Martinez resolute over his star players

A few fringe players moving on as well as Naismith then.

"Performing well" so I'll include Howard and Kone with McGeady et al.

Imagine if it is Kone against Citeh, barely worth thinking about. No real feeling if any of the reserves are up to it.

Trouble with the January window is pickings are bare. Missing out on Austin might end up haunting us.

A much more positive statement would have been:

"While our squad has the potential it currently has the only thing we're interested in is strengthening. Make what you want of the stories you read. We're happy and we know we can achieve big things at this football club with the players we have and the ones we're trying to bring in."

:(

I'd let Stones go for £45m right now based on the following:
- he's going to go at some point
- Funes Mori is good cover for the rest of he season
- the Euros are going to be hard for Stones from a work/ physical PoV and next season I think he'll suffer from not having a break (like Barkley last season)

£45m would get us a great CB replacement and a new striker to cover Rom

The other element to watch out for is that the window doesn't actually close until 11pm on February 1st.

What's so deeply upsetting is that most of us fans believe the current squad has had enough quality for three consecutive seasons to have got in, or very close to, the CL positions but we've failed to do it, by a bigger margin than the season before under Martinez. His performance/choices, not the players' performances, kills our hope.

I agree with your interesting thinking...

So, if he stays, he will be a great boost to keep our best, and if he goes, we win on it too!!

I am confident in RM finding good replacements and we have Holgate et al to follow into the 1st team squad.

RM is standing strong and is building a dynasty – if one or two young stars leave at decent money – RM then goes and buys 2-3 more with the money. If he can use his magic touch again then we will be in a continual improvement cycle buying talent and bringing it through.

Replace Stones at the back with Holgate and buy Yarmolenko, Rooney and a goalkeeper... we would be sitting pretty for 2016-17.

Can we please stop these pie in the sky Yarmolenko and Rooney dreams though, Rooney is on a kings ransom wage and better players won't join a club that's seen selling its star performers, has no European football and does not pay a really big wage!

I think we need to see the kid first before we start talking him up, the way it is you'd think he was Carles Puyol coming into the team, let's see him in first team action .

Nothing whatsoever in comparison to those posters who have an opinion about every aspect of the club from the young players to commercial operations – funny how they have so much time on their hands with the limitless talent and sage-like knowledge at their disposal.

I hope he doesn't mean introducing instability into the team means no incoming, but that will most likely be the case.

Holgate has the potential to do everything Stones has done at Everton providing he keeps his feet on the ground, and I know you know that – right! Lol

Stones £45 million, great price... why? Are we keeping clean sheets? Is our defending well organised?

Or do we sell Lukaku? Top Premier League goalscorer and a manager that focuses on attacking.

Our stars are assets and one of our top stars will be sold. The club is mid-table and likely to remain there. Do we sell Stones on the last day of the transfer window and rebuild in the summer. Buy two or three top players in the summer? If we were in the top six pushing for top four then no one goes! But we are not!

Sadly this will be the season of ifs and buts with the squad we have. Tired of people saying Everton should be higher in the league with the players we have. The reality is top players will be sold and with the television deal coming this summer. The Everton board have hit the lottery!!!

Do you remember me saying a couple of season ago about an attacking midfield player to keep an eye on?

Tom Rogic, 23, at Celtic, having a great season scored 7 and 5 assists. Attacking midfield. Plays Australia national team as well.

I'd like to see him at Everton.

Also Bony, seems to be unrest with him and Man City. I know your a fan of him, like myself.

Bony, be good replacement for Lukaku, if/when he goes. He would have been my first choice over Lukaku (who as done brill this season) and we could buy with money to spare I'm sure.

For all you Martinezologists out there, stop trying to read between the lines. No-one is leaving (star players that is) this window, full stop.

Pity we can't get rid of McGeady though.

Oh wait... Lukaku, Barry, McCarthy, Kone, McGeady, Cleverley, Holgate, Henen, Galloway, Besic... Do you want me to go on?

I would be very surprised if McGeady is still at Everton come the end of the window, that is of course he wants to play for RoI.
Martin O'Neill has basically spelt it out that players hoping to go to the Euros need to be playing football regularly.

It's pretty obvious, during negotiations for new ownership, that we keep all our assets on board. At least until the summer.

Is Roberto working under orders, or does he have the supporters' best interests at heart?

We'll have to shop at the lower end of the scale, ie, Championship or clubs in Europe that are desperate for a quick cash fix. With the money on offer next season, it won't be hard to attract average players from the european leagues.

I think there are better options in this country in the Championship or League One but these managers won't gamble. If a sexy European buy turns out crap, it's a gamble that went wrong. When it's a homegrown player, it's a terrible buy.

Getting back to the original thread, for me they can sell who they like. Every single one of them can be replaced. Let's face it, it's not like we're tearing up trees every week, is it? No. There's a reason we're where we are in the Premier League table.

Hopefully it will work out for all and we might even get a fee if lucky. Clubs are looking at Gibson also for exactly the same reasons as McGeady, but he is on big money with us so that may not work out.

O'Neill is going to have about five players if he only picks those playing every week. McGeady, Gibson aren't obviously but neither is Given. McLean is bench warming, Long is likely to be, Walters is in and out of the Stoke team. Stokes had to drop to second tier in Scotland to get a game.

Right now we are managing with a squad which is not strong enough in certain areas. The bar has been raised and several members are no longer of the required quality. Greater numbers of a usable standard will have to be attained through the sale of highly sought after stars and the whole process begins again. 2 out, 4 in with added strength in depth. Not my idea. Our boss has spoken of this on a couple of occasions.

The club is holding all the cards this time around and can play hardball if a richer club start offering silly money or one of these lads do an Odemwinge. I think one of them (Stones most likely) will leave in the summer but only. Because both club and player think it's the right time for both parties.

Nothing new, we already know someone 'big' will leave this summer. Personally I can't see it being Ross, my money's on Stones and there'll 100% be interest in Rom.

As far as 'Everton wanting Champions League' is concerned, I guess dreaming is free.

I get you. Good post and true. There are so many experts out there and Martinez knows nothing about football. The main thing is that he doesn't let the media manipulate him to say things they want. He controls every meeting with the media imo and doesn't get carried away. Let's get behind his back now. We're Evertonians.

As for Lukaku and Ross. I can see us getting another season, at least, out of Rom. I think he'll stay to see if there's any hope of progressing with us. Ross, I think his dream is to captain the club and I can see him staying long term.

Martinez needs to concentrate on results! That's his job. Yes I want him to succeed but our results are not good enough for the players we have! Talking about players being sold is a distraction from the bigger picture. Players come and go! Everton will move on!

History also tells us Everton don't sack managers unless we are in the bottom three and relegation is a possibility. Martinez is going no where!! Let's put that to bed and move on!!

What will be more interesting is what happens with Rom. I cannot imagine not getting a massive bid for him this summer given who his agent is. Will the club bite?

What I said was, there seems to be unrest between Bony and Man City. I read that he wasn't happy at city. And because of his unrest he may leave City.

If that was the case well, he wouldn't be playing Champions League football would he? Unless one of the other top three came in for him, or some top CL European club.

I think he would want to stay in the Premier League. We would be his ideal club. We have to believe that strikers like are not to big for our club. After all it was only just over a season ago that he was playing for Swansea.

As for his wages, I haven't a clue what he is on, have you Andy?

Oh by the way, I'm always talking about there being Championship players around that could do a job for Everton. But I always get shot down.

Andy. What do you think about Conor McAleny, replacing Kone?