Pienaar has to go

Okay, I'll try keep this short and sweet cos I'm in the library and well behind in my degree and need to kick on so shouldn't even be doing this but its' been bugging me for months.

Pienaar when joining us was a player who was low on confidence and it looked as thoughh he would never realise his potential. Moyes did his usual and spotted this potential (as he does) and has now made Steven realise his potential, which has helped both Everton and Steven himself.

I don't think he should go: I think Moyes should stop being stubborn and give him parity with Arteta. He is now a good enough player and as important and Arteta, Cahill to command parity with the high earners (even though £60/70k makes me sick... but that's another matter).

Moyes needs to realise Steven can move for free to a club such as Inter, Arsenal, Munich etc (who have reported interest). If these 'giants' are willing to pick him up on a free and pay him the extra £10/20k a week he's after, isn't that telling us something? If he is good enough for those teams who play in Champions League every season, then why the hell are we letting him go for free?

I know Moyes wears the trousers but sometimes David you have to realise that we cannot replace a £10/20 (depending who's valuing and who's buying) million pound player. I know we expect some loyalty, but he's given us that and this is 2010... nearly 2011. Players are employees and have no right to be loyal, just like you could work for Microsoft then move to IBM. It's a dog-eat-dog world we live in, Rooney showed us we have no right to expect loyalty. Players who are loyal get our utmost respect but these are probably 5% of footballers.

If we cannot replace... DO NOT SELL (or GIVE AWAY)!!!

Come on, Everton! Steven has been on a par with our best players over the years, his commitment, attitude, work rate, and importance are not underestimated by me and I expect most of you fans. If Steven wants to leave for a change of scenery, then that's a completely different issue, but the agent has admitted it's to do with disagreement on contract as Pienaar loves the club; if that's a smokescreen for him leaving for other matters then it's something only Steven, his agent, (and maybe Moyes) knows (... maybe he doesn't!).

The day Steven Pienaar leaves us for free in the summer will be a very sad day for Everton Football Club.

As for his recent form, I had him as a candidate for the MotM award last weekend. Frankly, if I had to choose between Pienaar and Arteta, I'd opt for Pienaar. Arteta tends to blow hot and cold and doesn't offer us the kind of consistency afforded by Pienaar.

If Arteta's worth the kind of money we're rumoured to be paying him, then, at the very least, Pienaar deserves parity, if not more.

As for Krancjar and players wishing to play for the club, didn't he claim that EFC were interested in him but he opted to sign for Tottenham instead? A claim the club later refuted.

Many a game I've watched this season and thought we were poor and Pienaar was the only shining light. I couldn't help thinking what we would have been like if he hadn't been on the pitch. I found the thought quite scarey but this is what we could face come the New Year.

All the posts lately seem to be about how poor Arteta has been, without much recognition of how much better Pienaar has been... so, the way Arteta's form is at the moment, I'd drop him and give Pienaar the chance to shine again.

And what price a quality replacement? Is Gueye his replacement? Will we ever find out? OK, Pienaar doesn't score goals regularly ? but who does, apart from Cahill?

I said earlier that a club in Everton's financial position shouldn't miss a business oportunity in letting an unsettled player, a very saleable asset, leave for nothing. If he's going we should have cashed in. If we want him, pay him the going rate.

Let?s look at Arteta?s last 2 season and ask yourself, has he done better that Pienaar? The answers in ?hell NO?... so why is he being paid way more that Pienaar? Only DM can answer that one.

I still do not agree with the salaries these players are getting nowadays. (They're earning in one week is 3 times my annual salary here in South Africa) But what's fair should just be that... fair. If bigger clubs are willing to pay him that... why not us?

All-in-all, I think it's a good situation for Everton, we paid similar money if not more for Andy van der Meyde and got not nothing; with Pienaar he's been in the side regularly. Therefore I think we've recouped our money, had we paid £4M for him and he been indifferent, we'd have got less for him anyway.

I don't want him to go and think if he does go to some of the so possible suitors I think he himself is not seeing the bigger picture. I don't think he'll command a first team place (Inter Milan, Spurs etc) and, as 'Big mouth Harry' has shown, he has no loyalty and won't be happy until he has 3 players for every position.

If SP wanted to stay, he would've signed by now. I think he's gambling getting a big sign on fee. It's refreshing (even if it isn't realistic) seeing Landon Donovan's comments at the moment as, in lieu of this, someone still WANTS to play for Everton!

Whilst he has been really good for us and he is obviously a good player, there are chinks in his armour. My frustration with him lies in his final pass, his poor shooting, and his general inability to score a goal.

Whilst we would miss his him, I think we need to get some money for him that can be put toward buying a replacement (Krancjar, Bentley, N'Zogbia, Ireland). At the end of the day, I want players playing for the Club who are 100% committed and, as I said previously, I think he sees himself playing for a "better" club.

If we are to lose him, I think realistic targets would have to be Kranjcar, Muntari (on loan), Sessegon (on loan), or signing players like Dale Jennings or Jamie Mackie from the lower divisons.

I think Donovan won't happen and actually isn't constructive unless signed permanently. N'Zogbia would cost too much and his wages are too high.

Moyes is going nowhere and has to make do with what Bill gives him for now but Pienaar is the holder of all his own cards. He can now go and get a bumper signing-on fee and, as he is free, his wages will probably be significantly higher than we can afford to pay him. Also, he can see out the last few years of his career playing Champions League footie... something else we are a long way off from giving him. (If only we capatalised when we finished 4th like Spurs have... but that's another thread!)

I for one can't blame him for doing the things the way he has and at least he ain't done a Lescott on us. He leaves with my good wishes ? so long as it's not to them horrible red bastards next door!

Pienaar is worth two of lazy Arteta. He wants the same money as Arteta and Everton won't give it to him. We are keeping the wrong player.

Pienaar is one of the reasons we are where we are in the league because he plays pretty football and has no end product when we need a result. When he was out injured, we actually won a few games.

I'm not defending Arteta because he has been poor recently, but he is one of the reasons we dominate possession against many teams. It's not Arteta's fault he doesn't have the players around him to make runs and benefit from his ability.

And all this talk about Kranjcar... well where are we gonna get the money to sign him? If we get anything for Pienaar, it will be no more than £5M and you can't buy the Kranjcars of this world for a measly £5M these days.

Quite frankly, the extra money he is asking for will seem like peanuts once we realise the dramatic negative effect of him leaving has had on our perfromances on the pitch ? trust me.

Let me say this: Bily or Pienaar for that bit of guile or shooting around the penalty area??? It's Bily all the time. Drop Pienaar, give Bily a run, and get behind him... and I know ? I'm certain we will see more goals.

On a side note, does anyone else think that him and Arteta tend to get in each other's way sometimes? Pienaar was all over the pitch looking for the ball against Bolton which seemed to confuse Arteta a bit from what I could see.

So in essence Bily has scored the same amount of goals in half the appearances and had more assists... but Pienaar looks busier!.... Either him or Arteta? Arteta every time. Could the standoff re wages be causing waves behind the scenes?

Colin, "Pienaar's return has coincided with our recent poor results"! We have lost once against Arsenal, the lad is twice the player Arteta is at the moment, and we are just saying, "Oh let him go, we only paid buttons for him anyway," ? what utter shite mentality. When you see how we have blown millions on Bily, it`s a no-brainer.