Everton have announced the signing of goalkeeper Mark Travers from Bournemouth on a four-year deal. The Ireland international spent the second half of last season on loan at Championship side Middlesbrough.
Travers stands as the first third signing for the Toffees this summer, after the team converted Charly Alcaraz's loan into a permanent deal and then added French striker Thierno Barry last week.
This deal is a modest one, reportedly costing Everton just £4 million plus potential bonuses, which won't impact the club's summer transfer budget a great deal. But it was a massive need to fill, with both Joao Virginia and Asmir Begovic both departing earlier in the summer, having served as backup keepers last season.
As noted yesterday, Travers hasn't played a ton since Bournemouth's Championship season in 2021/22, where he started 46 matches for the Cherries. Since they returned to the Premier League, he's twice been loaned back to Championship squads (Stoke City for 14 matches in 2023/24 and the back half of last season at Middlesbrough), but he does have several top flight starts to his name.
This isn't the most exciting signing for Everton, to be sure, but even though Jordan Pickford has been a rock at the back since his arrival in 2017, health in football is something that cannot be assumed. Travers is a player who most Toffees' supporters will hope to never see on the pitch outside of the occasional cup match, but that says more about Pickford than it does about the Irishman.
And this won't be the final signing of the summer for Everton, even as they prepare for the preseason to begin tonight with a trip to Accrington Stanley and the Premier League Summer Series tour in the United States looming.
To his credit, David Moyes recognizes the club needs more, but also that bringing in an experienced player like Travers to work as Pickford's backup was vital.