David Moyes has strenuously denied reports claiming Chelsea made an eleventh-hour bid to sign James Garner on Deadline Day.

The final hours of Chelsea’s transfer window were markedly chaotic. They thought they had secured a deal to sign Monaco’s Lamine Camara as they scrambled to replace Manchester City-bound Enzo Fernandez, but saw their plans dashed as the Ligue 1 side pulled out of negotiations at the last.

After the fact, it was reported by some outlets that Chelsea had made a late attempt to bolster their midfield options with the versatile Garner, but Moyes has quashed those claims unequivocally.

Asked to verify the rumour, he declared: “What was said was completely untrue, so I don’t know where that’s come from. There’s no truth in that whatsoever.”

Speaking on Friday, Alonso seemed nonplussed by Chelsea’s late-window business, saying he was happy with the midfield options at his disposal even without Fernandez being properly replaced.

In any case, Everton were not necessarily in a position to sell on Deadline Day. Moyes was left with a squad featuring just 18 senior players once the window closed after the Toffees failed to close a number of last-minute negotiations.

Monaco striker Folarin Balogun walked away from talks moments before the deadline, and a late loan offer for Joshua Zirkzee was rejected by Manchester United. More recent reports have also seen them linked with West Ham’s Taty Castellanos.

Elsewhere, the likes of Beto, Tim Iroebugnam and Nathan Patterson all left the club and went unreplaced.

Moyes continued, suggesting he was not overly impressed with the club’s performance in the transfer window: “If you want success, then you all need to be aligned. I think we’ve got new owners in who are still finding their way at the club. I think as we get to know each other a bit more, it will be better.

“I know what I needed and I know what it’s like to build a squad for the Premier League. I know the numbers you need. I’ve been around long enough to know that, but some things went against us and some things could have gone better.

“Ultimately, we didn’t want to lose a lot of the players, but for different reasons that had to happen. They’re all going to have to be able to muck in as we’ve got a real small squad now.”

Everton have a handful of promising youngsters in the academy ranks who may now get opportunities to impress, if only by necessity: “It gives opportunities to some people who have not had them and sometimes in football you need to be given that chance so that you can show what you can do.”