Allan leaves Everton for the UAE

I could see what Ancelotti was trying to do bringing in those 3 at the last minute & our season started extremely well. Right move at the right time for all concerned.

Thank you, Allan, good luck in the sun!

It feels like we actually may make money this year after getting rid of a lot of deadwood and loaning out players. Wages have surely been reduced and obviously cash money for Richarlison and most of our signings were in instalments. How do we find out?

Best of luck mate. Nothing but good memories.

Do you really think Allan was good value for us? 㿀M + reported 𧴜k a week so c 㿊M for 2 seasons and then he leaves on a free?

Good first season, no doubt; 2nd season wasn't great but not bad.

Allan is a good bloke and seemingly a nice guy but good value? No chance (a bit like saying Walcott was good value when he had a decent first 18 months but never really achieved much and then also left on a free.)

I'd also suggest Tosun was crap value albeit he contributed less than Allan.

But finance concurrence, alignment is a target as well so all in all, a fair trade deal.

Good luck Allan, you had character, at a time when most of the squad had little, or had lost their footballing character.

Belief...

The problem is when you but a player towards the end of his top days, his financial value will always go down. The problem with us, as you point out, we kept doing it: Walcott, Tosun are only two of many...

Delph, Allan, Gbamin, Gomes, Alli, Sigurdsson (in absentia), Iwobi, Doucoure, Davies

To

Onana, Gueye, Iwobi, Garner, Doucoure, Davies

That is a pretty radical overhaul of the midfield in my book and I would say Thelwell has done a terrific job in his first transfer window.

And good luck to Allan – he was a fighter, but the injuries started building up, and we can't afford to carry passengers in the new Everton that Lampard and Thelwell are building.

Putting the financials aside, Allan was exactly what we need in an Everton player: mature (a dedicated father off-the-field), tough & professional with all the veteran tricks & know-hows that our squad lacked so much of previously. He is a walking textbook of how to be a Top Tier Midfielder. Every time I watched Tom Davies making sillly mistakes on the field that Allan would never have made, I was mad that TD never has the Football IQ (&/or the hunger and drive) to have observed Allan enough and learnt a few things from him, considered the time that they have spent at Finch Farm together.

His injuries last season unfortunately robbed him the pace that he never had and that was the last straw for Frank to move on from him.

His intangibles as a compatriot of Richy might also have helped getting the moody-at-times Richy through some of the abysses in the last 2 seasons, IMHO.

If only we were able to attract a young Allan when he was 25 or 26, but he was flying high with Napoli in Champions League back then. Otherwise, I wish him nothing but the very best and hope the money he would make in the Middle East set him & his families up for life.

Would have kept him because he also had experience and lots of class. Not up to the Premier League rythm maybe but his character football intelligence and winning mentality were attributes we lacked. But he wasn't gonna play much so fair play and enjoy his last footie years. He was a loyal servant. Good luck Allan.

Ultimately an ill-advised, short-term buy, but he was professional, always gave 100% and certainly didn't pout when Ancelotti split. Two respectable years of service. I wish him well.

Squad's almost starting to look downright svelte. I feel like the only current players most people would just as soon not see on the pitch are Rondon and Keane.

A favourite of mine. As Christine and Brent have said, as well as being a very good player, leadership on the pitch when we were lacking. A continuous wasp in the ear. Not just the officials, but his own teammates if they needed telling.

Reading the report, you can see what Ancelotti tried to do. Rip out and replace the midfield. Frank Lampard has pretty much done the same, benefiting with a much improved Iwobi playing in a different position. Midfield has been a problem for years now. As has centre-back even though hardly anyone would listen to me. Not that they have to. It's all about opinions.

We got him too late in his career, unfortunately. I personally would have liked to have seen him stay. I think that Bill G makes a good point, he could have done a job when needed to, surrounded by the midfield we now have, so would have been a useful option. But it's down to what the manager and DoF want and their vision for this squad.

But as Bill Watson points out, credit to him for wanting to go and play football, wherever that may be. Best wishes and thanks for at least those 2 defence splitting passes at Brighton!!

I liked Allan too, but probably it is the right time for him to move on and hopefully a younger, cheaper, one for the future Allan can be brought in in January.

I didn't rate him as a defensive midfielder, and he offered not much else in terms of goals, assists, box-to-box play. The highlights reel will show McNeil cutting past him in season one, and a dodgy red card for tripping the Newcastle player in season two. The Brazilian Besic?

㿅M for two seasons is exactly the type of business that got us into the mess in the first place for an average player. Thankfully Thelwell seems to be doing better than that.

Mina will be probably gone in the summer to.

Hoping the six we now have are more robust. We also have Warrington and Mills as highly promising back-up. Probably still one creative midfielder short with fingers crossed Iwobi continues his step change.

It's less than two years ago that we were sat in 2nd place with Allan and Doucoure the two-man central midfield. I couldn't understand why he wasn't getting more game time towards the end of last season.

Having said that, if Lyndon is correct and we pick a fee of ٢M, saving a big wage of the next nine months, that is effectively ٦/9M that can be reinvested in the squad.

I would have preferred to keep him as cover for Gueye but we only have a few weeks to manage until the break and then a younger cheaper back-up could be signed in January if deemed necessary.

All in all, probably a sensible decision from the head, overruling the heart's emotions.

Letting him go for free is not good business but we have a track record of that. Klaassen, Tosun, Walcott, Sigurdsson, Delph, Gomes, Allan, Gbamin. What's that close to 𧶀 million on transfer fees out and sweet Fanny Adams back.

I liked Allan, Frank obviously didn't as a player and his minutes have been significantly curtailed under his tenure. Wish him well.

I liked most of his first season but as others have said we bought him about 5 years too late.

We have had a complete revamp of the squad. Apart from an out-and-out striker to cover for Calvert-Lewin, all the bases have been covered with a mixture of players for now and the future.

As a squad, we are younger, less expensive and just more exciting.

The targets for the glass-half-empty brigade are all but gone, and those that remain will benefit from playing in a better team once it beds in.

Allan was never going to be a regular player once Gueye, Onana and Garner were added to Doucoure and Iwobi. So he has done what every real player should do. He has left to play elsewhere. (Besic, Tosun take note.)

Fair play to him. We always looked better when he played, but that is partly because the alternatives were not very good. Now he can work to a deserved retirement in the sunshine.

I liked the player, a tough street fighter with a good battling attitude. I think he was no shirker and tried his best for us but this was hampered by his slightly declining speed and physical prowess.

Also, as has been said, he has been proactive moving rather than sitting on his hands collecting free money for training. I expect the fee is minimal, but this move is more about getting his ٣M-a-year wage off the books and giving us more leeway for future reinforcements. First and foremost, a quality back-up / challenger to Calvert-Lewin.

Good luck to him for the future.

"Let's have one good season, I can them move on. Who cares if the 㿞M in transfers on three 29-year-olds is money down the drain? Not my money." Thanks Carlo.

Allan started to creak within weeks., Started like a train but, after a couple of months, we were wide open. One of our most disappointing signings given the expectations we had for him.

Good luck to the guy.

Clearly Allan is not the right player now and has either decided or been persuaded (and so decided) to move on. I like Allan as I think he has some class and, with this, goes character.

Good Luck in the Middle East, Allan. We wish you all the best for your future.

In his debut at Spurs away, he was outstanding and I looked forward to more of the same but it looked like his legs were going and, after that hamstring injury, I don't think he could cope. A liability in a positional sense, never far away from a yellow and no assists or goals.

If we want to progress, this is the type of signing we need to move away from and I'm glad to see that we already have. WIsh him well though.

Ancelotti wanted a midfield enforcer and tried to bring in Hoiberg, when he joined spurs we moved for Allan.

No doubting his ability but the pace of the prem caught him out. He needed legs around him and only had Doucoure. The Brazilian Peter Reid!

Time to move on. I want to see what Garner is made of and wouldn't be surprised at some point if we played a 4 man midfield entirely of centre midfielders with Iwobi, Gana, Onana and Garner.

Thelwell and Lampard seem to be focusing on athleticism and health, therefore Allan is probably less mobile when compared to Gana. If we had signed him when he was 25 or 26 years old, he'd be a Goodison legend now.

As for building for the medium term, it's about balance in the squad. Benitez signed Rondon, Lonergan, Begovic and Townsend with an average age of?

I wish him well with thanks.

Allan wasn't playing at all while we paid him handsomely. Happy he's moving on - it's better for the player and better for Everton. He always gave his all, so I wish him good health and happiness as he moves on.

Ajay @ 9 -

Yes, Thelwell has done a terrific job as DOF thus far. I was very excited when we hired him and after I did research on him. He's transformed the midfield and backline, in a massively positive way, already in such a short time! He's the real "Super Kev" in my book.

Jamie #43, I knew it all along! Thelwell is why I was never part of the angst here about how long it was taking to do our business in the window. The guy has been focused, decisive and fearless in his dealings, and he hasn't put a foot wrong yet in my view, although McNeil and Vinagre have yet to bear out his judgement on them.

And a hearty well-done to Moshiri, who finally realized in the wreckage of the Benitez disaster that he needed to get the fuck out of the way and bring in some experts. His hiring work since then has been brilliant.

(BTW, Onana did a club site interview the other day and was asked who had the most powerful shot in the club. I almost did a spit-take with my coffee when he instantly responded, "Dwight!")

I don't think we'll miss him with Gana, Iwobi, and Onana playing well at the moment and Doucoure, Davies, and Garner on the bench.

I watched Belgium and the Netherlands last night. Onana had a really good game and was unlucky not to score. He looks awkward at times, possibly due to his height, but he is very effective. I think we've got a really good player in him.

He just needs to get used to the pace of the Premier League and not dwell on the ball too long like he has done once or twice. He'll pick up his fair share of yellow cards and maybe the odd red because of his aggressive tackling but I guess we'll have to live with that.

That may be the case but I'm sure Ancelotti's brief was to probably get us Champions League football and then build from there.

Despite the ill feeing toward Ancelotti, he finished only 8 points behind 4th place Chelsea. Basically we were 3 wins from Champions League football.

The roaring success of the Roberto Martinez debut season which everybody goes on about… we were 7 points off Champions League football.

In the years that preceded that, Moyes was:
10 points
13 points
14 points
9 points
9 points
11 points
10 points
17 points

So basically, the only guy to get us closer to Champions League football since 2005 than Robert Martinez in 2014 was Ancelotti in 2021 and there was 1 point difference.

So short-termism, you may feel, Kevin. But he had an objective and was not a million miles from achieving it.

Can you please cite some examples with evidence of the lack of professionalism from James Rodriguez compared with Allan?

Smiling with bikini babes on his yacht while he is injured (again during the season).

Everton were paying him nearly a million a month for him to be so "in your face" with his superstar lifestyle.

Gerry #45, I looked up Onana's record when we signed him, because I had the same concern, and I think I found that he's only had one red in his entire career, and it was last year at Lille. His tackling technique is really quite excellent.

Thanks, I wasn't aware of his previous red or yellow card record but if he's only picked up the one red, that's reassuring. I agree his technique and timing seem good as long as he dosen't get caught out with the pace of the Premier League.

What wouldn't we give for a player with that kind of productivity right now?

Looks like no top level clubs wanted any of these 3 players, which tells the story. We now have a better midfield and saved money on big wages.

Good luck Mr. Allan.

I think Onana's tackling looks great when he slides and wins the ball. One tackle in the first half of the derby which stopped Liverpool breaking away, and put Everton on the attack instead, was truly exquisite.

But appears like he can only tackle with his left leg, (it's early days, I haven't watched a great deal of the kid) and it worries me that he could seriously hurt himself when tackling on the wrong side.

He overstretched against West Ham tackling like this, and supposedly went to play for Belgium with a slight injury, which he probably did during this incident.

The kid looks like he's going to be a very, very good player though, so I hope I'm wrong with this observation.

A classy player who always gave and demanded 100 %.

Good luck Allan.

I too see a lot in Obana. Maybe one day he too can be US President.

Damn that auto type / predictive spell!!!

Agree though, a we seem to have a real player in the making on our hands.

Some people don't know a good player when they see one. They can't appreciate what players like this do or that bravery takes on many forms when playing football other than screaming, running around aimlessly and flying into tackles.

Put it this way. If you added the James Rodriguez we signed in 2020 to this team, then he would improve it.

I cannot comment on his injury record or reasons for not making the starting XI because I do not know the facts, much like everybody else.

However, it is interesting that the point is raised on a story about Allan Marques as they played exactly the same amount of games as each other in the 2020-21 season for Everton, yet I do not see the same accusations being levelled at the Brazilian.

In terms of minutes played, it was the prerogative of the manager to bring Rodriguez off in as many matches as he did.

You never can know when or how a footballer's legs will go. Some to in stages making the occasional or even regular rallies – see Seamus. Some just go out like a light. Lampard has clearly not been impressed by what he has seen of Allan. Best for all concerned that he moves on.

On the subject of tackling. I believe it has more to do with timing than which side of the foot you go in with. We all remember "that tackle by Moore" which sent rampaging Jazinho spinning over his shoulder while he came out with the ball.

Joe Parkinson was brilliant at tackling with the outside of his foot, although his early retirement may add strength to the argument against.

I've predicted in previous posts that a few months of study at the University of Gana Gueye will definitely improve his ability to win the ball on his feet. Professor Allan would probably have helped him with that as well.

But yes, I think we potentially have a major star on our hands.

Best of luck to him.

Allan was a dreadful signing. Schneiderlin, Davies, Gomes and Delph have continually been the subject of more derision than the worst defensive midfielder I have ever seen for us.

Throughout his tenure, we lost more games when he played the holding role, conceded more goals and were so easily to play against as he continually went AWOL and was one of the least disciplined players I have ever seen.

Thankfully Frank jettisoned him from the team as we were heading to the Championship before that decision was made. In the six games Delph played as holder, we took 12 points which was no coincidence.

A dreadful signing which was brought to satisfy the ego of Ancelotti who told us he was the best defensive midfielder in the world.

The top teams that season were all hampered by a congestion from Covid in a unique league. We finished in between two Championshp squads in Villa and Leeds. Embarrassing.

I'm not having a laugh, no. I'm presenting the facts, as unpalatable as you may find them as they show that Ancelotti finished 8 points off a Champions League spot in his first and only full season.

Clearly this does not fit any anti-Ancelotti agenda you have.

He is also the only Everton manager in 23 years to take a team to Anfield and win. James Rodriguez played in both derby games that season.

With a nod to the original story, Allan incidentally did not feature in the win at Anfield.

Wish him luck.

The player we witnessed at Everton was far too restricted in my opinion, sitting in that defensive midfield, but you could see he wasn't cut out for it in the way say Gana is.

Allan always wanted to roam and at times that came across as a lack of discipline but really it was just the true reflection of what he should have been signed for.

Anyway, good luck to him.

If your opponent anticipates this, and then decides to tackle himself, rather than try and skip past you, then you are in big trouble imo, especially if their tackle is strong.

Gueye sat behind Allan and Doucoure would have been a different thing.

I think Allan did want to go forward. But he didn't always have options in front of him. As many an Everton midfielder over the years have found.

Yes, timing has plenty to do with good tackling... also, keeping your eye on the ball. Bobby Moore was very good at it as was Peter Reid, both slow in action but speedy with their football brains.

Danny # 74, your post highlights Allan's strengths and limitations. A central midfield of Allan, Doucoure and Gueye has bite but nothing much else. Allan is probably the best passer, Gueye the best presser and Doucoure the best chance of a goal. But the three together would be a pretty grim watch.

I know I've said this time and again, but as much as we talk about Adrian Heath's goal at Oxford being a turning point, watch Peter Reid's pressing in the build-up. He didn't make a tackle. He didn't make a pass. But he forced the now famous backpass through pressing the ball.

It's not always about tackles, passes or screamers. It's more often about how you impact the game.

Very true – and your idol was very good at it, Kevin Sheedy. He seldom tackled but made his opponent go backwards or part with the ball on plenty of occasions. A good football brain is worth a 2- or 3-yard start on your opponent.

This was because I always had my eye on Peter Reid, who actually turned away and threw his arms up in frustration, thinking Brock had got the ball back to the Oxford keeper before Heath stole in.

I probably never appreciated Adrian Heath either until my later years, and probably because he once put two fingers up to the Evertonians at Maine Road. But, looking back, what a great little player Adrian Heath really was.

In that half-season before Heath got injured, I have never seen such fast one-touch football like a pinball, it was breathtaking.

As good and different as Andy Gray was as his stand-in, we were probably a little more direct. Ironic that, with the world class striker Lineker was, it changed again and everything was directed to him.

History says it failed at the last hurdle but Southall's injury was the turning point. Loved Inchy and arguably his semi-final winner in the FA Cup really put us on the map.

Anticipation and gambling. Something Heath was great at when you look back. The goal Brian alludes to at Highbury demonstrates that goal sniffing instinct that sent us wild. Hasn't Peter Reid also since said he threw his arms up and was about to give both barrels because he thought it was a shite corner?!!!

Fortunately, he got lost in the subsequent pitch invasion.

I'll bring it back on thread, because I do think Allan brought some of that in his time with us. He shouted at his teammates as much as getting in the ear of the Ref. We didn't have enough of it. Too many meek and compliant individuals, not enough leaders.

Adrian Heath probably had to convince a lot of Evertonians at the time as he wasn't a traditional centre-forward that many had grown up on. In hindsight, would we now call him a modern Number 10?

A shame that tackle and injury cut him short. No pun intended.

I remember reading a newspaper report at the time which suggested that Heath and Sharp were well on their way to becoming the most prolific striking partnership English football had ever witnessed – but of course Marwood's shocking tackle put paid to that.

I always expected both Heath and Sharp to score in every game... the only doubt was who would score first!

Good times.

Marwood and Whitehurst (the fucking donkey who crippled Bracewell) helped derail us really.

That one-touch football… Alan Ball would've thrived in that spell. He was the master of it.

Unless you are Sheedy and can slow the game down to your own pace. (Apologies for my token Sheedy plug.)

On the flip side, game management and keep the ball. Sometimes you take the sting out of the game and control things.

It was great to watch and we went expecting to win.

As for your Sheedy plug, Danny, his balance and shot for a left-footer Had no equal even Brady who comes close but never achieved half as much except the odd cup win.

Still a soft spot for the Gunners aka Schalke with you. Michael Thomas… but that's another story.

I especially like the bit when Michael Thomas ,who must have been the calmest man in the stadium, burst through and composed himself, and sent what looked like about 8,000 Arsenal fans (in an area that should have only had half that number) absolutely berserk.

Mi Ciamo Francessco Totti (My name is Francessco Totti).

And the one about Tony Kroos.

Both in native language so most will need to follow the subtitles.

Great watches.

Sometimes he looked a little off the pace in our league but he always gave 100% and he led by example. We have a few leaders in the team now though and, with Richarlison gone, maybe it's time to let him get his last big payout. Good luck to the lad.

He just didn't quite have the pace to run midfield, especially without a good midfield partner as we often got over-run.

A shame we didn't witness him and James in the flesh. With a now (or new) inform Iwobi as a midfield 3.

Thanks and good luck. Another big salary gone too.

If you thought those Arsenal fans were celebrating, me and two of my brothers watched it in his house, all three of us Blues, with his son-in-law a Red.

When that Thomas goal went in, all sentiment towards his son-in-law went out of the window and all hell broke loose celebrating.

I think it was the Steve McMahon one minute finger pointing that fired us up another few notches.

In that split moment, I could picture Bryan Hamilton, Mick Lyons, Sandy Brown, and others, doing a big conga past Clive Thomas, Emlyn Hughes, Jimmy Case and all the other shithouses, who have conned and ridiculed our club, with Brian Clough at the back of the conga, sticking two fingers up to Aldridge, who could not resist running a good 20 yards, to ruffle the Forest defenders hair, who had just scored an own goal, in the rearranged 89 semi final.

That Thomas goal will stick with Evertonians.