Everton land hot defensive prospect Gibson

Damn young'un! OK.

I would have expected at least 5 years, but I guess we have our reasons. In saying that, I guess the full amount would be dependent on first team appearances, which is unlikely at his age.

Bespeaks arrogance and confidence. I like it.

Well done to the club, David Unsworth & his team for making us such an attractive prospect for young players, I think it's brilliant!

https://cominghomenewcastle.sbnation.com/2017/7/20/16000566/newcastle-are-selling-lewis-gibson

And this one describes his departure as "crushing" for Benitez:

http://www.themag.co.uk/2017/07/crushing-rafa-benitez-everton-reach-agreement-buy-lewis-gibson-newcastle-united/

Before my time but what a beautiful player.

I like what he says and I'm sure he can be a player for us very soon.

If you do, couple questions for them:

1. Does he have quick feet? Jags and Distin did. In the old TW debate about John Stones, my two cents was that he'd never be that good a defender because his feet were slow. Be interested to know about that with Gibson.

2. Can he handle the ball/make a pass? Stones could. Not a strength for Jags and Distin, though.

Anyway, looking at photos of him, he appears huge for a kid celebrating his 17th birthday just 10 days ago. At a minimum, if it turns out we've bought a slow-footed, mean-spirited grog of a centre-back who plays angry; Leicester won a title with a pair of them.

But at £6 Mil. I'm guessing, and hoping, he's all that and more.

There seems to be more and more evidence that we have a plan and direction for the club's future. Exciting times ahead.

I remember him scoring the winner, from a distance, in an FA Cup game against us at Old Trafford in the fifties, after Albert Dunlop had saved Everton with some brilliant saves during the match.

Duncan was a cousin of Dennis Stevens, another very good player for Everton.

Looks a big lad, speaks well. Let's see how he develops.

I believe you are correct that Dunlop had kept us in the game. We were a poor team at that time while United were the country's best, the young Busby Babes.

Dennis Stevens was a greatly underrated part of our '63 Championship success. Never greatly liked by the fans, of course, as he replaced Bobby Collins but filled a different role to Collins, one that Catterick thought we needed, the water carrier to complement the likes of Young and Vernon in the team.

Regarding that cup game with Man Utd, we were a very average team at that time but strangely enough, if my memory is correct, that is the same season we beat them 5-2 at Old Trafford in the league game.

I think the fans initially were mourning the loss of Bobby Collins rather than the coming of Dennis Stevens, who didn't help himself by missing a sitter in his home debut.

Bobby Collins was one who was forced out of the club and was one of those players, like Hickson before him, and Vernon, Young, Ball and others after him, all the way to Rooney, who were sold and left me and many others distraught..

It's probably the reason I can't get too excited about Barkley leaving, I guess. Seen it all before, and from a young age.

I must admit, I was more interested in seeing how our own youngster Alex Denny played so wasn't paying particular attention to Gibson, but I remember thinking how composed, unflustered and solid he was, not making any mistakes. I'm really happy that we've got him.

Let's see what happens.

But why do young English players love to tackle? Players In other countries see it as a last resort, a sign of failure. Much better to stay on your feet and win the ball by good positioning and interception.

Having a super strong youth team playing and winning together (ideally with a similar approach to the first team Barcelona/Ajax style) not only has the potential to save a fortune in the crazy transfer market (or even creates saleable/profitable assets as Southampton have found) but also strengthens the clubs identity and the concept of building a dynasty and maybe even an 'Everton way' of playing?

Obviously to complete the circle you do need to step up 2-3 each year to have a real chance, but with the likes of Davies, Holgate, Lookman, and Calvert-Lewin last season plus (it would appear) Dowell, Kenny and Connolly this season, Koeman does seem willing to do just that.

Of course, I could be wrong and possibly stand corrected.

Interceptions are great when they come off but pretty risky when they fail. There is not much worse for a defender than having to constantly cover for someone else who is far too cavalier in trying for the eye-catching.

Plenty of tackles are won in the mind before the players actually get to the ball. Personally, I see nothing wrong with a player who is willing and able to risk a bit of pain when required.

Tackling is a skill and some are much better than others. A player should be able to relish a courageous / well-executed tackle without being considered to be some sort of footballing degenerate.

You might loose at least half of the youngsters but you might not. So much better than spending £45m on a 28-year-old, for example, with no return value.

Right, because its always better to stockpile a bunch of "maybes" and "what ifs" as opposed to a proven commodity. I mean, who would want Messi? He's not a teenager so no good for us, right?

Invest in top youth prospects, whilst spending on the senior squad. They won't all come off, but as Stones has demonstrated, some will. A lot more will now that Walsh is on board and we are investing well.

There's that much at stake at Everton now though, that when to play the young players is a dilemma for Koeman I guess.

All you can say is: If they're good enough, play them.

We need to combine both investment in the best youth around, and the investment in proven First team talent. This way, we Will be able to keep hold of the youth that do develop into absolute top class players.

No, I was responding to a post saying how it's better to sign this kid as opposed to a 28-year-old.

Pretty simple really. I'll take a proven professional and competing for trophies over promising futures.

Lukaku was an example – so was Stones. If we can get a £5-10m player that is the best in the country in 3-5 years, then their value is £50-100M on the market and whilst playing for Everton, they can bridge the gap to the top 6 and the other European heavyweights.

We are set up well for this strategy – better than Chelsea and Man City who cannot afford room in the first team as they have squad number 20th position being a £40m player. They have to play – or in Chelsea's case, they farm 30-plus of them out under massive contracts.

We are now getting the likes of Keane and Gibson coming as they have sight of an opportunity to play – as did Lukaku.

Only warning is that it may not work all the time and we need to be patient over the longer term and keep doing the right things.

Spending bigger for the first team – leaving squad fillers and bench and cup game and players 18 to 25 as young blood being given their chance Fantastic strategy! Kenwright, Moshiri, Walsh and Koeman get plaudits but so do Moyes and Martinez for evolving this. Sheeds and others deserve a hand to!