Who Can Make Roberto's 28? Part 2

Another midfield option would be Diame at West Ham, he knows the manager (Wigan) and is rumoured to have a release fee in the region of £3.5m. To me this would represent a bargain price for a good quality midfielder, but again he would not be a direct replacement for Barry and prefers a more advanced midfield role. Does he have the discipline to cover for our fullbacks?

Benega is available and still only young. Different class to Rodwell and if we are serious about getting into the top 4 we need to aim higher. Rodwell and Gibson would give you about 20 games between them if you are lucky.

It depends on what your definition or description is of that term, of course, but neither, surely, could be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Messi, Bale, Yaya Toure, et. al. For another, both might make, but aren't certainties of making, the England (ranked 11th by FIFA) first choice run on side.

David Alaba? Jordi Alba? I can't say I've seen either much, but both are highly rated. Philip Lahm yes, but hasn't he converted to a defensive midfielder under Guardiola?

I think there are certainly better attacking left backs than him. There are also better defenders than him. But as a whole, including his set pieces, he's probably at his peak and would probably get into or very close to being included in a world team. That said, he seems to have played well below par since his double against West Ham....but still well enough to be England's first choice reasonably comfortably.

Barkley, far too soon to say. He certainly has the potential to be up there. Physically he is already the complete player. The nature of the goals he's scored this season suggest he has abilities that are rarely seen.

The goal against Newcastle where he dribbled the ball from our half to their goal, faster than all of their players, then finished with such composure and power isn't the kind of goal that players usually score, never mind someone just turned 20 and in their first full season of top flight football.

His decision-making is often poor, but for a creative player at his age, you'd expect that will come with experience. He'll be a cracking player if he can stay injury free and grounded; whether he can go on to be a bona-fide world star is something we're probably a few years from finding out.

He's in a similar situation to Rooney. Someone who had the ability to be talked of in the same breath as Ronaldo, Messi or Ibrahimovic, but has fallen quite a bit short, probably because of his life decisions.

Depending on how the youth players shape in pre-season, I think we must be adding two experienced central defensive midfielders. Cleverly, Barry and Rodwell are the three that are mentioned. I think the first two make sense. I would prefer to take Rodwell as central defender – he does not have the right imagination to play in midfield, even defensive midfield.

For creative central midfielders, it would be nice to have another option in the centre to Barkley and Osman – but this may not be a requirement depending what reinforcements we get in the central striking role. Towards the end of the season, we were playing with two upfront which negated the need for a midfielder in this role. Also, I think Pienaar can play well in that position and his lack of pace may be less of a liability there (although he does not score enough).

Out wide, we need a replacement for Deulofeu – preferably that lad that is at Barcelona and just got the call up to the Spanish squad – he's called Deulofeu (if only for one more year).

Personally I think Gibson is more a replacement for Barry than McCarthy. Gibson doesn't have the legs to play the McCarthy role, but then not many do given he's a machine.

Fair point; of course, neither player is in the same bracket as those you have mentioned but those players are game-changers in game-changing positions. I would have described Southall as world class as he was the best in his position at the time. However he could not have had the same influence on the game as Messi. Likewise, I think Baines is among the best in the world in his position.

It is course entirely subjective. Barkley is miles away from being world class but, at the same age, Bale was still a left back who hadn't played in a winning Tottenham team. He needs to add a variety of passes to his game and improve on his decision-making. But certainly what he has you can't teach... so, by those standards, I think he can be world class. It is of course entirely subjective and worthy of debate.

Banega is a much more creative option than Rodwell or Cleverley and could really add some class.

We should have got Redmond last summer for £2.5m (probably what we payed to loan Deulofeu); now he'll probably cost at least twice as much.

Hopefully we can tie up the Barry signing soon as he was a very important cog in last season's success.

Every year, we hear that 'this is the best crop ever' and every year almost all the kids fade away to make a career at Brentford, Yeovil and Altrincham. Even a string of England junior caps is no passport to serious first-team consideration and only at Southampton has precocious talent been translated into Premier League star quality.

Will Roberto prove any different to previous managers in this this direction? Somehow I doubt it. There's too much at stake to take the chance.

Re Ledson and "what does he do that is outstanding?"

He is 16 years old. Bit early for a statement like that if you don't mind me saying.

Lundstram? Question marks for me. Has never seemingly pushed on; like Francisco Junior, you would imagine his career will have to go down a few leagues with maybe the hope of moving up a la Ricky Lambert.

Does Redmond have the all-round game to make it as a top player? – that would be my only question on him. Let's be honest, over the season, he did not set the world on fire at Norwich. I would prefer Ince who I am sure could take on the Pienaar role better. Tall, strong, athletic and scores goals.

I think he will probably move abroad, but at 22 with something to prove, I think any player would be mad to turn down Everton. We would turn him into an England international I am sure, I think he could quickly become a forgotten man, especially if he joined Monaco and maybe still if he went to Inter.

People have short memories. The vast majority of posters at the time thought we had robbed Man City blind to get what we did for a journeyman. Those who disagreed thought we were letting a future star go.

Well, now we know who was right, let’s not exercise ourselves discussing whether or not to bring back a player who had no vision and who let people run past him time after time as he focussed on the ball.

It doesn’t matter what his price/wages are, they will be too much for "not good enough". Lovely lad though he is.

"Well now we know who was right" – is that it then? Rodwell's career is officially over as announced by Peter Lee on the 30 May 2014. I hope no-one tells him as he's only just turned 23 and probably thinks he's still got at least 10 years in him. Crikey, I hope you show more perseverance in your personal life.

As for Redmond, there were those of us last summer saying we should sign him, I'd watched 10 mins of an England U-21 and could see the potential. I guess you can't really blame Martinez as he was coming into a new job, but he's on a list of young-ish English players who could be bought for a reasonable fee and made substantially better by our coaches and by being in our team.

Mirallas, McCarthy and Barkley are nailed on starters, and even Mirallas needs resting from time to time, probably rotating with McGeady. We need two first choice midfielders, but will have to settle for loans again. It looks as if Barry is not interested in signing if all the noises from the press are to be believed.

Naismith & Kone will not bag 30 between them, but will be decent squad players, especially in Europe.

As ever, we need a striker, but do we spunk 70 or 80% of our whole kitty on one player? Over to you, Bobby.

Personally, I tend to ignore all these rumours and will wait and see who Roberto signs. I've got to say that, on the face of it, most names linked don't impress me (eg, Rodwell, Cleverley) but I think we have to respect Roberto's judgement and give whoever he does bring in a fair chance, even if they may not appear to be what we want initially.

We could probably nab experienced players such as Banega and Guilavogui and still have change from £10M...and that's assuming Barry doesn't come back on a free.

I reckon that Martinez probably has somewhere around £30m to play with and I'd be shocked if we didn't see him sign a few gems from the Spanish league or elsewhere to complement Garbutt, Grant and/or Browning, as part of the new faces he thinks we need this season. No doubt he'll use our loan complement up too. In fact, Banega on loan with an option would be really good.

Next season, I'm hopeful we won't have the massive injury list we had this season. We are in need of a real quality front-man to lead the line, but with Gibson, Oviedo and Kone back from long-term injury they give us a bit more depth and experience and our squad no longer looks that thin.

Two things that should help us secure top quality talent is firstly European football, and secondly the draw of Martinez at the helm who I think most players with their heads screwed on would love to play for. Last season, even us fans were wondering if Martinez was the unlucky FA Cup winner, or the lucky guy who got his team relegated. I'm hopeful – but not fully certain – that that argument is now settled.

I'm really looking forward to see which signings he makes. If you remember last year we made a serious approach for Fernando at Porto, now coveted by the richest clubs around. This time around we have more cash and Martinez is more aware of where the squad needs improving.

So I suspect this close season will be very important, as to who we replace Lukaku and Barry with as well as strengthen in other positions. Plus we will have the extra Europa league to contend with. Then there is the question of what will happen if Barkley has a very good World Cup, I doubt we could ill afford to lose Barkley as well as the other 2 players. Yes we will get good money for him if he goes, but you cant keep selling your best players and hope to attract top talent to replace these players.

Ledson - far too young and too big a jump in level at this stage of his career.

Rodwell - worth a punt - Still young enough and experienced quality player due an injury free period.

On the funding front I think it is very important to get the best striker available to us. Lukaku proved the worth of a 20+ goals a season striker and he only bagged 14. I would love us to go all out and get a Dzeko or Balotelli who can bully defenders and hold the ball up while still being prominent in goalscoring.

I think Barry or replacement is also key.

I would prefer us to get 2 top quality players in rather than 7 or 8 squad players.

The second point I disagree with is most of our most eye catching play was through Pienaar and Baines. This was certainly true in the Moyes era, at least until Coleman and Mirallas formed a partnership, now days however, all Pienaar does is slow things down to pedestrian pace. Look how much quicker on the break we were, and the results that went with it, when the South African was injured for the last 3 months of the season. Like Ozzie, his best days are behind him but probably just good enough to remain in the squad, and will find it harder than ever to stake a claim for a starting place once Oviedo fully recovers.

What would a Bony, Lukaku or even a Welbeck cost? I can't see the likes of City or Chelsea being as keen to loan their players either, will they look upon us as a genuine threat this season?

Maybe. Two years ago, at the age of 21. Rodwell's career hasn't really started yet. I can't believe the people happy to write him because he wasn't already the complete player by the age of 21. Wasn't one of the first things Martinez said when he joined us that English football fails to progress its players between the ages of 18-21? He's gone nowhere at City, it was a crazy signing for them. The potential is all still there, he just needs good coaching, rather than assuming he'll produce because some money was spent on him.

Even allowing for wages, agents fees and increased contracts for existing players, if £20M is all he has I'll be both surprised and worried. Martinez seemed keen on Lukaku at £20M and I'm not sure he'd be so happy if that was everything he had.

I'm unsure if chelsea and city see us as a threat. We're so far off them over the course of a season, I can't see them worried. If anything we more likely to make their job easier by beating the teams most people expect to challenge them(RS, Arse, Utd)

Gibson on the other hand, is not anyway near as mobile as McCarthy (who is?) but he sits deep and has an excellent range of passing....would be a perfect partner for McCarthy if he could by some miracle could stay fit for most of the season. The two of them have very different attributes.

With all the extra games next season, two more central midfielders are imperative. Hopefully Barry will be one of them.

This Transfer Window is of massive importance...we've lost 3 big players in Lukaku, Barry and Deulofeu...and with all the extra games, RM will have to work some magic on limited funds.

The only exception, for me, would be the description of Darron Gibson:

"Deceptively quick and an eye for goal"

He's only scored twice in his Everton career and, considering he came with a reputation for scoring screamers, his shooting has been consistently shite. He even played for a prolonged period where he deliberately resisted opportunities to shoot incase it resulted in an injury reoccurring. I definitely wouldn't hold out any hopes of him adding goals to the midfield next season (or any season come to that).

As for his 'deceptive' turn of pace? He must keep it shrouded under a Keyser Soze style cloak of secrecy because I'll readily admit to never, ever, noticing it but, then again, maybe I've just been blinded by his bizarre Baron Greenback style body shape.

To be honest I regard Gibson as one of the most overrated players Everton have had for a long time. The fact we remained unbeaten with him in the side for a while perhaps made it seem like he was integral to the teams success. However, I just don't see it. Even his much vaunted 'range of passing' is rarely utilised. More often than not it boils down to the simple task of collecting the ball and immediately spreading it out wide and then, when he does attempt a penetrating pass, it too often tends to go astray.

For me, McCarthy is a massive upgrade, possessing more pace, power, technique and tenacity. The fact he's actually able to get out of bed in the morning and put his slippers on without suddenly keeling over and rolling about his bedroom floor like he's been wrapped in a burning carpet also helps his cause.

I was never too impressed with Rodwell in the midfield. But....what about Rodwell in central defence? He started his career there. He has good size, fairly good foot-speed. If it could work, he and John Stones could be our back two for a decade.

Rodwell's only problem (apart from injury) seems to be a lack of intelligence. This was alluded to in Phil Neville's 'teammates' interview on Soccer AM a couple of years ago and suggests he has failed to figure out for himself some important things about the way he is going to be the most effective footballer he can be. This may be crucial as the positions we're talking about demand thought, concentration and organisation. This will partially come with experience, but I think he's a guy who's been let down by the coaching and management he's received since the age of 18. If this were to be put right, I believe he can still be an absolutely top class player for Everton and England. I for one hold out the hope that this will still happen.