Demarai Gray may claim victory but awkward truth clear for both player and Everton

Demarai Gray’s departure was a messy ending to a transfer window and none of the parties involved came out well from the debacle.

Gray’s public complaint may have been effective but was disappointing to read. Everton, meanwhile, have lost a player it appears Sean Dyche hoped to be able to call upon this season.

Both can claim to be the winner in this - Gray is no longer at Everton while the Blues have boosted the club accounts through the sale of a player who was unlikely to have been a key part of the starting line-up.

But it was an unedifying end to a transfer window that, while it had a sting in the tail, held positives for the Blues. The questions that will linger are whether the situation was avoidable and, if so, there was a miscalculation that further weakened a small squad.

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On Saturday, Dyche said he believed Gray would remain at Everton. On Tuesday he said no deal is done without the club’s say so. On Thursday, Gray was sold. It was a messy addendum to the transfer window. And it was a mess the club could have done without. In the end, Everton made the right call and, to some extent, the mature one - once Gray issued his social media post it was difficult to see a way back for him and selling him removed an unhappy player from the squad for a sum that will no doubt be useful.

Only time will tell whether the deal is one too far for a small squad but the reality is that it became a necessary one. No-one comes out of it unscathed, however. Gray’s Instagram post made an internal problem public. It was also a surprise