Kone and McAleny leave Everton

Kone, as you would expect,departs and McAleny must have known the writing was on the wall; but hopefully he can cement a place in the lower leagues and make a career for himself because he has talent.

Might see him in the Premier League in the future.

Then we should be grabbing for Ziyech! He would create chances and get the best out of whoever we have up front.

Of the youngsters released, the surprising names would be Jack Bainbridge and Delial Brewster (weirdly best mates from Southport apparently). Brewster in particular was a prolific forward at a younger age but he fell way behind in the pecking order and I think we might not even have Anthony Evans around for long. Best of luck to them all.

As for Kone, I wish him well; seems like a decent lad but decent isn't what we need anymore.

Did that include Eric Dier and Shkodran Mustafi? :-)

And that is not intended as a slight to them. Hopefully one or two can still carve out a career for themselves somewhere. Quite a number from the Everton academy do.

Conor is possibly one of the 'what if' stories. What if he hadn't broken his leg early in his loan at Brentford. Showed glimpses of his ability in (mainly) friendly games and has shown he can find the net in lower leagues?

Someone will pick him up, I'm sure. Good luck to the lad (and t'others).

Derek (#9) – both of those were never released. One was a loan and the other was allowed to leave on a free transfer with IIRC a year left on his contract.

Incidentally, who is the last player we released that managed to build their way back to the Premier League? Danny Fox and Adam Forshaw are the two most recent in my memory.

I thought he might get another year.

I take your point but Dier and Mustafi are the exceptions rather than the rule. It's a tough world out there!

Sad about McAleny and a couple of the youngsters as they looked good prospects early on. Let's hope they find clubs where they can try to develop again and maybe get back to the Premier League.

Always a case of impressing as much as possible or having to make way for new players or others coming through. Let's hope quite a few of the U23s develop into great players.

I still cringe at that miss versus Hull. He got injured later in the same game, and that was almost it really. Apart from a hat-trick against Sunderland...10 goals in 60, for a Number 9... FFS.

As for Kone, I wish him the best as I always thought he gave us his best, despite his terrible injury; maybe he will get one big last hoorah in China ? he could still knock a few in at the right level.

As for the youngsters released, I hope they have a future in the game and prove to be stronger and better with time. Good luck to them all.

Hope Akpan played for Reading last time they were up as well as the two you've mentioned.

James (#23) – I'd still like to see what Tarashaj can do, though I doubt he did himself any favors in Koeman's eyes with that nondescript loan spell in the Bundesliga.

[Thought I would lighten the mood a little.]

As for McAleny, good luck to him too. I only was able to see snippets of him but he didn't impress me as possessing anything near the quality to displace any of the senior players. Hope he proves me wrong and just needed a long spell of starting and some self-confidence.

However, history has prepared me for the paradoxical inevitability that McAleny / Kone / A N Other ex-Everton player, will score the goal that knocks us out of the FA Cup or League Cup, at home, sometime in the next few seasons.

Maktub! ("It is written"), as the Arabs say.

I've said on another link what was the point of constantly bringing on Kone instead of the likes of Lookman when it was obvious that he was gonna be out the door in a few weeks?

Having secured 7th, without realistically being able to get higher, surely it was the ideal time to give the youngsters more game time?

Still, to judge by his record at Oxford Utd, and what people have been saying about his performances there, I think we might hear a bit about him in the future. I wish him the best of luck.

That said, I'd rather have seen any young player than Kone; nothing personal but, if he was not in the plans, why give him minutes as you say?

Kone had 2195 minutes on the pitch – which equates to 24½ matches – and scored 6 goals, one goal every 366 minutes. It is the rate of 9 goals a season. That would have put him top goal scorer in some seasons!

However, take away the 3 against Sunderland and it really is a very poor return from a striker.

And surely there must be a statement on Ross?

Everton apparently had the option to keep him but this story back in April suggested it was unlikely. If it were to happen, it would have to occur within the transfer window (like with Lukaku, and others previously).

Ross Barkley has, according to yesterday's Mirror, given a final rejection of his £100k-per-week contract offer from the club. The club are unlikely to comment officially or make any statement unless something changes.