where you can start keeping all your players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only way is up for Everton Football Club. It\u2019s been really hard adjusting to the new stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s the best stadium in the country for football. Spurs\u2019 stadium is better overall, in terms of hosting events and concerts.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former boxer and lifelong Everton fan Tony Bellew has been speaking about his hopes for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
05:00, 03 May 2026<\/span>Updated 07:18, 03 May 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span><\/div>\n Tony Bellew admits he\u2019s praying that Everton can keep hold of Iliman Ndiaye this summer and add Jack Grealish permanently but would also take back Richarlison \u201cin a heartbeat\u201d if Tottenham Hotspur are relegated.<\/p>\n The Blues host Manchester City on Monday night in their penultimate home game of the season at Hill Dickinson Stadium. In the reverse fixture at the Etihad Stadium on October 18, Ndiaye produced one of his most impressive displays in an Everton shirt to date in the first half, but his side, who were profligate on the day in front of goal, were undone by Erling Haaland\u2019s ruthless finishing after the break and beaten 2-0.<\/p>\n The Senegal international has made history by scoring the final goal at Goodison Park (he netted both in the 2-0 win over Southampton) and the first goal at Hill Dickinson Stadium (as Brighton & Hove Albion were also beaten 2-0) but he missed out on a hat-trick of landmarks in the Blues\u2019 last home game when his opener against Liverpool was ruled out for offside in the first derby match by the Mersey waterfront.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Everton wanted to pair Stan Collymore with Duncan Ferguson as transfer snub ‘key’ to exit explained<\/span><\/span>READ MORE: Wayne Rooney says David Moyes knows what Everton supporters want and criticism ‘does my head in’<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n When asked in his pre-match press conference for the 2-2 draw at Brentford last month about other teams potentially casting admiring glances at Ndiaye, manager David Moyes replied: \u201cHe is the last person I would consider selling.\u201d<\/p>\n Former cruiserweight world champion Bellew wants to see his beloved Blues bringing in stars rather than selling them this summer.<\/p>\n Speaking to nysportsday, the 43-year-old said: \u201cIf Spurs go down that club is getting absolutely raided. That Micky van de Ven is some player.”<\/p>\n Asked if he would like to see Richarlison return to Everton if the north London club (currently third from bottom with 34 points from 34 games) drop into the Championship, Bellew said: \u201cOh absolutely. In a heartbeat.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just praying no one comes and makes a silly money bid for Iliman Ndiaye in the summer. I haven\u2019t seen any other player in the Premier League this season who wants to work as hard going backwards as he does going forwards. He\u2019s exceptional.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a difficult couple of months for Jack Grealish because you\u2019ve got to understand he\u2019s been at Manchester City and had those massive highs. Then you come to Everton where expectations are a lot lower and now he\u2019s had this injury, which is so hard on him because he was playing really good football.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was the most fouled player in the league, which tells a story in itself. We\u2019ve missed his ability to go at players and dribble with the ball.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the gaffer has managed the squad brilliantly since he\u2019s been out. I know he\u2019s got a year left at City, but I don\u2019t know if anything has been or will be sorted for next season, but I\u2019m hoping it can be.\u201d<\/p>\n Everton go into the final month of the season in the bottom half of the table but can still qualify for Europe. With the Blues having been out of continental competition since 2017, \u2018The Bomber\u2019 reckons the team need to win at least a couple of their final four matches to return.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cIf we\u2019d beaten Liverpool we\u2019d have been on 50 points, gone above Chelsea and been two points behind Liverpool. But then we go and lose away to West Ham and it\u2019s a completely different picture.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the Premier League this season. Two wins can send you right up and two defeats can drop you right back down.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re able to get something against (Manchester) City on Monday night, which is a big ask, that would be huge. But I think the deciding games now are Spurs away and home to Sunderland.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we can get two wins I believe we can get Europe but if we can\u2019t salvage two wins from these last four games, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to happen. I want to take my kids round Europe, I want them to see Everton Football Club play abroad.<\/p>\n \u201cThankfully, I\u2019ve been lucky enough to see it, when we beat Wolfsburg 4-1 back in 2014, that was one of my favourite nights ever as an Everton fan. It was brilliant and if we do qualify it\u2019s then on the owners to invest more and strengthen the squad because then we need to repeat it the following year.\u201d<\/p>\n FOLLOW OUR EVERTON FC FACEBOOK PAGE!<\/strong> <\/strong>Latest EFC news and analysis from via the Liverpool Echo\u2019s dedicated FB page<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Regardless of whether Everton secure European qualification or not this year, Bellew believes that with The Friedkin Group in control and having brought Moyes back as manager, the club\u2019s future remains bright.<\/p>\n The Glaswegian gaffer became only the third manager after multiple title winners Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United and Arsene Wenger of Arsenal to take charge of 750 Premier League games last time out at West Ham United, but a 2-1 loss at his previous employers \u2013 the first time in their history that the Blues have lost consecutive games in stoppage time \u2013 have led to some online rumblings among the fanbase.<\/p>\n Bellew said: \u201cI don\u2019t know who\u2019s been giving him (Moyes) stick because it wasn\u2019t anyone sitting near me, that\u2019s for sure. He\u2019s been absolutely brilliant.<\/p>\n \u201cTo play the hand with the cards he\u2019s been dealt has been phenomenal. He\u2019s spent very little money.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got a model now at our football club \u2013 a brilliant set of owners who are proper football people \u2013 this is not a fella playing Championship Manager. We\u2019ve got some exciting young players, the best of whom are probably going to get sold, but I\u2019ve got no problem with that because if you come to Everton and do really well, that means we do really well as a club.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you do well and use Everton as a stepping stone that means you do well, we do well and everyone\u2019s happy. But eventually you get to a stage where you can start keeping all your players.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only way is up for Everton Football Club. It\u2019s been really hard adjusting to the new stadium.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s the best stadium in the country for football. Spurs\u2019 stadium is better overall, in terms of hosting events and concerts.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former boxer and lifelong Everton fan Tony Bellew has been speaking about his hopes for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}