Funes Mori admits he misses River Plate

And everybody will keep singing.

He has done okay for us this season and maybe winning a trophy and challenging for a Champions League place will convince him his future lies with Everton.

Then again it was a quote from The Sun... only time will tell.

As fans we can find ourselves a little guilty of a slight lack of consideration in regards to the facts of some footballers lives.

Yes they get a lot of money but come on it must be a bit of a culture shock for anyone who moves a million miles away from all they know and love.

That said, Funes Mori has handled it quite well to an extent and if he can't handle life as it is now, how would he handle a long-term injury or being left out of the team for Jags?

He should be on Cloud Nine really; he’s already in the team, he’s performing relatively well, and the crowd seem to have taken to him.

Jags will take his place soon and the weather isn’t going to improve any time soon either so Funes Mori had best man-up or we could be in a pickle. River won’t pay us £9m back!

One saving grace may be that Funes Mori is not as wealthy as Teves or Veron so he may have to put up and shut up for at least the duration of his contract.

Regardless, it is The Sun... so whatever.

(but if he is miserable now, imagine the gob on him when a fit Jags goes straight back in, in his place, irrespective of form)

After all, aren’t Lukaku and Coleman going to Man Utd. Geri is going back to Barcelona. Mirallas is going everywhere except Finch Farm. Etc.

The Mirror, Sporting Life, Channel 4 Racing and various newspapers worldwide have all quoted snippets from exclusive interviews I gave to them when, truth be told, I have never spoken to a reporter in my life. This goes on all the time. Any kind of a mention is usually good for business so you just let them get on with it.

Funes Mori is now more well known than he was last week but I'll bet he has spoken to no-one.

I severely doubt that even allowing for UK tax he’s taken a significant uplift in salary joining us. Argentina has a "progressive" tax rate up to 35%, and even though most people dodge it, it’s unclear whether footballers can/do (even though Argentinian football has a level of corruption FIFA would be proud of).

He’s only been here 5 minutes. His accountant, agent, family and neighbour will be telling him to trouser another couple of years worth of money before even thinking of going back.

File with the rest of The Sun in the rubbish basket.

I'm working away from home in a country (South East Asia) where I don't speak the language, or have the same culture, food, religion, quality of life. At first I thought it was a good opportunity, its only when I arrived, how much better home really is. Dude is human.

Footballers are pampered and clubs I do believe employ people to cater for their every need. They are human but they do get their arses wiped for them in fairness.

Once he’s finished his career and counts his cash, he could probably buy most of Buenos Aries. Still, I like what I see of him on the pitch and will support him 100% as an Everton player.

Call it the ice cold in Alex syndrome.

Really like what I've seen so far as a player, hope the fans and team mates rally around him to get him through this.

I'd be disappointed if we didn't get at least 2 seasons out of him, as well as no loss on the resale.

I remember when Hernan Crespo complained, after he moved to Chelsea, that he had to call his agent to get some light bulbs changed in his luxury flat and he felt let down by the club. Almost as bad as Toure's birthday cake.

At the end of the day, it’s not abnormal for a young man to miss home.

And if he was asked "Do you miss home, do you miss River Plate, do you think you’ll ever go back to River Plate, do you wish you had waited until after the Club Cup?" these quotes would look quite diplomatic!

As long as he gives his all on the pitch, he’ll do for me while he’s with us.

Young man moves away to another country for work and he misses his home - Shocker!

Of course he does. I’d spent more than half my life abroad before returning home to Ireland to start a family and in that time, I never once said anything other than I miss my home and family and hope to return there one day.

That wasn’t being disrespectful; it was just being honest but it didn’t mean I was anything but professional in my work.

It's a puff piece on a slow news day, nothing more. If the guy is a little homesick, so what. He's proved himself so far.

Non story. The guy is human and misses home.
He will learn to adjust and adapt.

I have no worries that he will give 100% on the pitch.

I think sometimes we forget the human element of football. Only the other night Geri tweeted pics of him studying late into the night to help him learn the English language. Can't be easy for him either, on or off the pitch, as I'm pretty certain Seamus doesn't speak Spanish.

As you suspected, this Sun article is a load of fabricated rubbish.

It is derived from various twitter postings that he has been making on River Plate, who are completing in the World Club Championship, in Spanish. Quite understandably, he professes to still love 'El River' and tweets on them regularly. There is no interview to be found. The supposed ''quotes", which aren't actual quotes nor even correct translations, are mainly taken from tweets, are twisted around to sound like they were given in an interview and the admission of being ''home sick" is just completely invented. He hasn't been speaking to anyone in Argentina, or anywhere else, as far as I can see.

His official twitter account is here (all in Spanish) at @FunesMori999

Essentially, this is no different to Tim Cahill or Landon Donovan being linked to a return to Everton on the basis of a few ''Go Everton!" tweets.

It is click-bait stuff really. I think there will be a lot of this silliness in store for Everton fans in the future.

What I see is where there is a language gap, like here, it is particularly easy for lazy journos to make up ''quotes" derived from text in another tongue and then spin them as real and make up a story based on it. And in addition, in the background too you have chancers like Tim Vickery trading on their ex-pat status as being automatically 'knowledgeable' and 'expert', etc, etc. So, expect rubbish like this about Funes Mori and Deulofeu, etc, etc, on a regular basis.

What has appeared recently in the Argentine media is a little report on how Everton fans have taken him to their heart already, even including little clip of the 'Funes Mori' chant from YouTube

I’d dismiss anything that’s in that rag.

Known as 'doing a Cilla' (or 'giving it the large Tarby')

I'd actually love to hear the Argie version, but done in 'Noggsy'

"Ah juss miss 'ome lad, you know wha' am sayin'? Swear down, ah miss me corned beef mate - me frey benno bud. Does me 'ead in every time I 'ere someone say 'Falklands' lad, swear down. Not bein' funny but the beef's fuckin' shit 'ere mate." (drinks crate of Quilmes, sings something along the lines 'in me bonus-aireez home', falls over)

Etc.

Nothing in this story I suspect. Of course he would miss home and his old team initially. He's only been in the UK 4 months.

Mark, My brother was stationed in the Embassy in Buenos Aires back in 1978 and he was also when the the World Cup was on. True, it CAN get pretty cool but he was impressed with the steaks he got. Some of them still had a hoof attached.

I am sure one of the reasons Lukaku’s fantastic season is that his best mate Kevin De Bruyne only lives a hour away now.

What counts for me is how he does on the pitch for us – no complaints on that score; has made a few mistakes, but who hasn’t? He shows passion and leadership potential, and better distribution than Jags (+ Distin and all of our recent centre-backs except the immaculate Stones). Expect him to replace Jags, probably next season.

A very good signing by RM on what we’ve seen so far; I'm very glad to have him on board.

The whole business explained.

"Respected Sun Newspaper Reliably Reports That..."
or?