Naismith completes Norwich switch

Never quite made the grade here, but a lot of that's due to this ridiculous predilection we have with playing players out of position, just to fit them into the team.

Give Naismith the ball at his feet inside the box, facing the goal, and he's a consummate finisher; the best we have in a tight space.

But we've have insisted playing him either on the wing, out of place in midfield or clearly instructed to track back and cover behind the full backs!

No small wonder then that he's not made as big an impact as he might have done and wishes to move on.

I'm sure he will go with all our best wishes.

He never gives less than 100% and can be a bit of a nark too, which is something we are short of in this 'after you Claude' team of ours.

If Norwich use him properly, he might just give them some much-neded punch up front and save them from the drop.

We need this type of 'get at them' player with 100% grit and determination. We've had Big Dunc, Timmy Cahill and Naismith... now Besic looks like our next nark. If we don't get another striker in and Big Rom gets injured, we are right in the klartz with Kone.

Will always be remembered for the constant work ethic and nuisance factor.

I thank you for the goals in all the big game's against Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City.

You have been unfairly treated since scoring that hat-trick against Chelsea in September and grossly underused at time's.

I wish you all the best at Norwich, a decent club for you in a nice part of the country, enjoy it and make a mark in your debut against Liverpool on Saturday for the Canaries..

A great weekend for the Canaries but not the Swans.

Perhaps Tarashaj will be that player next season or Mirallas will get a run. I'm still keen on Yarmolenko another Tadic, Eriksen, Pienaar like player.

I thought reading between the lines Martinez wanted him at Everton to see out this busy period but obviously he was never going to play Naismith anyway with a move in the pipeline so it's more difficult to work out jargon from Roberto.

We must replace Naismith this month, cannot rely on just Kone and Lukaku.

I think he will score a decent amount of goals if he is played in his proper position – striker.

He will want the deal done soonest so he has time to bring in a replacement, I would have thought. Or rather, I would have hoped.

With all due respect to Naismith though, if our chances of reaching the final rested on him, then I'd be more worried than I already am about the second leg.

A good bit of business as this sale has paid for Byram, Foulds and Tarashaj with £1.5 million left over.

Bless you, Naisy. Wish you all the best. Thank you.

Thanks and good luck Steven. Good pro, good footballer, seems like a good bloke. Not what we need if we're looking to progress and not likely to improve. A pleasant change for us to actually sell a player we don't need while we can get good money for him.

Always thought he killed plays at times by going to ground trying to draw a whistle instead of just getting on with it, but liked his in your face attitude versus the big boys. Shame we couldn't combine him and Mirallas into one tireless goal scoring player.

I hear what you are saying about not pinning our Cup Final hopes on Naismith but picture this, if Lukaku limps off after 20 minutes next Wednesday night at the Etihad, you bring on one man, the totally jaded looking Arouna Kone.

I'd much rather fancy our chances of nicking the goal with Naismith on the pitch rather than Kone.

It may never happen, Lukaku could remain fit and strong all season but it's a huge risk that potentially damages our season further if we don't bring in a replacement.

But that's not the Everton way anymore. Drawn out for the Sky Sports viewers pleasure.

£8.5m for Naismith shows how bonkers the leagues become. Great business for the club, about £5m net in the bank after the Byram lad's signing.

With this done, I can see Mirallas staying until the summer, which is good news (assuming he gets on the pitch regularly...).

Now where's that new goalie...

Also Barkley reckons himself as a striker...

On a side issue, none of the three officials from Stamford Bridge are to be sin-binned as they each take their place in various stadiums. The Echo reports that:

"The Chester ref will take charge of Manchester United's home game with Southampton on Saturday. And Jones's assistant referees from Stamford Bridge – Mike Mullarkey and Peter Kirkup – are also in action this weekend. Mullarkey will be part of the officiating team at Selhurst Park for Crystal Palace v Spurs while Kirkup will run the line at Watford v Newcastle."

It's a decent fee but I would be keeping Naismith until at least the summer.

Mixed feelings about Nais going... yes it's decent money, but still think he has something that we don't have in other players. While not the most gifted, he is a canny lad and knows where and when to show up in the box, plus he has that "narky" attitude which we sometimes lack.

Good luck Steven, your work has been appreciated if at times you have been underutilised and you'll receive a warm welcome when you return...

We have no effective cover for Rom now, God help us. Martinez should be leaving, not Steven Naismith. Good luck to him and it's almost certain he'll come back to haunt us by scoring the winner against us.

Naismith is one of the good guys (albeit one of the few snides we possess, who's left, just Besic?) maximises his abilities and deserves to play behind the striker every week. We've got a diamond called Ross Barkley in that role and with Rom on his own upfront there's no other vacancy. Ridiculously he isn't even back up striker over Kone, so best for all he moves on. Will be fondly remembered.

I am uncomfortable with Kone being in front of Naismith in the pecking order so I will assume Martinez will be using this money to go for a Yarmolenko, Tielemans or Praet. If we don't bring in such a signing I will take a completely difference view on this as Kone is simply a joke. His 'cold legs' twitter brainfart were an embarrassment not on just him, but the club as well. There would be a buyer for Kone, there always is one we have sold worse.

I was watching the game on a link from Canada and the commentator said he could understand Evertonians being unhappy with the league table position, but what a great young, exciting team to watch, with such great promise for the future. I agree.

MIrallas proved against Chelsea that he is also very good in the box. We definitely can't afford to loose him now.

When the time comes, I believe he has earned himself one of those roles at Goodison occupied by other folklore heroes.

In the meantime best to him.

£8.5M is fantastic money, it will secure a player of similar quality from a championship club or one of the decent European league such as Germany or something who is younger with the potential to grow and develop beyond Naismith.

A nice man and a genuinely honest professional, he will be well suited to Norwich as he will undoubtedly help keep them up with his endeavours.

I've noticed a few people commenting on the fact we are selling Naismith and keeping Kone, but the fact is we have an £8.5M deal on the table for Naismith and nothing for Kone.

I've said it before on here and I'm happy to repeat it: Naismith, Kone, Howard, Hibbert, Gibson, Pienaar, Osman and possibly Oviedo should be told to find another club to pay them. Most of them are either over the hill or simply don't play enough games.

I'd estimate the above players cost us around £250k a week, £1M a month and V12M a year to sit on our bench or injury table Think what that money can do for us , we clearly do not have big funds, the above money would breath new life into our squad, allowing a fresh new crop of players into the mix, making it a healthy but competitive place to play and train.

Players like Cleverley, Besic and Deulofeu should be found and brought into the club to replace the dead wood, costing small amounts of money and allowing us to save funds for a marquee signing.

Liverpool picked up Milner and Toure on frees, Leicester picked up Marez for £750k, Swansea got Andre Anew on a free and Jefferson Montero for £3M, Watford signed Ighalo for less than £3M plus Nathen Aki for a little over £1M, Spurs Deli Alli for £4M-odd and Eric Dier for £3M odd... etc.

Clearly some are better than others, and we don't need certain players listed, also there may be better examples out there too.

This all goes to show the players are out there to improve and shake up our squad with the funds saved by trimming the dead wood from our squad.

Top role model and he's been a valuable squad player. I'm sure he goes with the best wishes of all Evertonians, which is no small achievement.

If we're honest, a player of his ability has to struggle to get into our first team or we're going nowhere.

£8.5m for him is a cracking bit of business by Everton.

What's interesting is RM wouldn't let him go during the last window and has intimated that the squad will be stronger at the end of this window. His job may depend on that being true, so hopefully there may be incoming in the pipe.

Naismith is a superb sub. He gives us tactical flexibility (not that Roberto always uses it) and he is a goalgetter. Always a good sub to play as a second striker if you are behind. Even if you are defending a lead, he could be a useful sub because of his work rate and defensive headers. We would still have three years left in his machine.

Not sure we will find a replacement at a decent price, who would accept our wage structure, and accept to be a squad player (which Nessi in the end did not accept either... but at least he never moaned).

You're assuming that Mirallas will get the nod ahead of: Osman, Cleverley and Kone out of position, which I suspect he won't.

Sad to see the lad go, I believe there's a worse player getting a start before Naismith. Kone is Championship at best, as is our manager.

If Lukaku gets injured that's leaves us with Kone and Mirallas as our only options, and that combination didn't look that great against Dagenham and Redbridge.

Top guy he was though and totally committed always!

Good luck Naisy

All EFC fans wish you the very best. You served the local community brilliantly as well.

Always liked Naismith but fantastic getting ٦.5M for the guy, personally I would use the money to bring Jordan Rhodes in.

Steven was always a stop gap for the way The Incredible One wants the team to play football I guess. Fantastic attitude when picked and the same when not even in the squad.

Also well known for being a very considerate person off the pitch, these type of people are to find these days. I wish you good luck and good health and look forward to you receiving a great reception when you return to Goodison.

Best of luck, Nais! Norwich is a good club for you, and thanks for your time with us, you always gave your all!

Good business for Naismith but only if he spends the money wisely, if at all, this January.

So in Nessy's case he's been asked to play midfield, wide as a false centre-forward, in fact every position except the bleedin obvious one.

Good luck, Nessy and thanks for the goals anyone that calls him limited should study his movement and his hat-trick v Chavs, and before anyone says he didn't do it enough, he wasn't given enough game tome to do it.

Hope and expect he'll get a standing ovation when he comes back.

I hope he helps the Canaries, especially in their upcoming game against the RS. Good luck, Nessie!

The hat-trick against Chelsea epitomised his style of play and I'm sure he'll do well at Norwich; I can only wish him well. There's plenty of dead wood left in the squad who won't attract any interest in this or any other window, but he's not in that category...

It's been an education and a pleasure to call him a fellow Evertonian.

I hope he thoroughly enjoys the rest of his career, genuinely sorry to see such a top bloke leave.

But boy did he annoy me in that last Ireland vs Scotland international – but that's a kind of compliment in a way. Good business all round. Thanks Steven.

Great guy. He will be sadly missed by many.

I personally wanted to keep him but, if we use the money to bag a Yarmolenko, I will be pleased.

His character, on and off the pitch, embodies everything I want to see in an Everton player.

Top bloke who will do his new club proud.

Sadly we will see neither Naismith nor the ٦.5m received for him, no doubt we will snatch a loan signing and the money will be lost to "other operating costs", and so the cycle of mediocrity will continue.

Best of luck Naisy knock a couple in for us against the red shite this weekend. All the best for the future, just not against us... A good reception awaits you when you return.

I'm actually rather sad. Don't know if training sessions are making RM prefer Kone etc... but I feel he could still offer us something. Good business but as a squad player I think he'll be hard to replace.

I hope you get an absolute hat-full of goals for Norwich and I'll be giving you a true hero's welcome when you come back to the Old Lady! Take care, Steven – a true throwback to a better time for Everton – I think we'll miss you!

Thanks Steven! Wish you all the best!

An all round good egg and imo a canny and effective player only lacking a decent touch (his brain, Mirallas's ability, what a player that would be). A good buy for Norwich, personally I'd have kept him.

I'll miss him, but can't deny it was a good piece of business for the club. Let's hope it's not the last in tis window.

How many times did I read about him doing work in the community, volunteering, providing financial assistance to folks in need? A hell of a lot.

In a day and age where the athlete works his trade specifically to extract as much as he can for himself, we had a golden human being who looked to give back.

I hope he does fantastically moving forward.

I am a bit concerned that a squad that generally seems to lack fight and resilience is losing a player with an abundance of both.

Perhaps Everton were just honouring an unwritten agreement to allow Norwich, as the buying club, break the news?

Next time Everton buy a player, you should check the selling club's website to see if any time difference versus EFC.com in the story being reported.

Good luck to him I hope he becomes as popular there as he has been here. He will be missed

If this is true then Martinez deserves the Nobel prize for economics and even his most ardent detractors will have to admit that the guy is a miracle worker!

I'm looking mainly in the direction of Darryl @ 106 who will likely be reading this thread through teary eyes.

Good luck. A great pro and an all round decent guy. If everyone in football was like him the game would be better for it. Respect.

Good luck to him, I genuinely hope it works out. All the best. He got Everton, and that's what matters to us. He will get a warm welcome from me when he returns.

He probably would've made an impact sooner if it wasn't for that wasted year under Moyes on the right wing.

He'll always have a special place in the hearts of the Goodison faithful thanks to his tireless industry on the pitch and his admirable charity work off it.

We got a good price for him though so considering we never replaced Eto'o last January, let's hope Roberto has someone decent lined up to come in and provide an immediate boost to the squad!

He was also down to earth. And his tickets for the homeless showed the character of the man. I wish him all the best at Norwich. Just hope he is injured for our home game against them as he will probably get a goal knowing our luck.

No, not a VLS fan, I'm afraid, and certainly not 'too cool for school'. My attendance was exemplary, in fact.

Bit rich of you to accuse anyone of attempting to be a comedian, I might add.

I too have wished Naismith well, but he's not an Everton hero nor is this transfer the worst bit of business ever, as described by Geoff (#110).

I wish him every success in the future, and hopehe gets a hat-trick on Saturday, if he plays, who would that be against?

A comedian?

Sorry but nowhere did I even get close to accusing you of 'attempting to be a comedian' (do you think VLS is a comedian?)

I was simply pointing out that your post read like contrary-for-the-sake-of-it, Kevin the teenager-style shite (because it did).

Your 'opinion' (as in 'I'm entitled to me...') that the tone and/or content of this thread (basically 'good luck Steven, you were alright') is 'fawning overreaction' is obvious bollocks.

Wonder if his replacement will help the homeless and buy tickets for the poor and disadvantaged.

Naismith an Evertonian to the bitter end.

Heartbreaking loss for them, but what a game... and what a performance by Nais.