Everton 'in talks' with Sigueira

Maybe if Bainesy leaves we could snap up Abidal after he left Barca. I thought the way they treated him was disgraceful. I think he has 3 or 4 years left in him. I prepare for the criticism but I think we should consider Abidal if Baines is sold.

Then again, it's the daily mail, prolly bollocks.

Baines isn't going anywhere anyway.

Not that I want him to leave, but if we're raising money to provide wider benefit of the team, then obviously we can't simply reinvest the same money in an equivalent player.

I also don't think that, good as he was, a player who'll be 34 at the start of the new season and has played, what, one full 90 minutes at first team level in the last year, since recovering from a liver transplant?

I think the best replacement for Baines, and one that is decently affordable, would be Danny Rose to be honest. Leaves us a bit more money to spend on a really class striker then.

If you look in your copy of the Socialist Worker (or maybe the "Fifth International") you'll find EFC have approached Barca about Messi?

I think Shaw looks top drawer and I think he will end up at one of the big SKY teams in the end, having been sold to them for over £20 million

To be honest, I think Oviedo could do the job as well

Some very daft comments already.

And if Martinez feels Garbutt is not good enough then we should just send Garbutt permanently to the lower leagues like we did with Jake Bidwell.

I'm so sick of these 'promising' youngsters who hang around the club for years but never get near the first team. If I was Martinez I would take a long hard look at players like Vellios, Duffy, Garbutt, Stones, Junior, McAleny and Kennedy and decide, either start using them in the first team or get them off the payroll.

There is no room for passengers at Everton and if this current group of youngsters aren't good enough then they should make room for the next group like Hope, Browning, Long, Springthorpe and Green.

A random Spanish player (which you've said in two different posts)? So if this were true you reckon RM stuck his hand in a bowl and pulled him out?

If Bill and his circus continue to cock up and linger like a bad smell for all eternity it's the only route to turn to Shane...

Much like the uncapped left back playing for a lower level top division club in England would be "some randomer from England". Someone like, I dunno, Leighton Baines when we signed him?

Why are you unconvinced in Oviedo? We didn't really see him playing LB last season, we saw him playing LM and I thought he looked pretty damn useful when given brief opportunities. Oviedo looked energetic, had a trick or two, and had lots of pace. I really hope Martinez gives him more chances then DM did.

We still haven't seen him at LB playing enough to make a real judgement though.

Who knows what is going on with Oviedo, maybe Martinez doesn't see him as a leftback, maybe Moyes had a reason for not playing him. Let's be honest the wonderkid Barkley who some fans though Moyes was deliberately repressing because he was dour actually got more game time than Oviedo. As did Hitzlsperger. I'd love ot be proven wrong and he comes flying out the blocks next season but there could well be osmething amiss. If there is then a side chaisng European football can not go a whole season with one leftback on the books. It would be the media's dream for Baines to go - they seem a bit uncomfotable with the fact that a player that good is outside the moneyed clubs. They think if they print something enough then it will eventually happen and at the ridiculously low price of their choosing. If Baines does go it should be for a stonking fee - but I don't think he will and I think if this rumour is true this guy would just be much needed back up.

Distin can play there with relative comfort. If we want to try new options then there's Oviedo and even Garbutt. Hibbo could do a job as a bit of a last resort too.

I get your point. I think we'd all like proven cover in every position, but I just think money could be better spent elsewhere. The team needs to add quality rather than just adding numbers.

I think you are probably right there. I think Chelsea have been sniffing around him already as the man to replace Cole. Still if we lost Baines then he is by far the best young LB out there so why not try for him.

Fellaini on the other hand, I hope we sell, it would bring our club much needed funds and give RM plenty of room for manuver in the transfer market. Fellaini is a luxury we can afford to sacrifice to help Martinez buy quality in various different positions.

With Sky money, money left over from january and selling Fellaini and Heitinger, Martinez should be looking at a £40 million war chest, Think RM could do some real serious business with that amount

Sigueira in = £4.5 million

Baines out = £15-20 million

With our owners, what's to figure?

Having said all that, one cannot afford to turn down big money for him if the bids come in, just like Fellaini, especially when they are arguably at the top of their games.

Really?? Messrs Ibrahimovic and Kjaer would be just a couple that debunk your theory.

Have you forgotten Limpar? He was a great player for us, Scandinavian too. (OMG!)

Just because we had a few duds in Krøldrup and Jacobsen doesn't mean all Scandinavians are crap.

Either way, I can't see Baines leaving, but having a 23-year-old that has shown he can run, pass and cross certainly doesn't have me all too worried. To be perfectly honest, without seeing him more than a dozen times, he's probably already the second or third best full-back we've had in over a decade.

Also like you I can't see Baines leaving. Then again, I couldn't see Moyes getting the Man U job so I'll STFU in case I jinx things!

Like you, I also think Pienaar has a fairly average season at best, and needs to really amp it up this coming season if he's going to justify all the BS he caused coming and going.

As much as this is going to sound like a really boring soundbite that the club would pump out around now, but we have a pretty good crop of players and actually have a depth that a lot of people don't acknowledge.

To be honest, if a club put in a decent bid for Baines – £15m+ knowing our owners – it wouldn't be the end of the world. I don't know and have never heard of this bloke Sigueira, though.

Distinct would not be able to play left back in the Martinez style of football.
He likes his full backs to be up and down the line,offering options in attacking football constantly.
Distinct would not have the legs,great player that he is.

Yes, Matt I am aware of his heritage, I was referring to the fact that he is Scandinavian but not shite, but point taken.

Perhaps you (or Mark) could address the Scandinavian gene theory in regards to the other players I mentioned?

More interesting rumours - Hugo Almeida

Guilherme Siqueira is from Brazil.

I was joking, I know scandinavians's don't have shite gene's, its totally ridiculous for anyone to think so. There's some terrific scandinavian players past and present:

M Laudrup
B Laudrup
T Gravesen
Z Ibrahimovic

And many more.........