Lookman forces Leipzig loan deal

Roll on the summer.

Let's hope this line-up knows where there all playing and what's at stake.

On paper we have creativity and pace, but the back 4, I don't know that works.

We should have enough possession, but let's go forward / directly...and be ready to stop their counter attacking, because that's what they do.

You are full of shit, Sam.

If you love your craft, ply your craft! And we still have Lookman returning after the summer...

The fact Sam ‘has to' dish the dirt on someone he doesn't rate and who has defied him tells you what sort of person Sam is.

Wholly unnecessary, ensuring Lookman never plays for Everton again whilst he's in charge.

If you want him to stay.. say "You're not going." End of.

Allardyce surprised at the Lookman position after saying he hadn't the experience of coping with the Premier League during the week... What a plonker!

Lookman in the changing room with the other young players who decided their future is not with Everton and asked to be loaned out? I am not one bit surprised... Allardyce may have achieved a reduction in squad size and wages, but at what cost to Everton's future?

Why shouldn't a player choose which club they would prefer to go to on loan? If the club are worried about his development, perhaps they shouldn't be letting him go anywhere. The lad was playing in the Championship before we picked him up, I'm not surprised he wants to try something different.

He already has experience of playing in the Championship, so what real benefit is there to be derived from repeating that experience? Leipzig are having a decent season in the Bundesliga under a good manager in Hasenhutti. The stuff about Lookman probably struggling because he doesn't speak the language, that some other lad didn't like it when he made the same move to the Bundesliga outfit before him (a move that the manager of his next club said had provided him with "the experience of going away from the comfort of his own area to a foreign country and experiencing life. He's gained the experience of playing for a top club in the Bundesliga with top coaches. That will have broadened his horizons and been good for his development") and that his single mindedness may come back to bite him, seem a bit churlish on Allardyce's part. He's off to Germany, not LV426.

Hopefully, the little man can at least stretch to GCSE standard and have a word with Timo Werner about coming back with him.

Oh and by the way, he's just okay – nothing more. He wasn't missed last night... was he???

A great talent, but he isn't ready for a starting place week-in & week-out. He should have been used more often though, to give him experience and to help him realise he has a place at Everton.

Suspect that's Lookman done with Everton before he got going. Which will be a huge shame. It was our job to develop a talented young player and we've failed. Again.

Clearly Sam had little intention of playing him regularly here but if he gets lots of minutes in Germany then he will come back having learnt something new and richer for it. As others have pointed out he has already experienced the Championship and league one so why not enrich his development with experience in one of the most technically proficient leagues in the world.

Best of luck to him, hope he comes back this Summer having improved as a player to a new manager keener to utilise his obvious talent.

What SA should've said is that he won't be loaned out because an integral part of the team and will get fame time. Awful man management.

He's not a manager who looks towards youth; that's for sure.

Lookman will be looking for a move to a Premier League club this Summer or he may be happy to build in Germany. There will be plenty of interes.

Good decision by young Lookman. He will be playing for a footballing side and getting first-team football. Really badly managed by Allardyce – or rather he is incapable of managing a young player in the Premier League. Hence the keenness of young players to be loaned out.

Lookman's attitude to Allardyce is not surprising. Has already told his agent to get cracking.

I really do hope that he plays a lot for them as their style would be good to copy and bring back to us but in reality Lookman will be a bench warmer for the rest of the season over in Germany. He can't get in our team but expects to get in a team who are better than us.

What a strange old season.

I hope Sam is here for many a year - and brings us great success -
Great win! Lets look upwards and catch Burnley and the Foxes ! COYB's!

Game time will hopefully improve his decisions and game management (he may even learn to tackle!), but no amount of loans will make him bigger or stronger. I'm not sure he will ever cut it at a top half premier team.

I also don't think the club should cave to a players demands. If we had other offers we thought were better for his development then we should have told him where to go, or sit on the bench. He's contracted to us, we make the decisions.

If he is not going to start matches for them, week-in & week-out, what is the point?

IT'S ALL ROBERTO MARTINEZ' FAULT!

IT'S ALL RONALD KOEMAN'S FAULT!

IT'S ALL SAM ALLARDYCE' FAULT!

Can anyone else see a pattern emerging among the views of supporters?

You lot do make me laugh :-)

Regarding Allardyce's comments, I regard it as unprofessional of him to refer to Lookman as stubborn. If he's going to say anything, he should try and stick to the facts, and not wander into opinion, especially opinion of a pejorative nature.

It's now difficult to see Lookman playing for us again until Allardyce goes.

This season Sam's main job is still firstly to ensure Premier League status, then if we reach safety, to push us as high up the table as possible. It is conceivable that we could overhaul Leicester and Burnley to claim 7th like last season. If this happens it will be an incredible achievement considering how things have gone.

I think it is better for Lookman to go on loan rather than have time in the Under-23s or just training at Finch Farm. If he wants to succeed, he could just take a look at Walcott's performance last night as he tore across the park to put in tackles, linked-up with others to create chances and put his goals away with aplomb.

I do think he needs to tone down his honesty a little though.

Personally I think it is a great move for Lookman, we should send more of our young players abroad. Hopefully his decision making can improve. Yes he has his exciting moments but his passing is often wayward. Perhaps under a different coach then that can get better

Lookman doesn't normally suit teams which Allardyce sets up. I think it's a case of: get the season over with, retain our place in the Premier League, and have an overhaul in the summer.

The club really doesn't have an identity but, barring a few places which need to be sorted in the team (left back!), I have quietly been impressed with our January signings and certainly believe we look in better shape.

With regard to Lookman, in my opinion the lad has potential, quick feet and can go past a man, but he does lack maturity, gives the ball away, doesn't track back. Perhaps, in his defence, he may be of the view that he is more suited to the continental game, rather than the rigid formations and tactics of the English game.

Maybe he sees his long term future abroad rather than here? I guess Sams options for Lookman where all English Championship sides?

So, I really don't blame the lad. The only caveat, is how many games will he get for Leipzig? Maybe he will come back in the Summer as a wiser and more responsible young man.

5 players in the squad for the game asked for loans out. Who do we think they are, and can you blame them. No doubt they actually want to play football and not be managed by a habitual loser (never won more than he's lost in Premier League with any of the clubs he's managed) with no record of developing players and the worst tactics I've ever seen by the blues.

Last night, Sam picked Keane and Jags and Keane had Vardy in his pocket all night. He played Niasse, who despite failing to score, caused panic in their defence throughout.

We saw the return of Coleman, who many would have expected to at least only sit on the bench, but Sam put him straight in. These things all worked.

We beat a team that had been on a good run and should have put the game to bed before the weather went nuts and we slid about in the last 10 minutes.

Allardyce is not perfect but I wonder if Moyes, Martinez or Koeman would have done any better?

This is the worst I have ever known it.

This is the same Sam who had the best start of any manager. has taken us from the bottom 3 where the previous 2 managers had us, and has a good chance of salvaging 7th from this shambles of a season.

I guess you would rather have us playing tippy tappy expansive football and finishing 14th. some fans on here are a joke.

Allardyce has only been here 5 minutes and has lifted us from 4th bottom to 9th.

The football for 11 years under Moyes was far worse. It was dull, boring and cowardly. Continual capitulation at big club away games. Knife to a gunfight.

Moyes indoctrinated the club with mediocre, negativity which still persist to this day.

Moyes will go down in history as the man that that settled for a 2-1 defeat in a cup final.

Walter Smith had a dreadful side, and played dour tactics, and it was soul destroying. But at least he was a manager who won trophies and knew how to win games, don't forget we managed to beat sides 7-1, 6-0, 6-2, 4-0 and it was only after we had to put the side up for sale that the dour stuff followed.

This is not a time when we're under threat of administration. We're meant to be loaded. And yet we're playing the worst type of football.

And yes, I'd rather play the tippy tappy expansive stuff, but no, I'd rather win games and batter top sides and finish 5th with 72 points. Something Allardyce will never ever do, or never come close to doing, because he is incapable of it.

If I were a young man with Lookman's talent I think that I would have made the same decision. Not getting a start paired with the shambolic state of the squad is enough reason to justify the loan move.

I have no doubt that he see's himself as someone with a lot to offer and feels that meekly sitting out the rest of the season with us is not the best way to further his career. I hope he kicks some ass.

Allardyce, not Lookman.

Oh well, 3 more wins and we are safe.

Altogether now

"We found love in a hopeless place."

“The football for 11 years under Moyes was far worse. It was dull, boring and cowardly.”

Really? Didn't we just break our record for consecutive games without a shot on target?!

Under Moyes we certainly played it safe but then he had far less money to spend than Koeman and Allardyce etc. Yet I still remember us playing some lovely football at times with the likes of Arteta, Gravesen, Bainaar and Ossie all capable of passing the ball better than most our current team. We always lacked a true goalscorer to finish off the moves but I certainly don't think the football was worse than what we've had over the last month before last night.

It's been properly grim. But last night was better. And hopefully the sign of better things (especially as I'm going to the Emirates this weekend!)

First of all Rooney was either injured or out of gas, everyone around me could see it, and we'd lost a grip in midfield. We were asking for changes, and then Rooney makes a tired tug in the penalty area. Would they have still got a goal back if we'd taken Rooney off a bit earlier, when he was showing the signs of dropping off? I'd have moved Siggy inside and put Bolasie on down the left to give us some pace on the left and try to hit Leicester on the counter.

After they got the goal back, we were hanging on and they should have scored when they hit the bar and post. We had been by far the better team up to that point (despite them hitting the post early on), but we were really on the ropes after the goal and the manager did nothing to address it until very late.

I cant believe anything Allardyce says a week or so ago he said Rooney and Sigurdsson cant play together yet starts them last night. A few days ago he said Lookman wouldnt be allowed to go out on loan, yesterday Lookman goes to Leipzig. He told us last night that he had sorted a loan move for Lookman to another club not Leipzig.

Sure, up until the goal it was a much improved performance. There's more positives to take away than negatives. But that's despite the manager, not because of him. From having a very young side, we've now got a side where only Tom Davies was eligible for the u23s and most were pushing 30.

Allardyce has got shut of Lookman, made comments that are likely to make him unwilling to come back (why should Allardyce choose where Lookman goes to play?), and yet again has failed to address the left back problem and the window is now shut.

Maybe you're happy with how things are going, good for you. But Allardyce is doing everything the opposite of how I want things to be done. Focusing on short term gain, rather than long term development. We have a golden generation of youngsters who managed properly could take us into the Champions League, but instead they are now being frozen out.

It is telling that players like Sandro, Klaassen and Lookman are coveted by top team in Europe who would beat us regularly. Our backwardness and insularity is there for all to see.

Rooney's pull was the pull of a tired man. Maybe Leicester would have got back in the game, maybe not. But the manager should have seen what was unfolding and should have acted. They scored in the 77th minute.

Changes to midfield should always be made between 60-70 minutes, particularly when we have another big game on Saturday. We're light in midfield with James McCarthy's injury and Besic supposedly (?) leaving. Why wouldn't you make changes purely for freshness?

But it was particularly evident that Rooney was blowing hard, and then he limped off. Davies also had stopped running. A change should have been made.

But can only hope he plays a blinder, improves his game and comes back and makes himself a first team player for Everton next season.

Maybe he can bring Tuchel with him on his way back.

Whilst giving fresh legs all the substitutions did was take away any attacking threat we had and reduced us to just holding on.

That said, hold on we did, so some kudos to Fat Sam!

We actually created chances and could well have scored 4 or 5 if Niasse had his shooting boots on. Of course the post saved us but then their pen was soft and from what I saw we were creating more chances, we had 4 shots on goal to their one.

Am not saying it was perfect and yes they might well have snatched a draw but it was a big step up from most of our Jan performances surely?

Also, it seemed like Martina actually played quite well? His pressure and tackle high up the pitch that gave us the first goal. Worth praising out given the stick he gets.

But that doesn't change the fact that he is still not a left back and can't get round the outside and put in a cross, so out attacking is unbalanced and predictable. The difference was, that as predictable as it was, the speed of Coleman and Walcott meant it was just so hard for the opposition to cut it out.

I thought Schneiderlin was the right replacement and he did okay when he came on, but Calvert-Lewin was an attacking sub, was he not? The final introduction of Williams was sensible too, considering the high balls being launched through the rain into our box.

Also Steve, Iheanacho hit the woodwork twice but the woodwork is not the goal... Coleman put a shot wide, Walcott had a good shot saved, and Niasse could have had a brace.

We deserved the win.

This team can play good football, so let's just see if it continues at the Emirates on Saturday.

They'll be 3 great young English players in Germany's top league this season (Sancho, Lookman and Oxford) as well as the 16 year old just signed by Barcelona from Arsenal. For years people have said English players should go abroad to get experience, and when one does, he gets criticized by his manager. The biggest joke is that the person criticizing is the former (very briefly) England manager, who would have seen the lack of skillful players available to him.

I wish Lookman well, and hope he grows as a player during his spell abroad. He'll get a great education of the European game, but better being stuck in the U23's playing in front of a couple hundred people.

Doesn't quite chime with the homesick rumours, perhaps he was only sick of not playing.

Should be a great experience personally but not overly sure how it prepares him for Everton - with the exception of real superstars, I can think of a few young Germans coming from the Bundesliga and failing to adapt. There is also the added fun of RB Leipzig being pretty much the most hated club in Germany.

I'll definitely try to folllow if he gets game time, should be interesting.

Here's an idea, Steve, send your CV in to the club so you can be interviewed as his replacement. Then we can all criticise the crap out of you when the team loses a match. Oh, wait, you don't have a hope in hell of getting shortlisted because you have no actual club management experience!

And as for our golden generation of youth that will get us Champions League football?! I'm off to get some clean underwear as I've just pissed myself in these ones.

A few decent prospects, but that's all they are. Truly top players are well established in their 1st teams by the time they are 21. Owen, Alli, Rooney etc.

Your anti-Allardyce agenda and constant youth spouting is getting boring. But that's fine, because our club should operate as only you see fit!

That is the standard for the Premiership and it is a major step for any young player to jump straight in.

For those with short memories we sent Seamus out on loan for a long while.

If you are good enough then force your way into the team.

No manager is going to refuse to play players who can improve the side but Lookman has too many weaknesses right now to be starting in the Premiership.

I really wish the Sam Haters would give it a rest at least until the end of the season. It becomes tedious coming on here and finding people using any excuse to beat the manager up with.

FFS the man was the only one willing to take on the job so lets just see where it takes us but its certainly not down which is what it was looking like before his appointment.

Spot on Andy. Lookman is far from being the finished article and has failed to impress when given a start. He went against the club's and Allardyce's advice.

I understand that to mean Allardyce didn't want him to go.

Some ToffeeWeb posters are so far up their anti-Allardyce arse they interpret everything to suit that agenda

He isn't my cup of tea but FFS this is getting stupid.

The loan for Lookman will only prove to be a success if he is given game time; otherwise, he may as well have joined Derby.

the way some carry on, you think our current predicament and unbalanced squad is entirely down to 5 years of mismanagement by BFS! He inherited this squad in a shocking state, and bang on the relegation zone. He is playing the best way our players can, to get as high as we can.

I'm sure Sam would like a 𧷤m back four like city, and the same again in midfield to spray the ball around. Reality however, says our players aren't in that same league ability-wise, so we can't play the same quality of football. Anyone honestly think Pep would have our team playing slick tippy tappy after a few months? Eh?

We also can't go out and buy it because FFP stops us throwing money in.

This is our reality. Shame most of our fans are too deluded to realise.

We found a way to win against a good side and we negated their dangerous players until Ieanacho came on. We also realised that Seamus and Walcott were our best option for opening them up, and the whole team worked to make those openings.

Sigurdsson once again showed his good football brain with his assist, and Rooney had a period where he sprayed the ball around like Pirlo for a 20 glorious minutes.

I am sure that performances like these will help build confidence in the side. It just goes to show that the inclusion of two experienced and talented players (Walcott & Coleman) can bring a team up a level.

Let's hope that Mangala also gives us a lift. He might not have quite fitted Pep's blueprint for ball-playing defenders, but he is a specimen of a man and will add some physicality to our backline.

I think the lad has chosen well, considering he was playing Championship football last season. If he struggles in the Bundesliga, it will tell him something new about his real progress in the past year and he will need to be able to deal with that sort of thing if he is to have a long term future in the game. Maybe Sam is worried he will be exposed to some really progressive coaching and actually flourish.

As for him 'forcing' through this Leipzig loan. My main concern is what kind of club would allow a kid who should be thanking his lucky stars to 'force' anything. Not a good example to any other disgruntled youngsters.

I don't think he will get too much game time but I hope he learns and develops with good 'football' coaching. It could make or break his Everton career and I understand Sam's concerns.

Dito for Sandro coming to us. I like the lad but I'm not sure we have any other Spanish-speaking players or coaches and he probably felt a bit lonely, especially when not playing or part of a successful team. His loan back to Spain will do him good but we may have seen the last of him in an Everton kit.

We have a number of youngsters in the learning phase of their careers that do not let the media know they are angry at not being selected for the team. Holgate, Davies and Kenny are examples.

Those young 'uns plus older players such as Jags, Martina, Keane and Davies etc are not reported to leave the building as Lookman reportedly did in a temper because he was not even on the 'fucking' bench.

To go back further I cannot recall another player young or old who made his anger at not being selected so public.

Of course I stand to be corrected and if so I apologise. Over to you, Andy.

,

That said, didn't Lukaku take him 'under his wing' – you never know.

The same should go for the expensively acquired older ones too of course but from what we've seen in recent years that's not necessarily been the case, and that will exasperate many a young man.

Hopefully they all adopt the approach and attitude of our Seamus when he too was a youngster. It didn't do him any harm did it?

As regards Lookman himself, he has yet to make a convincing case for regular inclusion in our team. After his brief, brilliant cameo against City twelve months ago he was given a few appearances by Koeman but flattered to deceive. This season he was very poor at Split and Leicester and while he did well in Cyprus and at Anfield there has not been sufficient overall to suggest he can yet be relied upon. In some ways he reminds me of Deulofeu. He has much to do to reach the standard required in the top half of the Premier League. Hopefully the penny will drop sooner rather than later and our club will be the beneficiaries.

If this was true, Mahrez would be playing for Man City now.

He's out of contract in the summer and by the looks of it, won't be back. Best of luck to the lad and may he end up being the next Mustafi...

Nothing to see here... let's move on.

Pretty sure it's simply a case that Sam didn't think that Lookman would see enough playing time at Leipzig to benefit as much from a loan as he would if he had gone to Derby. Lookman apparently believed the broader benefits of joining a club in the Champions League and near the top of the Bundesliga was attractive and worth the risk.

Neither is inherently wrong, neither proves one person is right or another a dinosaur.

It is only insights like this that highlight how backward Allardyce (and de facto Everton) really are. Mike Bassett, Brexit Manager, springs to mind but it isn't funny. Channelling players who could develop at Sevilla, Napoli and Leipzig to Championship clubs instead is ludicrous.

Leipzig are playing Napoli in the Europa League so that will be an experience for him.

I think this kid will be a top player in a year or two.

Oh, you can forget the language barrier, you very rarely meet a German that doesn't speak English

Where on earth did you source any information to 'inform' your totally speculative character assassination of Lookman?

* "The fault lies partly with those among us who helped create this big-headed wannabee superstar..."
* "Not a good example to any other disgruntled youngsters..."
* "Lookman reportedly [left the building] in a temper because he was not even on the 'fucking' bench..."
* "I cannot recall another player young or old who made his anger at not being selected so public..."

And to top it all, you challenge Andy Crooks who questions your evaluation of Lookman to basically disprove the lie you have woven.

Weird.

I rather fancy the burden of proof to back up your claims lies with you, Dick, not others.

Derby are currently second in the Championship, playing good football under a well respected English manager. But you think he would be better developed for the rigors of the Premier League by spending time at Leipzig? I disagree.

I would suggest that the standard of football at a mid table Bundesliga club is probably on a par with the top of the Championship. How would being involved in the fight for promotion to the Premier League not be a positive development for a young player?

It was widely reported on here and Grand Old Team at the time, that Lookman was seen storming out of the car park before a game because he wasn't in the matchday squad. A few fans who saw him and spoke to him on his way out posted his comments.

So the view that he thinks he is bigger and better than he actually is come mainly from his own behaviour. Any other player who isn't selected would stick around and support his team mates.

Maybe this childish attitude and sense of entitlement, as opposed to knuckling down and working hard, is why he hasn't had much playing time under the recent managemen? He refuses to see his own weaknesses and work on them.

It would be interesting to see how much game time he gets in Germany after the first few weeks, once he has been assessed properly...

As for Klaassen, the word in the papers is that Sam told him “You won't be playing again for Everton this season.” Emphasis added.

If this is true, then that's disgusting and I wouldn't blame the lad if he never wanted to play for Everton again.

What Sam probably said was "Your game time will be quite limited as there are others ahead of you at present. So, if you want to go on loan somewhere for game time until the end of the season, I will support that."

And since when did not playing fringe squad players who aren't up to being a first team regular constitute not treating them well? All professional footballers know teams need a squad of 25 or more players, and therefore the only way to guarantee first team action is to play better than the others and force themselves in. Lookman doesn't look like he is prepared to do that. And he certainly hasn't grabbed the chance each time he has played.

Now depending on how you look at it, is it refreshing that although the manager has been against the lad going to Liepzig, he's "allowed" it to happen?

Or is it that there would have been nothing Allardyce could have done to stop him?

Was he informed of all his options and he simply got to make the choice? If that's the case, then the club appear to be quite "laid back" in their handling of players going on loan, good thing or bad?

Is it good or bad that the lad got his wish against the managers wishes? Again, all depends what angle you look at it from.

May I say, in advance of the reasoned and also the outrageous attacks that will follow: I'm still happy from Wednesday so errr ... "Fuck you, and the horse you rode in on!" ;-)

The official line should have been more like 'Lookman has gone to Leipzig on loan for first team experience.' End there. Instead we look amateur and he looks like a prick.

He said Klaassen wont be frozen out of the squad after the loan fell through because he is a model professional and doesn't complain when he isn't picked... unlike other players.

In Lookman's case, he is an inexperienced young lightweight player with potential, but under no stretch of the imagination is he ready for a regular place in a Premier League team.

Not arsed about the back story or where Sam wanted him to go, he needs game time to develop.

As said above, I hope all our young players are big heads and think they are the dog's bollocks; otherwise, why be a professional footballer if you don't believe in your own talent?

Of course there is the Lukaku - Mirallas effect in going way past what your skills actually are..

Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, employee exercises right to choose whichever option he feels suits him best from those on offer?

The loan is ridiculous and it's no wonder that Allardyce wasn't happy with it. The whole point of a loan is to get the kid regular playing time. How will he develop when he won't play?

I don't like this at all. The kid should have accepted that he needed to play at a lower level for a short while. He barely played any games for Charlton and came into the game late. He's incredibly raw and needs bloody game time.

This loan is of no use to us and Lookman should have done as he was told.

Both Klaassen & Lookman had their futures broadcast by decree of Allardyce... then, hey ho, the opposite happens.

Koeman mouthed off about Barkley, yadda yadda.

All you are really doing is forcing the player out? Is that really what we want, washing our smalls in view of the world. The narrative is we are small time and players talk good or bad, they spread the word.

Everton bad public relations FC.

An alternative story is that Klaassen and his agent couldn't sort out a loan to Napoli (currently top of Serie A!) because of a "sporting contract" suggested to be something to do with naming rights!

Hardly dealing with a young man desperate to play football then are we?

That "mid table Bundesliga club" are 5th in the Bundesliga. 2 points off 2nd position

Walsh's Buys?

With Islam Slimani's loan to Newcastle at the end of January, all six of Leicester City's signings from summer 2016 have now left the club - just 18 months on.

Luis Hernandez was sold to Malaga in January 2017, before three signings left last summer, Ron-Robert Zieler to Stuttgart on a permanent deal and Bartosz Kapustka and Papy Mendy on loan, to Freiburg and Nice respectively.

Then, this week, Ahmed Musa moved back to CSKA Moscow on loan before Slimani's switch to St. James' Park.

Steve Walsh joined Everton in the same summer, but surely he'd have played a part in landing some of these absolute flops.

Questions continue about Walsh's role and his abiity to fulfil it, I'm very sceptical about the whole Director of Football position and nothing which has happened at Goodison in the last 18 months has helped to alleviate my sceptism.

How would you rather them described? Top third but nowhere near top of the third?

But I might suggest the club and certainly the manager who can and has been contradicted by the stories at hand should be more circumspect.

My feeling is Sam needs to show he is in charge, and is being as blunt as Koeman before him was with Barkley. Players less than 25 years old will not respond to the Alpha dog peeing in front of them, marking his dominance. It just isn't how you deal with people. It's so outdated.

We risk alienating two investments when the manager's future is at best tenuous. There is no way this guy should be decided the future of Everton players, maybe if had a real director of football rather than a friendly uncle that Walsh looks like things like this might be better handled?

A better team than us probably covers it.

Leipzig flourished under the guidance of one of Germany and the world's best (and older) coaches, Ralf Rangnick, and now Hasenhuettl his successor seems to be carrying on seamlessly. Ademola has therefore gone to a club who will see his strengths rather than his weaknesses, his lack of fear at taking players on rather than his lack of tactical awareness. The point being that you can't teach pace or intuition but you can work on becoming more responsible spatially.

Everton will be the beneficiaries of this deal if the lad comes back, which I fear may not happen under this manager. It makes me laugh with contempt to see the words Allardyce and honest in the same sentence, as a number of posts have managed to do. Honesty is one thing he's never been accused of before. An inability to manage young players through to consistent first team maturity is, however, a regular feature on his chargesheet; the sight of a visibly upset Mason Holgate leaving Goodison before the official team announcement was further testimony to this manager's people skills. Lookman, Holgate, Dowell, Davies, Walsh (oops not Walsh, they flogged him without even a run at the first team) are the future, not Allardyce and his cast of hangers-on.

At least if he'd joined Derby, he'd be playing from Saturday right through until May in a similar way to Dowell and learning more about the English game – which is what we want him to play afterall.

Basically, if Sam is here beyond this season, then that's the young lad done at Everton. He may not be tearing up trees, but he has huge potential and Sam just burned him in front of journalists.

You say "it was widely reported on here and Grand Old Team at the time, that Lookman was seen storming out of the car park before a game because he wasn't in the matchday squad. A few fans who saw him and spoke to him on his way out posted his comments."

I browse TW daily, don't bother with GOT, and your comment is absolutely the first I've heard of this claim, so not as 'widely reported' or commented on as you suggest.

To further make the claims that you do – that gossip on a couple of fans forums is rock solid evidence and proof positive that Lookman:

* "thinks he is bigger and better than he actually is"

* that he isn't one "to stick around and support his team mates..."

* shows his "childish attitude and sense of entitlement, as opposed to knuckling down and working hard..."

* that "he refuses to see his own weaknesses and work on them..."

Well... don't you think it's stretching the character assassination a tad, James, based on little or no evidence at all, in the same way Dick Fearon did before you?

What makes this even weirder (from Lookman's perspective) is the article's dogmatic comment that – and I'm paraphrasing this – if he doesn't get to grips right away with Leipzig's collective team ethos, he may as well already be on the plane back to England.

The overall tone of the article is negative, but it would be remiss of me to make it appear that it's just about Lookman; it's more of a broader scoped moanfest from Rangnick about other grievous issues at the club.

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/bundesliga/startseite/716498/artikel_rundum-kritik_rangnick-kuendigt-gravierende-veraenderungen-an.html

Even if he only plays 7 or 8 games out of the 14 remaining he is training in a different environment over there. The training sessions are brutal as the performances often dictate who starts. Listening to some of our American players who played over there, they would talk about getting the crap kicked out of them in training and being bloody and bruised because it was 100 percent effort. They also talked about how much they improved, technically and tactically.

This can only help the kid. Playing at lower levels in England against poorer competition at his age is not helping him to develop. Plus, is there a guarantee that he would play at a team fighting relegation or chasing promotion being a new addition?
German teams play young players and teenagers if they are good enough without this, loan them out to a lower tier team first, crap.

Curious to see so many slating a young player for wanting to improve himself and challenge himself by going elsewhere. I thought we were sick of too many players happy to sit on the bench or in the stands and collect a paycheck. Now, when one of our youngsters shows ambition, we call him names and question his ego, etc. I truly don't understand the mentality of those posters and don't want to.