Is there any merit in the Souttar rumours?

The pursuit of Harry Souttar resurfacing again, reported we are ready to offer £20 million for him. The Scottish centre-back is making a name for himself at Stoke City. Born in Scotland and played for Scotland Youth but now has decided on playing for Australia, his mum's country. His elder brother, also a footballer, plays for Hearts.

Anyone seen him play? It sounds like we have been scouting and keeping a close eye on him. As usual, Spurs have now been rumoured to be interested as well.

Tony, a good friend of mine is a Stoke season ticket holder and he texted me about Souttar. He said he's a cracker and ‘nothing gets past him'. Interesting.

Talking about giant centre backs, is Jarrad Branthwaite injured or has he regressed in some way? Because, when he was given a chance during the end of the 19-20 season by Ancelotti, he put in some very decent performances.

And by the looks of it, he seems to have grown another 3-4 inches. I saw him standing next to Yerry Mina in one of the training videos, and he appeared to be taller than Yerry! Why would we want to spunk out £15-20 million on another centre-back when we have Jarrad waiting in the wings?

I am now slowly accepting that Mina is a decent defender (I was never convinced before), but he is never consistently available for a run of games in any season. He always seems to play 3-4 games, then is out injured for 2-3 games – he is always in and out of the team – which is never helpful to build a stable CB partnership.

So, I would sell Mina in the summer if we get a decent offer. Maybe, that money can be used to buy Souttar. Until then, Benitez has to make do with rotating Keane, Mina and Holgate, Godfrey or Branthwaite. Hopefully, one or two of them will step up.

I've seen him playing for the Socceroos and while he dominates against Asian opponents in the air he doesn't look at all quick in movement and if you think Keane isn't upto it then you will probably see the same in Souttar. I don't see him as a particular improvement on what we have.

Alarmingly, Branthwaite's contract is up at the end of the season. Mina is out of contract at the end of next season.

I expect (hope) Branthwaite will sign again but Mina will probably be sold in summer to generate funds. There has been plenty of interest in Spain and Italy.

Souttar is a good age / profile and has done his apprenticeship in the Championship.

I can't see it happening before summer though - which could be part of a massive squad overhaul if DCL and Richarlison also leave as is looking more likely than not.

There will always be rumours especially when a team starts to struggle.

I would like to have a team that doesn't have players from far away places as they are always compromised when returning from international duty and it's even harder on a club that doesn't have an endless stream replacements like RS, City and Chelski.

Teams like Everton have to bite the bullet however as home grown talent doesn't seem to get much of a look-in these days.

Robert,

Yeah Richarlison only has 18 months left also so, if we don't hear of a new deal by New Year, I should imagine they'll cash in next summer. Although, we will hardly be able to ask a King's Ransom as clubs may just wait 12 months and get him for nothing.

At least we know he can do it on a cold Tuesday night in Stoke!

Kieran (7),

I thought Richarlison's contract was until June 2024, 2½ years from now.

John

Hopefully so but I saw Sportrac had it as June 2023. Not that I guess they necessarily have the inside story on the details.

Andrew

Haha the unicorn we've been searching for all these years.

Richardson's contract runs until June 2024.

https://www.evertonfc.com/players/24630/Richarlison

If anybody wants to check all contracts on players, go to the official club website, click on Teams then click on First Team. This lists all players in the First Team squad, including when their contract runs until. Or click on this link...........

https://www.evertonfc.com/teams/first-team

Kieran / John - Transfermarkt has Richarlison's contract ending June 2024. They're usually very accurate. So I'd expect to get a decent fee - about £70m. That's less than it would have been but covid-19 seems to have depressed the market.

Yes 2024, I don't think we'd let our prize asset get down to 1 year. The club will be looking to extend his contract or cash in next summer. Probably the latter, obviously the player's wishes have to be taken into account too.

Rob Halligan

Thanks for that tip I didn't know the official website had it

I use sites like Transfermarkt for certain things. Regarding our players' contract length, though, I found that doing what Rob (12) suggests is best. Either as he puts it or just finding the story on the Club official site about the signing.

Ray @ 2, " He said he's a cracker and ‘nothing gets past him'. Interesting."

Would that include four pints of Guiness and a Chicken Vindaloo ?

Seriously, have heard similar reports and I am surprised other Clubs haven't been sniffing if he is as good as we believe him to be. Or maybe they have, and we haven't heard of them yet. Would make decent sense to get a Mr Reliable in the CD position, where let's face it we never seem to have a settled pairing. Mind you injuries have dictated that to a degree.

Be interesting too to know exactly from someone like Paul the Esk, what is our current standing, or projected standing come the January Transfer Window, with regards to having money to spend, but hopefully wisely, from hereon in.

Branthwaite is back from injury. At 6'5" is this one fast enough to run with a Rafa high line?

Alan (4), I have to agree. Saw him play in the Socceroos last match against Japan. Good in the air, but otherwise lacking, esp at ground level, and was caught out of position multiple times along with his fellow defenders.

He'll fit right in with our shambles of a defence lol!

Dale, I recall an interview with DCL where he suggested Branthwaite was one of the quickest players at the club.

Branthwaites contract runs until June 2023 on the EFC website. Phew!!!

If the rumours about Souttar are true, it's reassuring to know that the club recognise we need to strengthen the central defence. Mina is about the best of the bunch but doesn't produce a consistent run in the team for one reason or another and, with his contract running down and interest from abroad, it seems to suggest his days at Everton are numbered.

Usually young centre-backs need time to mature into that position, eg, Branthwaite and Godfrey, so I don't know if Souttar would provide an immediate answer.

However, good experienced centre-backs are like gold and are rarely readily available, so maybe a trawl of the Championship is called for. After all, Maguire, Mings, Coady, Dunk etc – they all cut their teeth in the Championship

Just saying!

There's been rumours of Mina going to AC Milan so it's possible we're looking at this lad. Also rumours about the young Portugal AC Milan striker Leao coming here. Maybe as part of the Mina deal. Another one is that Dumfries has not been starting many matches for Inter, they may loan him out in January. Anyone know a club that needs a right-back, preferably on the cheap?

As usual, all the above is in a folder marked “Tittle-tattle”.

Our recruitment "policy" under our DOF and assorted managers has been scattergun so it's plausible enough that we might go for someone Ferguson happened to see one day playing for Stoke. Provided he doesn't cost more than two brass farthings.

Risking £20M on a promising player that appears to lack pace, awareness and footballing ability.

Sound rights up Brands's street. Our DoF is a Duff.

For that money, we should be looking at more of a proven, experienced player, not more gambling with youth.

Coach what we have. Branthwaite and Godfrey have great ability and potential. They just need to be well drilled.

Today's, “Playeur du Jour”.. it's the one and only Idrissu Baba, a 25 yr old Ghanaian DCM, who plays in Spain. I think there could be a mini shake up in January of our midfield to give us a bit more strength in depth. One or maybe two departing (if possible) and one or two in.

I haven't really seen much of Souttar but IMO what we really need is a mature experienced leader who gets stuck in and gees the rest of them up – not a young up-and-coming hit of the day...

It's a pity we couldn't get or afford Koulibaly because he is exactly what we need.

Souttar has been very decent for Stoke but he looks to be another deep line defender. We already have one of those in Michael Keane and he's pretty good at defending in that way, having some of the best aerial stats in the league over the last few years.

What we need ideally is someone who is good in the air and is a bit more mobile so we our back line can push up a bit. At times last season Godfrey looked like he could be this but this season (perhaps due to Covid) he has looked poor in the air and unsound positionally.

Me and a few others were disappointed when Southampton got Salisu for just £11m and he is now looking like a CB who has that balance between strength, intelligence and mobility. Mina, when fit is another and i'd be trying to keep him as our best CB if we can.

Agree with Alan (4) and Vijay (19) - good in the air and as a deep-lying defender but not mobile enough. I don't think centre-back is our number one priority but, if we were buying someone, we need a centre-back with pace.

The CB issue we have is complicated by contract issues.

Branthwaite is out of contract summer 2022. Mina is out of contract summer 2023.

Hopefully the former re-signs. I expect the latter may well be sold this coming summer to avoid losing him for nothing.

As the stats (and naked eye) show, Mina is now our best defender.

As Sam alludes, with a bit of foresight we could already have the replacement at the club if we bought players like Salisu and showed some patience.

Barkley getting mentioned today on a loan deal with an option to buy.

I suppose a loan is risk-free, but I am not sure what to make of Ross and whether I would want him back.

Is he much of an upgrade on Gomes? Or the ‘new improved formula' Delph? On the other side of the coin, he could flourish given a run of games; also, he is coming into his prime years.

On balance, I would hope there are other, better options we are looking at. An interesting one though, that needs thinking about.

Tony,

I saw the other day he started for once for Chelsea, they drew at home, and he was subbed off after 75 mins. So I assumed "same old Ross, didn't take his opportunity," but then I read the full report and apparently he was given a standing ovation and considered MotM.

But if you look at his time at Villa, it was a great start, injury, then poor. So, between the up-and-down form, and injuries, I am not sure he'd improve us.

Didn't like how he came back to our treatment table and we lost out on £20M. However, he can pass a ball, and we don't have many that can. I'd have him on a loan for sure given our squad depth.

On loan, Barkley would be a really good bet if his fitness is right.

Then I guess we'll see.

Barkley and, say, Maitland-Niles together would not suddenly have us challenging the Top 4 but we'd certainly be better.