The summer saga of adding Tyler Dibling from Southampton was a long one, fraught with negotiations and uncertainty right up until the deal was done.
And since his arrival, Dibling has played just 157 minutes over 10 matches, with just two starts, one against Wolves in the FA Cup, the other in early October in the Premier League against Crystal Palace. He didn't make it to the hour mark in either match despite being part of the starting XI.
It's a curious case, but one that Everton manager David Moyes doesn't appear to have any answers for.
It isn't an outright rejection of youth from the Scottish boss, because Thierno Barry appears to have cemented himself as the no.1 striker option, while Merlin Röhl has 95 Premier League minutes in just four matches compared to Dibling's 88 in seven. Meanwhile, teenaged fullback Adam Aznou has yet to sniff the pitch for the senior side.
If experience has anything to do with the choice, of that quartet, Dibling was far and away the most prolific Premier League player of the group heading into the season, amassing over 1800 top-flight minutes for Southampton last year at just 18 years of age.
But now Everton talisman Iliman Ndiaye is headed off to Morocco to join his Senegal teammates for the Africa Cup of Nations, and it is likely to be several matches before he and Idrissa Gana Gueye return to the Everton side.
Moyes' squad is relatively thin with the Senegalese pair, given injuries to key figures like Jarrad Branthwaite, Seamus Coleman, and Röhl, so continuing to freeze players out cannot be an option for this run of matches.
In other words, Tyler Dibling needs to play as much as possible over this festive season of fixtures, because Everton need to know what kind of player he is. They know who Dwight McNeil is, and while he can be useful, he isn't at the level of talent of Dibling, and his contract suggests he won't be around as long anyway.
Yes, AFCON is an all hands on deck situation for Everton, and so it will include McNeil, but he cannot be the featured player on the right wing. He's too limited as a dribbler, too one-footed, and not nearly as dynamic as Dibling has shown himself to be.
The club needs to consider this season during this period, absolutely. But this is an opportunity to see what the future could look like, so the onus is on Moyes and his coaching staff to give Dibling a run while Ndiaye is out.
That duo just might be the winger pairing when the 2026/2027 campaign begins.