Half-way through the transfer window

At the moment we are reliant, yet again, on Calvert-Lewin recovering and being ready. It's a dangerous game. There is a balance to be struck though, between not making any rash panic signings and overpaying.

On the positive side I think we are not too far away if we get the striker in. Especially with the Danjuma signing. If we can't get the right man in this time round maybe we should consider a one year deal for someone like Jamie Vardy or maybe Broja on loan.

Robert, give us some viable options from that secret spreadsheet.

That's the offensive but, but I still think we will be in the market for a CB too.

For large parts of last season it was just damage limitation and see if we can nick a goal. Any defence will creek under 70-80 mins of constant backs to the wall.

No pace up top, no one running in behind, no worries for opposition defences.

I'm hopeful we now have some wiggle room to bring in 1 or 2 that will give us the threat to give opposition teams to more to think about.

Don't just get any striker as lots of posters say, look what we got with Maupay!

Be patient. Get the right people!

In the summer when we 'won' the transfer window, we paid fees and wages well over the odds for most of the players we bought. Not sure we can do that these days. That's why I think we'll do most of our business near the end of the window. Hopefully it won't be a case or who blinks first/who ends up with nobody!

Not sure what the affordable alternative is mind and hope I am wrong about our midfield.

Not that I'd be in favor of bringing in Vardy -- £140,000/week is ridiculous for a 36-year-old reserve -- but hopefully Danjuma brings some of that speed element and can stretch defenses.

The exceptions are Piroe and probably Iheanacho.

I think that indicates the sort of tactical set up we'll be using - and also used to good effect at the end of last season.

We might still sign Piroe or Iheanacho - but Danjuma would then be used to run in behind. A bit like how Kane and Son operate for Spurs, only less good.

Is the MSP deal going ahead? Are there other parties in the shadows? Will Bill remain as Chairman long after the summer window is closed? Does anybody in positions of actual power give a monkeys?

it's very difficult to appraise what's happening, we all knew it would be a challenging window to persuade players to come to Goodison, but it seems that something more than the usual, is taking place, we'll have to wait and see, as we continue to fret about what sort of team will line up on the first day of the season and beyond.

It's normal for the season to be underway before deals really start happening.

Pickford- staying
DcL - staying
Onanna- undecided, but I'd say another season of improvement and he's £50m
Who else would rake in over 15m ?
Not anyone who we want to sell anyway.

No ones paying decent money for
Gabamin
Gomes
Keane
Ali
Iwobi ( last year )
Maupay ( come on )

Holgate and Gray are probably the last squad members who would generate a decent fee, but I'd say we need replacements before we could allow them to leave.

If he pulls it off and gets a decent striker and wide/ versatile attacker while operating with the budget of magic beans from the board it boads well for the future if he's given more than magic beans to spend.

I love your knowledge of footballers worldwide and respect your views but you fail to mention that Mina, Coady, Davies and Simms have left, leaving us a bit weaker as a squad.

I am desperate for us to get rid of Maupay and get a decent goalscorer in and, while I think Danjuma is useful, he is not the answer to our needs for a target man.

IMO, it should have been a priority to get a goalscorer over the line first and foremost and, in typical Everton fashion, we fail to get people over the line.

I think it is imperative to get a target man into the squad pre-season to be able to slot in and get to know the other players and adjust to the pace and physicality of the Premier League if necessary.

I remain optimistic about our defensive capabilities, and we now have a much stronger midfield, albeit without a natural goalscorer, but, if we start the season with Maupay, we are doomed to fail.

Gnonto and Brobbey are still targets. If we could get both of them in, the landscape would look very different.

I hope Keane isn't first choice, if we are relying on him to be the one to find the through balls, it says everything about our midfield. It says a lot that you didn't name one central midfielder, don't you think?

Garner looks like he has potential certainly, I agree with you there.

If we are pinning our hopes on Danjuma single-handedly keeping us in the Premier League, we'd better hope he doesn't pick up a lengthy injury.

I don't see the importance of 31 July? Is there some cash flow event then? Our financial year runs from 1 July to 30 June, so any spending after 1 July is in the 23-24 accounting period.

That's why Garner will be so crucial this season. Gana and Doucouré can't pass a ball at all, and Onana's first look is to the wings.

It's funny we have an opposite view on Iwobi. I think he rushes his forward passes too much, and you think he hesitates too much. But at least he does try to play the ball into space.

I can understand bringing in Gnoto as an extra forward but we need skilful players like Gray who can on his day unlock a defence.

It seems as though Dyche is not a fan of Gray even though he led the line without having an orthodox striker last year. Is Gnoto really an improvement on Gray??

John, I don't know the significance of the 31 July date – it's something someone else mentioned on another thread.

For me, Branthwaite at the back is a huge boost, and another couple of strikers, and midfield back-up for Gana and Iwobi – who will be off to the African Cup of Nations in January – would be great for assurance of this squad's depth.

UTFTs!

And before you start shouting and roaring at me, in my opinion, he would definitely be an addition to have on the bench; he would offer a lot more than Gomes and Alli, and can score as well.

Beggars can't be choosers.

You'd want to put together a performance-related contract etc

"Mina, Coady, Davies and Simms have left, leaving us a bit weaker as a squad."

In terms of numbers, we've also seen the welcome (?) return of Dele, Gbamin, Gomes and Branthwaite so numerically we are as we were. Amazing to think the duo of Gbamin and Gomes, on a combined salary of close to £200k a week, are probably worse than Tom Davies, who is now unemployed.

No. Just no.

Kieran, I read Davies is training with Joey Barton at Bristol Rovers.

"Barkley would offer a lot more than Gomes and Alli." I know John McFarlane gets upset when I make these kind of flippant remarks but, so would you or I.

It sounds to me like Atalanta are waiting for Man Utd to buy Hojlund before they can get the Toure deal over the line. Have Atalanta got the required funds to sign Toure without the Hojlund money?

Some reports saying Napoli need to sell before they can try and bid for Gnonto, and yet they won Serie A last season. Prize money must be really crap in Italy if this is the case.

The latest write-up is much more optimistic with a bit of a push so, along with the Calvert-Lewin rumor, who knows? We're not getting laughed at – that's for sure.

Serie A has major problems – an expiring TV deal, heavy debt among their big clubs, at least one club going bankrupt every year (Sampdoria is next) and a plummeting public image.

He seems to either try to move it on too quickly having not looked what's happening before he receives the ball and loses possession or rather than being hesitant seems to want loads of touches and run up blind alleys.

There is just no consistency from any of our attack-minded players which is so frustrating!

It seems Dyche doesn't want to offer a longer term contract. So £10M plus would be good business… if reinvested wisely that is. (Probably the downpayment for the Gnonto deal.)

They'll probably say he's fit to start for Sporting with him on the bench and Maupay playing – then announce Calvert-Lewin got injured in training, no time to get a replacement in, and it's Maupay on his own – Everton all over. 🤡🤡🤡

I was looking forward to Branthwaite until I saw him play foer the U21s. I know it's only one game but he was second to every challenge, got lost by his marker every time, and basically looked like a young Michael Keane. I just hope he comes good pre-season; otherwise, we need a new centre-back as well as a goalscorer.

Gbamin has refused to return; I don't know why we don't just cancel his contract.

Dele Alli won't get a look-in at £10M after 7 games and Gomes has totally lost it since Son did him.

I rest my case, M'lud.

Moshiri and Kenwright know from their massive stubbornness in January, which nearly cost us relegation, that signing a striker is essential now – we can't be sure of Dom's fitness, especially with no cover… not Maupay.

Unfortunately, Alli will almost certainly never play another game for us.

In terms of stats out in France, both Barkley and Gomes hit similar figures last year.

Barkley got 4 goals in 27 games for Nice last season (and 2 assists). Gomes got 3 goals in 26 games for Lille (and 2 assists). If we could offload the latter (and his very high wages) and bring in Barkley on more modest wages, that is probably a good deal.

I am biased though because I absolutely cannot stand Gomes.

This is Everton we are talking about – the only thing Kenwright has taught Moshiri apart from wasting money is how to con the fans with smoke-and-mirror tricks.

The lie of bringing in a striker – no wonder there's little to no optimism on here or other sites! 😢🤡

I refuse to believe that he'd offer any less than what we've got out of Davies and Gomes over the last 3 years!

Hopefully the loan will do him good and we'll, finally, keep him for next season. At least Dobbin did quite well, he could see some minutes this season.

Again, I don't believe he'd be any worse than Rondon, Simms or Maupay!

I do think that the transfer window is following a similar pattern to other years: Firstly, reducing the wage bill; deciding who to give a extended contract to; holding back on negotiating existing players' new contracts, effectively putting them in the shop window; bringing in bargains to cover; trying to provide depth; selling anyone of value; looking for young players with potential at low cost; bringing in loan players, with purchase options.

The main objective is to sell for big money and avoid paying out big money. But there is a ever-present suspicion that Everton would sell the family silver and the Granny with it. But Robert has pointed out there are good affordable options out there.

I do get the impression that Dyche helped by Thelwell will push things to the limit. I just wish the same attitude applied to sorting out the club management structure.

It's been obvious to us supporters for so long that we desperately need at least 2 strikers and here we are again seemingly faffing around and getting nowhere, as usual.
Unless there's movement behind the scenes we don't know about, it looks like being a re-run of the last 2 or 3 windows.

I know we are not helped by lack of money or all the uncertainty surrounding the club, but it's only a couple of weeks until the Premier League kicks off again, so for God's sake, let's see some positive movement for once.

Also, Stephy Mavididi to Leicester. Seems like the ideal player for us, 7.5m.

We might be totally brassic; and if that's the case well...we might well be up sh1t creek without a paddle. I think though, that if there's sufficient financial leeway to get a couple of desperately needed players, the Dyche and Thelwell will get them.

I'd say that Calvert-Lewin's condition isn't something we can rely on for a season's first team action (sincerely hope I'm wrong!); but (stating the obvious) we are in dire need of goalscorers!!! Or at least a goalscorer... the best we can get. Otherwise, it'll be like Groundhog Day.

We've had oodles of money and blew it. Whatever we've got now, whether for a permanent signing, or as a loan, it's the best we can get, that we need. We can't waste any more money on players that are not going to do the job. It truly is a case of: Only the best is good enough.

Our best, might only be found in Football's "Car Boot" Bargains but I'd hope we could bring in Jamie Vardy for a year or two and, hopefully, one from the list that Robert has produced.

It's only once we pass the start of the season and into the final weeks of the window that selling clubs and agents will be under pressure to get deals done.

Whilst that doesn't make sense from a football perspective – it's the way of the world. And we're not rich enough to operate any other way.

And for those who think we're doomed, left behind etc, by this approach – take a look at the competition.

West Ham for example have sale proceeds from Declan Rice's departure but what have they done with them? They have a very shallow squad, an expensive dud in Scammacca, and a huge hole in midfield.

Crystal Palace have fared even worse. They've lost their talisman Zaha for free and don't even have sale proceeds to reinvest.

It will all change in the latter weeks of the window. Gray and Iwobi might be sold to avoid losing them on frees. Unfortunately, Branthwaite, Onana and Pickford could also go if the right bid comes in.

But equally we should see some incomings too.

Judge the window by the quality of our squad relative to the competition, once the window closes.

We have signed two players on loan and it's hard to see how we avoid another relegation battle. For the past two seasons, we have struggled for whatever reason to get our main striker on the pitch for more than a handful of games, yet we are still to sign a striker.

From our pre-season friendlies, our lack of goals is there for all to see, and you wonder why Everton fans are the least optimistic, really?

I feel a little sorry for Dyche as he has what looks like very little money to put together a team to avoid being in the same position as we have for the past 2 seasons. He is trying to make us the fittest team in the Premier League and seems to have introduced a more intensive fitness regime than we have had for a while, but Bielsa did the same at Leeds yet, as they found, without quality, fitness alone is not enough.

Also most clubs monitor the fitness of their players daily so it's hard to see how we get to be the fittest team in the league.

Each club receives around £26/£27M three times a season;
2nd payment is in January, 3rd in May.

Whether you can spend it or not is immaterial if your club turnover is poor and wages are high.

Currently I think our wage bill is 90% of turnover, down from 95% and our turnover at £181M is worse than Leeds & Leicester whose wage bills were 67% & 85% respectively.

As Newcastle are finding out, having uber rich owners means nothing if your commercial turnover as a club is crap. Their turnover currently is worse than ours even with a stadium with a greater capacity than the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. Crucially though their wage bill is only 70%.

We can't afford £100k a week players, never could, but of course Billy Big Knob already knew this but still felt he could buy his way into the Top 4.

He's done to us was Ridsdale did to Leeds.

Thanks for explaining the predicament that Dyche, Thelwell (and us) are in. We can only look on while our management team wait for opportunities to develop.

And Iain (52) for explaining the financial mess that Kenwright has dropped us in!

I do think that Everton's approach has been good this transfer window, but it will be judged on the latter days of the transfer window on whether they get what they require.

The only drag on proceedings is, once Thelwell and Dyche have done their job, they are very dependent on those that negotiate the contracts and the limits their fauxs pas have put on finances.

"We have signed two players on loan."

I don't think Ashley Young was signed on loan.

Yes, you're right: we signed Ashley Young on a free not on loan.

What are our scouts actually doing? Have we got any?

We could do worse than signing Nuamah and Diomande from Nordsjaellend this summer, two good players following in the footsteps of Sulemana and Kudus...

How Brighton's transfers have become the envy of the Premier League

I actually thought that Walsh was going to change things for the better (this Brighton article could have been written with some changes about him and Leicester back in the Kante days).

If only we could say, along with the Brighton fella, we identify our targets before we need them.

The squad that narrowly avoided relegation again has lost 6 first team squad members and replaced them with 2 replacements.

The “real talent” who Robert listed all have one thing in common – we have not managed to sign one of them. Equally, we are just over 2 weeks out from a new season with Calvert-Lewin still to return to first-team action and Maupay playing badly again.

Branthwaite has replaced two highly experienced centre-backs in Coady and Mina. He might prove to be a great centre-back in the future, but right now he has played a handful of Premier League games.

If this is an example of Thelwell and the recruitment team going a good job, then I wonder what it would look like if he was doing badly?

I am usually an optimist, therefore I am sure 2 or 3 quality young talented signings are around the corner. But, as of today, this is the weakest Everton first-team squad since Howard Kendall Mk 3 and Gordon Lee's final season.

He also said he'd advised us on Robertson (Reds' leftback). I sometimes wonder whether our DoFs, especially Walsh and Brands, were that in name only, and that Koeman during his time, Kenwright and Moshiri had the final choices.

Moshiri is proof that you don't just give people job titles and 'let them get on with it'. It's more important to set up a system and maintain it with discipline and governance.

Tony Bloom is a very shrewd operator in the horse racing world with his punting and buying horses. He clearly reproduces this with his football club.

It's only a mug's game when you act like a mug.

I'm hoping that if these people ever take us over, they're similarly shrewd.

Also interesting to note they recruited their centre-forward scout... from Everton! Who has he been scouting for us in the 10 years he worked for us!? Calvert-Lewin? Anyone else?!

Fast, direct can shoot and operate on the right. We could do worse.

Do we even have talent scouts looking at these markets???

Wonder if we could lure Weir back to show us some of their techniques.

Moshiri has acted like a lottery winner playing football manager and, if he still trusts Kenwright to negotiate, then he must think most Evertonians are on their school holidays.

Sell up and get out, Farhad, because this looks like it's the only way that you can get that jinx Bill Kenwright to leave our football club.

It stuns me that all but the biggest-spending clubs have seemingly failed to emulate Brighton for years. Are they mad, or stupid?

It depresses me that Moshiri announced himself as the new owner of a club to be towards the top of the league within three years. I suppose Everton still don't even know what an algorithm is, but why would they need any such new-fangled thing when Moshiri knew he had the nation's best football brain at his disposal in the presence of the newly-minted chairman?

And after all, it's only been seven years of worsening seasons, and the best part of £1billion squandered, and no way to now securely fund the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, and yet Moshiri and Kenwright ponce on, still doing the very same thing yet still expecting a better result.

It's no urban myth.

Haaland spent a week having trials at Finch Farm. The scout who arranged it was gobsmacked when the three youth team coaches (yes, all three, not just one) turned down the opportunity to sign him and said he wasn't worth the £60k being asked.

This person surprised a lot of people in the room because he knew Haaland's dad and he said that, even though they believed they were sitting on a goldmine with regards their young prodigy, Haaland's representatives were prepared to restructure the deal to help him join Everton.

I think I was told they had that much confidence in the player, that they were prepared to take less at the beginning, just as long as it was back-ended, so they would receive a lot more, once the kid had done the business. At the end of the meeting, Everton still declined.

From what I recall it was an article in The Athletic quoting the scout.

His [Haaland's] progress had already been noted by another interested observer, too, someone who had been keeping tabs on his exploits in the reserves and then the first team.

After a career as a goalkeeper in English football in the 1970s with the likes of Chelmsford City, Millwall and Coventry City, Brian King pitched up in Norway and went into management with clubs such as FK Jerv, Harstad, Tynset, Rendalen and Kongsberg, where he lives, before being appointed as Everton's talent spotter in Scandanavia.

Decades in Norway saw him develop great contacts and the talents of Haaland had been buzzing around the country's footballing fraternity for some time. He would soon be heading over to Merseyside to try and prove his credentials.

Ian Atkins, Head of European Recruitment at Everton between 2012 and 2016, worked with King at both the Toffees and then Aston Villa and recalls vividly the chance that was passed up.

"Brian King was really excited about this kid," Atkins exclusively told the Echo.

"He'd watched Haaland a lot and rated him really highly. He gets on to the club and manages to get him in for four days with the Academy so that the coaches can have a look at him and see what they think.

"This is when Haaland is at Bryne, before the Molde move, so he's raw but he's got all these great attributes you don't often see in someone so young.

"He comes in for four days and the Academy decided he wasn't good enough, something that Brian King didn't agree with. He thought there was a real talent in there but they didn't agree. He was one that got away for Everton, but you get that in football. I think Haaland would have suited the English game, though."

Shortly after his failed trial spell current Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, then Molde manager, snapped him up and Haaland went into the reserve side at the Tippeligaen outfit before being promoted to the senior team shortly after.

Fourteen goals in 39 games paved the way for a move to Red Bull Salzburg before Dortmund game knocking and landing a player who looks set to dominate European football for some time to come.

King would depart Everton's scouting set up in January of 2017, following Atkins down the M6 to link up in the scouting department at Aston Villa.

The one that got away

I'd take him on loan, and see how he does.

Whilst I know he did a trial with us (as he did at lots of other clubs) I would be extremely surprised if Haaland ever really contemplated a move to Everton.

His career has been managed exceptionally well. Salzburg was an ideal place for him to develop. Much better than any Premier League academy where he could have got much more money, much earlier. Dortmund provided a step up in quality and Champions League football. I expect he always had it in mind to end up at City, with both the pay and the glory.

That's why he negotiated a release clause much lower than his market value at both Salzburg and Dortmund (presumably in exchange for lower wages).

Meanwhile, Hudson-Odoi will be going for less than £10M to Fulham it seems. We've got zero pulling power anymore, zilch.

Seems Gnonto doesn't want to come either. We are going to get to end of August without paying a transfer fee, aren't we?

Why let Yerri go and keep Keane, Holgate!? Yes. He was injury prone but by far a better defender than those 2 clowns.

I hear he wants £50k a week to sign for Besiktas. Surely we can afford him now!

PSG don't want him, he doesn't want to go to the Middle-East, where better to keep fit than under Sean Dyche at Finch Farm, and have no hassle before joining your dream team of Real Madrid?

Oh alright, it will be Wieghorst or similar but it's good to dream isn't it?

His contract is up in December but perhaps the war gives him the chance to walk early.

Hudson-Odoi is also very talented but not sure his heart is in it. He'd definitely be worth a shot too but Fulham is a good place for him to play a lot of games and get his mojo back.

All earning a fortune in wages but none even getting a sweat on...

Everton look to have many competent players who can defend and then only problem Dyche has there is who to start (if all are fit).

There appears to be a a surplus of midfielders and I am sure a couple will be starting at other clubs come the new season.

Of course the biggest headache will be the scoring department that so far hasn't been addressed properly and although there may be an extra goal or two from some of the more attacking midfielders I cannot see any big improvement over last season.

McNeil and Doucoure can certainly find the net but how many opportunities will they get given that those up front are not really up to snuff enough to cause enough problems to opposing defences.

We are all hoping that one or two gems will surface to change things on the offence.

Oh Brighton get good young players!

Why can't we sign this player Brighton can !

Why would this player go to Brighton not everton?

Brighton are a well run, stable, progressing club.

We are not !

Players like stability.

They don't want to be thinking the manager may change, I may fall out of favour.

Look how many managers we've had recently!

If players have a choice their agents will be saying swerve Everton! It makes Thelwells job even harder.

Even loans ! Decent sides don't want to loan us players. They don't trust us! They dont want their assets mixed up in the Everton bollocks!!

We need stability!!

This season is vital to steady the ship, make progress, show we can keep a manger for a full season, improve the sqaud, slashing wage bill, consolidate our position in the leauge, take the pressure off, take the media glare away from the "club in turmoil "

Only then will we be able to attract the calibre of player we all want to see at goodison.

As I have posted before Vardy and Morelos are available. Perhaps now that we are getting knocked back left, right and centre, we should take a chance on one or both of these two. They both know where the net is.

As an afterthought I keep recalling how enthusiastic I was about Moise Keane and how that turned out. All that glitters is not gold.

Bloom hires the right people, and they do their job. He's an excellent manager and steward of capital.

Meanwhile we have teary darling Bill Kenwright who actually thinks he's the dogs bollocks of a Chairman, rather than just being bollocks. The useless twat was well out of his depth 20 years ago, never mind now.

On no level do we need him.

Anybody know if that's true?

It is true, Mike. To be fair to him it was in absolutely pristine condition.

We seem to have no transfer strategy at all in comparison.

I agree we need stability.

There was some talk online last night from someone who has close ties with the club (he certainly has photos to suggest inside access) who was saying that Thelwell and the scouting team before have presented some really great talent, including Kudus last summer and the likes of Diaz and Livramento before that but nearly always they have been overruled by Kenwright and Moshiri.

Apparently last summer Thelwell was keen on getting El Bilal Toure for £6m but Kenwright said he was not proven enough and was the one who pushed for Maupay who was not on Thelwells list. Difficult to know how true this is but it would seem to tally with Brands' early departure and the things that came out about his time at the club.

It seems like it's not that the scouts have not presented clever options it's that the likes of Kenwright and Moshiri have taken decisions that should have been left to football people like Brands and Thelwell.

As for the next few weeks, we need a striker. We cannot rely on DCL so need a mobile target man who can do what he does. Maybe Brobbey or Broja or Dia. Anyone who can hold the ball up well and put away a few chances, two things Maupay cannot do.

I think Tete on a free would make sense, he's a decent player and will be on less wages than the injury plagued Hudson-Odoi (though I wouldn't be adverse to giving CHO a chance).

Robert is right, there's still loads of decent players out there and lots of clubs yet to make significant moves. Danjuma could be a real game changer and the biggest positive may yet be a DCL returned to true fitness. I'm sure we will bring in at least a couple more players but I just hope they are players picked by Thelwell and his team.

The issue of a managed decline will rear its ugly head again if that is true.

We've got to ignore all the white noise and just sign that mobile target man to properly challenge and back up DCL. The system was working very well with DCL in the team and Doucoure in that advanced midfield role. Sean Dyche had us looking like a football team again for the first time in a long time.

I am often suspect of an unlikely win, as it's consistency that's the real marker, but the Brighton game was no flash in the pan. It is repeatable with the right personnel to back up absences.

Having that quality, mobile, target man striker to slot in is a non-negotiable necessity for the club. Failure to address this overwhelmingly priority is unthinkable. Quite simply the best we can get who wants to come here. Make funds available.

Then look to replace Mina with some who can bring stability to the defence. Branthwaite is going to be that man, but will need initially to share duties with a quality centre back who can bring some of Mina's calmness and authority.

Mina himself is available for about 50k pw so could he be that man to nurture and share with Branthwaite? Probably won't happen but Dyche will bring someone in.

I very much doubt that any of that Toure-Maupay-Kenwright story is true.

Hardly any rival clubs have done any business yet - even West Ham who are suddenly awash with cash after selling Rice.

The rumoured targets listed in this article haven't knocked us back - they haven't gone anywhere.

Apart from possibly Toure but that's not been confirmed yet.

There are literally dozens and dozens of strikers who fit the bill before we have to resort to the likes of Vardy or Morelos.

If this is true, we have either got non football people making decisions on the footballing side of things, which sets alarm bells off with me because football is rotten to the core and full of snakes who are possibly making money out of every deal.

I know I shouldn't say things without proof but it's definitely the way football used to be run. (I'm sure I can remember Clough and Venables getting away with it, whilst someone else became a patsy?) With a lot more money in football nowadays, then surely the corruption levels will be off the scale?

It's all there in black & white though would be what a lot of people will say, but anyone who professes to not taking a wage will surely be claiming a lot of expenses?

Live off your expenses and don't touch your wages (even if you aren't getting any!😂) is how the clever rich people live!

It's about being able to offer something that the players want:

Do quality young players choose us with our recent history?

Do agents want their players coming here with all the manager turmoil we've had recently.

The relagation battles are not attractive to players.

The boardroom uncertainty is massive negative when attracting players.

All these factors are hindering Thelwell & Dyche in attracting the players. Add into that the money and P&S issues then you have to have some sympathy for the job Thelwell and dyche have when trying to improve the sqaud.

Fans plucking names out the sky and saying we should be getting this guy ot that guy is fine, but in the real world there's so many factors to consider.

We should be sympathetic to the tough job Thelwell has to do, it was not of his making and imo he's gone about it in the right way.

If he would of got another striker last year and not maupay, who I believe lampard pushed for, we woukd be so much better off.

Yes, no need to panic yet. Cut out the hysteria (I think there's an operation for that).

I posted a couple of weeks ago that Everton are unwilling culturally to take a chance on early talent. They have to prove themselves at a bigger club first.

Hence, we spend £30 million on Onana when he was available for £7 million before joining Lille and are bidding £30 million for Toure when he could have signed him for £6 million from Rennes.

I think Everton fans have been more than patient over many years, while being ignored by those in charge of the club, so two or three weeks more of patience shouldn't be too hard.

If we are not better off then let the moaning begin!

I think the idea of him having control of his train set, has been the single biggest factor in our downfall and near demise. The idea of Himself and Moshiri getting involved in the recruitment process sounds very believable and very disturbing!

David, what you say is right. The major reason in our unpopularity with players began with the interference in the recruitment decisions by the two non football men, as Sam has posted. We're paying for their stupidity now.

I do not undergrad the mentality of employing knowledgeable people and then over ruling them thinking you know better.

Reality is that Moshiri is going nowhere. He isn't going to recoup any of his investment until after the stadium is built. Does anyone know the reality of who actually owns the stadium once built? Please tell me it will be EFC and not a separate company owned by Moshiri and others? I just have this feeling of dread that we will end up like Coventry where the new stadium is built but owned by a separate entity and we end up homeless.

The sorts off players we are targeting appear to be Young (apart from Young!) with a resale value, which is exactly what we should be doing. The fact is that we are a difficult sell to a prospective player who will want to be convinced that joining us isn't a backward step.

Injury concerns and this bit of information have me questioning the move;

“The Salernitana star was among the bottom 14% of forwards in terms of aerial duels won last term (0.71 per 90); Calvert-Lewin was in the top 8% (5.10 per 90).”

Leaves me with the impression that there are better options.

It appears that we now have an offer of 16£/Euros for some forward that's been rejected as too low - The asking price apparently is 20£/Euros.

Why oh why is there not an understanding that the asking price will be the selling price - no more, no less. All interested parties would then know exactly, that subject to player agreements etc, that the sale would go through. None of this dithering, trying to get the better of the opposition etc. First come with the (fixed) price gets the player.
This may be naive - but buyers and sellers would have one price and can take it or leave it. If there are no takers at a certain price then that price is too high.

Which means we're in danger of not maximising our initial matches which appear winnable

After 2 seasons of fighting against relegation we all know how important each match and point is. Goals win matches, winning matches builds morale and confidence

Losing matches creates negativity and reduces the appeal we have for any potential new signings. It also increases the pressure on them which is counter productive because they haven't had time to assimilate with their new team mates

Our transfer strategy is shocking. Absolutely dire & amateurish. Apparently we were after Joao Pedro of Watford last season. Brighton got the deal done as soon as the season ended. That's how you conduct good transfer business.

Identify 5-10 great prospects that are realistic. Have the conversations early and nail them as soon as possible. But that's not the Everton way is it?

It's all so painful, so drawn out, so pathetically school boyish

This club of ours really is a sh1t shower.

They can look forward to midnight texts from the world's greatest Evertonian, blabbing sentimental crap about what it means to play for HIS club.

I just wrote that out in 2 minutes. Why does it take so long for our people to actually negotiate and get a contract signed?

It is a survival season mate, no more no less.

I'm pretty sure Dyche will be vocal if we do not hit our transfer targets.

“But Everton football club is a fantastic football club and it's easy for me to say that now Danjuma's there. Special mention to Kevin Thelwell, Dan Purdy and there's a player liaison called Amy – they're honestly just nice human beings. And when we decided to make the switch, there was something within me that just didn't sit right – the fact that you knew you were letting down good, honest people. That was probably the toughest thing for me as an agent.”

Asked by White about whether the forward is comfortable with the reception he could receive at Everton, Jarman said: “He's a nutcase Danjuma. He was on the bench against Everton and warming up in the corner, a goal went in from Michael Keane in the 86th minute and he called me up and said ‘Mike, it felt like 40,000 people were screaming in my ear, I love it – this is a good club'. He loved it, so second time lucky as he's been saying.”

How deluded can one man be? Sadly everyone knows he is very poor at his job as you only have to look at the state of our beloved club to see how good he is.
Everything this summer is panning out, so far, just like previous summers.
Where is the MSP investment?
When is Kenwrights interim period ending?

We all know deep down that it is not interim and the chuckle brothers believe they can ride the storm out.
If we want him out then we the fans will have to step up the pressure.
We all know we will start the season without the firepower we need and we all know we face a very tough season to avoid another relegation battle.

Yet the Everton policy seems to be yet again hoping the manager (of the time) can pull off a miracle.

As the season edges nearer get ready for increased news on the stadium progress, reports on DCL fitness improving and a third kit announcement and players rally cries about how we all need to stick together.

Every year we hope for more, we convince ourselves it will get better this time.
Under Bill Kenwright it NEVER WILL.

We are the last dog at the bowl. No one with any quality wants to join us is problem number 1. Problem number 2 is that we have so little money, we couldn't sign them anyway.

We all want to sign these up and coming kids that will be stars of tomorrow. Well news alert, so is everyone else. Chelsea are currently hoovering up all the bright young kids for between £10-20m etc. At the older end of the market, Saudis are buying up as well.

I can't see a huge pool of players that want to come to us. That means buying carefully on players that have potential, but where they haven't proved it at clubs - juve lad junior, or using the loan slots we have carefully.

We aren't going to be an attractive proposition until we have increased revenue from the stadium, Dyche has some stability as a manager (stop the sackings), and we see some decent mid table finishes to end the self harm.

Brighton are held up as a great example, but that is a recent thing. Under Chris Huyton they had loads of rubbish like Glen Murray etc. But they had a plan to break the yo yoing between divisions. We need a plan.

There will have to be a damn good plan and pricing policy for the new stadium to have the desired effect of increasing revenue. The major part of any plan, will have to ensure that there is a competitive team on the field of play, which isn't quite the case at the minute, and it will take some doing to have a capable side by the time the new place opens.

As Barry Rathbone and others continue to inform us, the only way to truly take full advantage of the new stadium, is for Everton to be sold to a 'nation state' investor, anything less and we'll be treading water - figuratively speaking - for a very long time.

Good news, maybe is that Turkey doesn't look like it wants to host the Euro's in 2028, although that doesn't mean that they won't.

The UK and Ireland's chances of hosting Euro 2028 appear to have improved significantly after UEFA confirmed Turkey and Italy had requested to merge their bids for Euro 2032.

Turkey have not withdrawn their bid to host Euro 2028, so remain a rival to the five-nation bid involving England, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Source: Sky Sports.

Everton new stadium importance clear after shocking £2 million truth emerges

Season tickets will be going up in time, I've no doubt about that.

Hospitality and corporate will increase revenues. A 12k fans zone will generate business, given the lack of pubs around the area.

Euros are being held there, and I'd expect other gig type of events.

If they can find these players on a part time basis then surely Evertons new 120 point plan can come up with even better research.

Personally I don't know why we don't just go and get Pirloe from Swansea or Vardy from Leicester both proven goal scorers.

We seem to be chasing impossible targets. We were reliably informed over a month ago that Toure was going to choose Atalanta so why did we waste all that time and resource pursuing him.

I get the feeling it is Moshiri's vanity that we don't pursue championship strikers.
I was disappointed we missed out on Gyokeres.

Something is holding us back and I don't believe it's FFP as we're now in a new financial year and yet to unload Gomes, Gbamin. Maupay and Holstein that will surely generate enough for a striker.

Frustrating it certainly is, but your original point was in my opinion very naive, as the business world, never mind the football world, just doesn't operate in the manner that you suggested and it never will.

Easy to do with a fan base that were seemly pacified by a few board sackings and a small investment firm coming in. We are mugs. Me included.

The MSP deal massively complicates things. The level of cash flow Vs our assets changes as we trade, and every change can have an impact on what both sides want as a price. It is leaving us in utter limbo right now. Owners options of injecting more cash are impossible even if he wanted to or could.

It's all a CHARADE. Expect the charade to play out until transfer deadline day, where will again “bid £40m for Beto” and fail to land a single striker of calibre once again. Then, the MSP deal will either go through or collapse not long after the window closes.

We just have to pray once again for survival once again, in the hope that next year we actually look like a club on the up: new investment, new stadium, new setup.

It's sad times, but I'm just staying off Twitter and transfer rumours now and resigning myself to accepting the truth. The clown are still in charge and the big top is currently being tied down for a hurricane.

Every club in the league & Europe are all trying to do the same!!

If there's a ready made contributor, 50 clubs know about them, 20 are interested, 10 are bidding, 5 are negotiating with the agents, the player is interested in 2 clubs & 1 will win the signature.

So it's not as easy as just sign him!

Fans who think it's just so easy because "Brighton can do it!" are just deluded.

We are not competing with Man City, Arsenal or Chelsea. We are coming off 2 last-gasp relegation scrapes, had 47 managers in 4 years, boardroom turmoil & have to manage P&S issues. Does that sound like an easy sell to a "ready-to-go contributor"?? No!

It's fans living in fantasy football land & with unrealistic expectations that heap pressure on the DOF & manager when they have inherited this mess and are trying to get to grips with it. Have some patience!

Or at least wait and see what happens!

Just can't see the equivalent of Rom and Delboy appearing no matter how many times we shout "ABRACADABRA!!"

Very good article, and it certainly makes sense about all the deals involving Kenwright our great agent! Hadn't Bill a lot to do with Brands being shafted, and Levy pulled the wool over his eyes with the Dele Alli deal, and you say he was responsible for the Maupay deal as well.

I cringe when I see Morelos's name being mentioned; I watched him against Celtic over the last few years, he was abysmal, and his temperament against inferior teams in Scotland was shocking.

Back then under Bobby Brown Shoes, we were still an attractive club for upcoming players and clubs looking to loan players to develop in the Premier League. Now though we are seen as a liability.

I don't see Arsenal, Chelsea etc loaning top talent to us with all the recent turmoil. Danjuma may be an exception, he sounds like he knows he made the wrong choice.

Let us pray for Kevin Thelwell. 🙏

I don't see us getting a forward in.

I'm tempted to keep going but thanks, that was the tone I was attempting to perform. It's an act I am entirely in support of Thelwell. This act may not be over though.

Very true, if nothing else, Moyes and Kenwright provided an air of stability which you could see players thinking "Yeah, that's okay."

Now we're as flaky as filo pastry and players seem to be thinking "No way, Jose".

Which brings me to the question puzzling learned minds in the UN. Why was the Spanish lady with twin boys accused of being lazy? Because she called one Jose and the other Josb.

(It's phonetic: Jose sounds like - hose A and Josb sounds like - hose B).

It's been a difficult day…

For one we're starting off with a manager who actually knows what the job is about. That's already a huge leap forward from 12 months ago (never wanted Lampard to begin with).

Secondly, on the squad, the two players we've signed won't be back up so the first team has actually gained two. The players let go hardly featured as a group but have allowed us to trim the wage bill. The current first team is actually better than a year ago imo.

Thirdly, whilst not the out and out striker we need, Danjuma is a forward and will be a damn site better than Maupay so goal scoring wise we're already better off. (DCL was also crocked a year ago.)

Fourthly, McNeil and Onana have their first Everton season behind them and I predict will kick on and be better.

Last but not least, I will be amazed if we don't sign more players before the window shuts. Early days still and not many clubs have signed loads of players.

Btw - I do think we are a great place for a loanee to come as they'll be guaranteed first team football if they're half decent.

So, onward to the weekend and looking forward to watching the rest of the test match. Football can wait another week or so.

Stay positive. (Even of BK and Moshiri are still there..)

Calvert-Lewin will make a huge difference to our season if he can overcome his fragility. Okay the chances of that happening don't look great, but we can hope for the best.

We are not doomed yet.

I guess we will have a better idea of our starting 11 after the Sporting game. Dyche has given many of the youngsters a run out but I don't see any making the starting line-up against Fulham. Young seems to have settled in well and I expect Danjuma to get some game time tomorrow at Stoke.

We were looking a much better side under Sean Dyche, better organisation, fitter, with the formation of Doucoure advanced midfield backing up Calvert-Lewin we looked like a team who could be consistently competitive.

So far;

1 Danjuma is an upgrade, there's goals in the player.

2 Young is going to be useful backing up and competing with our full-backs.

The biggest positive is the clarity of our task. It's obvious to anyone with one active brain cell that we need a striker that can bring in some of what Calvert-Lewin brings. We are not going to get a clone, but a variation on a theme will do.

Essentially, he needs to be a able to compete with Calvert-Lewin as well as back up, as you cannot bet anything on Dom playing 20+ matches.

Get this player in and we have some security and stability in the competitive system Sean Dyche will inevitably operate most of the time.

The final positive is that Kevin Thelwell and his recruitment team must have that one active brain cell between them somewhere. So we are in safe hands.

(As long as the terrible twosome keep well out of it.)

Now for the negatives …

The start of the season is a false target for transfer business. Obviously it makes sense to get a squad in place early, train together etc and hit the ground running – but very few clubs are actually going to do that. Most will still be in the hunt right up until the final days of the window.

And the likes of Dia, Toure etc all have their weaknesses, absolutely, but all of them will improve us too. Personally I'm not bothered that Dia doesn't win a high percentage of aerial duels. He'd improve us with his pace, power, running the channels and finishing. He's developed as a footballer in Italy too. He's not amazing, don't get me wrong, but with him and Danjuma we'd go into games carrying a genuine goal threat which is a massive upgrade on last season.

Let's just say when Chairman Bill leaves we will have one of them things that comes before Part B.

Clue: It's phonetic…

The players leaving are as important going forward as much as the incomings for the long term. I believe just a small uptick in performance will mean a decent jump in leauge position.

The terrible start and continued support for Lampard after the World Cup resigned us to a relegation battle. I just don't see the same happening with Dyche.

What terrible start? Why are you rewriting history???

It was an okayish start that was hampered by the lack of a striker to actually win matches. We hardly lost 5 or 6 in a row

And the problem is, we're likely to make the exact same start again because …….we still don't have a bloody striker!!!!

There will be some quick fixes available in January if desperation sets in but that is less than 10% for me. Just avoid a questionable purchase that limits our funds for what would be worth a wait. I know many will think it is ridiculous but I think they underestimate Dyche and his squad improvement.

It isn't Plan A but we may go for a get by selection if terms force it. There are several last-minute choices we could get by with. Hang in there.

If a centre-back, a couple of strikers and at least one if not two midfielders can be brought in to cover next January, when we lose Gana, Iwobi and Doucouré, then that's a layer of resilience.

All the youth players knocking on the door are out on loan, so surely lessons will be learnt.

On the money front, there were some rumours that some funds would be available from today but no real evidence.

UTFTs!

He's had more time to still his methods and discipline into the player and he's added 2 players who improve the squad and we will sign a couple more. Another decent attacker alongside the signing Danjuma will add at least 6-9 more points (probably more) which would see us get over 50 points.

I honestly think Dyche is starting from such a low bar, he may just have the same type of impact Moyes had. I'm not expecting miracles.

But if Lampard would have won 3 on the bounce I would've thought he was some kind voodoo, whichcraft worshiping weirdo. Because he persisted with a losing formula.

Where I see Dyche as being straight down the line, give me 100%, run, effort and commitment and you get rewards. The difference being Dyche has belief in his methods, has a track record that it works.

He's in the latter stages of recovery from an Achilles injury. I'd say it's too much of a gamble for us because of this, but this is a player who could well come good for someone at a relatively budget price.

"Just buy a ready to go contributor that no one else knows about so we can buy them cheap and sell them after a couple of productive seasons?"

Every club in the league & Europe are all trying to do the same!!

That is certainly true, David. The point is that many clubs are succeeding in doing this.

We are not, therefore we must have a process failure in how recruitment decisions are made and executed.

(I'd also think your lad from Sunderland might be worth our medicos having a close look at him, and depending on their prognosis, take a gamble and get him.)

As Robert says, we're unlikely to do any of our major business until the transfer window is near closing. I'd like Vardy as one of our goalscorers, but someone pointed he's on £140k a week until 2024 (he still might be worth it!)

All-in-all, I feel more optimistic with Dyche as our manager and if, along with Thelwell, he's left to choose his men, I feel we'll not be bottom of the "confidence league" too much longer.

We can't count on this but one great bonus (for him and us) would be if Dele comes out of that nightmare he's been in and gets his love of football back.

https://www.grandoldteam.com/2023/07/28/everton-now-want-to-sign-yuri-alberto-who-is-ready-for-move-journalist/

Last two seasons transfers have been much better, only Maupay it seems unfairly brought in to challenge as the focal point of attack and suits 2nd striker much better. I decided to watch back some YouTube highlights of Brighton and he does score a good variety of goals. But is never a number 9.

I am wondering if Dele gets fit and plays in his favourite attacking position, how much better really would he be than if Doucoure was allowed to play the exact same position and role for the season? Personally, I think Doucoure has been very reliable when pushed up to deliver goals and assists, and tracks back very well. I'd be pressed to say one likely needs to be moved on as there's 5 good central midfielders in the squad. Whoever is 5th choice midfielder might get very little game time, and that doesn't include Gomes.

Obviously if Dele gets back playing well it's an amazing bonus. Doucoure is the guarenteed (7 or 8)/10 performer every game though. It's an interesting one!

Looking at the positions in the first team to analyse who are top 10 quality, now with Ashley Young challenging for left back and occasionally when Dom is fit, the only concerns are striker when Dom is not fit, right winger if concerned about goals - if not concerned then Iwobi is a top ten Premier League player, and no top ten centre back.

Overall, this team should get closer to mid-table then relegation this season. Also with the right manager as well. Hopefully with Dyce & Thelwell together things kick on as recruitment processes improve as well.

Remember, we have two 'over-age' full-backs and two youngsters who have yet to claim the position as their own. We have one proven centre-back, and a youngster of real promise but who has yet to be given an extended run in the Premier League. For the others, you could fill a book with their limitations and they are all right-footed which weakens our left-sided defence.

As I remember, our central midfielders cannot successfully make a pass, I exclude young Garner from this statement as he looks a good prospect. But surely we need to address this shortcoming?

And finally we are desperate for a tough forward who can at least play regularly and score the occasional goal.

So, aside from still needing to offload a few apparently very well paid but clearly unsuitable bodies, we still need an additional 3 players. A left-sided centre-back, Johnny Evans would have been ideal. A midfielder who can dictate play and pass, and of course a much-needed forward.

In the meantime, I do have faith in the manager and his staff but, with the squad as it stands, I fear another year of struggles.

Who would have thought West Ham or Aston Villa would have achieved what they did last season? We can do it next season.

I tend not to get carried away with the transfer speculation. Whatever will be and we get on with what we've got and what the management team bring in.

I'm looking forward to the season ahead. Let's see what happens over the next few weeks.

Under Moyes, we seemed on an endless year-on-year wait until the last minute of the deadline to sign players.

In that context, we've got ages. I never liked or watched Dad's Army, but don't panic just yet.

Hold your nerve. We've done it enough in close-to-the-edge matches these past seasons.

Games played - 354

Goals scored - 175

Assists - 71

Link

I had a little look at Yuri Alberto when doing my lists. He's been a fairly consistent goalscorer at Santos, Zenit and Corinthians with around 1 goal per 3 games but I'm not sure he has any outstanding qualities. He quick enough but not rapid, solid but not strong, decent technique but he's not Neymar, is 6 ft but doesn't win a huge amount of headers.

He knits play together fairly well and seems to position himself well. He's only 22 so has lots of time to improve but doesn't seem a sure bet for Premier League success to me. Maybe worth a punt if he's not expensive but I'd be surprised if he's high up our lists.

Just a thought.

We were linked with Yuri Alberto in January. He got a big money (€25M) move to St Petersburg in January 2022 but was bizarrely released for free just one year later. Doesn't appear to be in the richest vein of form now either, having possibly gone backwards since leaving Brazil. I'd be a bit surprised if we really are interested still.

More so than buying players from South America specifically, I think we should be buying players from low-cost markets generally.

Only two of our current squad come from a low-cost "foreign" market – Patterson and Mykolenko, and we somehow managed to pay a high price for both of them. That seems a weird approach for a club with very little money.

These low-cost markets don't need to be as far flung as South America. As much as Brighton have brought in players like Mac Allister, Buonanotte and others, they have also strategically targeted the Republic of Ireland as a market, bringing in Ferguson, Mullins and O'Hara from Bohemians, Moran from Bray Wanderers and O'Mahoney from Cork City. Ferguson already looks a great player.

Personally, I don't see a lot of striking talent coming out of South America right now that looks right for us. There is, however, a seeming conveyor belt of excellent midfield players. Alcaraz (Saints) and Danilo (Forest) both look great signings and were extremely good value. There's plenty more still in Argentina (Medina, Varela, Hezze and Fernandez) and Brazil (Menino, Andre, Bitello).

However, this summer we need to be a bit pragmatic to sort out a really dysfunctional squad. But hopefully if we get a bit of stability at the club we can start to look at these sorts of "at source" signings more.

Though seeing DCL on the latest club training video, maybe he's not as far away from a return as some think. Took part in the training matches, then showed some decent finishing in shooting drills towards the end, as did Danjuma. I know this cannot be compared to a proper game, but hopefully we will see DCL against Stoke today, and next week against Sporting Lisbon, and all being well, the first game against Fulham.

Two of the best performances I've seen from Everton, during the last two seasons, both came at Brighton. Last years win was fantastic and definitely helped us stay up, but the seasons before was just as good imo, because I thought Everton looked like they could develop into a really good side that day.

Next thing we lost DCL, Mina, Richarlison for a bit, and I'm sure the other player was Doucoure, and suddenly we couldn't win a game. The squad needs bolstering, but quality players cost money. Hopefully we can do some wheeling and dealing, and bring in enough players with the right quality. Let's hope so🤞

DCL is the perfect example. He needs to be managed carefully but how is this going to be possible if we don't sign a couple of quality forwards?

We need to learn from our mistakes and move on.

Clearly he is training but they may figure that matches present the likeliest risk of re-occurrence. Think they'll save him for games that count. Maybe 45 minutes against Lisbon.

Really hope he has better luck this season, though if we bring in a decent striker it obviously relieves the pressure on him.

Is Gbamin out on loan?

Where at mate? I've complete missed this story

I read somewhere that he has had very little time off, been in Germany and just working daily on recovery from his injury throughout the summer. It sounds like he is fully committed giving his all to get back to full power. What a major boost for the whole club it would be if this summer's rehabilitation has worked.

Lee , As far as Dele Alli I'd concerned I still think the 10 million fee on top of his huge wage would be an obstacle, especially with our financial situation. A more likely scenario would be for him to get fit and healthy and then get a good loan to prove himself.

The only players who might come to Everton are players like Vardy who want to stay in the PL.

We need to be realistic and go for players who will come and stop shipping out players until we have brought some in.

And if Everton don't realise this soon the players who will come to us will have signed for other clubs.

He's been reported as saying he won't play for us again. That's generally been construed as though he's made that decision, and greeted with some outrage as a result.

However, I think he is just playing back what he's been told by the club. He doesn't mean he's walked away - he just means the club has told him to find another home.

If I were him, I'd be agitating for a contract with a club in Saudi Arabia.

Wataru Endo - Current Japan International. Age 30. Defensive Midfielder, who can play CM & CB too. Plays for Stuttgart and is their Captain. Out of contract summer 2024. Fit as a butcher's dog 110 games last 3 seasons. Looks a worthy successor for Gueye.

Luka Milivojevic - Age 32. Released by Crystal Palace. Plays mainly DM but has played CM too. Captained Palace.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Age 25. Released by Arsenal. Plays CM / RM and has played at RB too.

Whatever happens we must have cover for our African Nations players.

Defensively we've signed cover at LB, but lost our best defender (Mina) and still don't have a better option at RB than an ageing Coleman. The jury is still well and truly out on Patterson and his injury record at a young age isn't great either. That leaves us needing at least 2 defenders.

Midfield wise we still don't have any real creativity. Someone who can pass the ball, dictate the tempo, make things happen. Garner May offer us the best hope of this but Doucoure, Onana and Gana don't. We need 1 more in the playmaker mould to come in and need to get rid of Gomes, and Gbamin.

Then attack wise, the lack of a striker is (and has been) obvious. And we could do with someone else on the right to offer an attacking threat. Gray looks to be out and god I hope someone takes Maupay too!!!

So that's 5 players we need to improve the team, give us more options and cover for the likely injuries (we are Everton after all!) and as per the last post, cover in January for the Africa cup of nations.

Unless the club takes action now we are going to miss the chance to gain valuable points for the first few matches.

How many games will we have played by the time the transfer window shuts??

Well it is because you're fishing in the wrong waters, still believing that you must pay over the odds to get good players in.

There are plenty of good young players out there with potential and that wouldn't cost a fortune. Ernest Nuamah from Nordsjaelland, Alex Scott from Bristol City, just two examples of young players with great potential.

Jeez, the scouts and those responsible for transfers in this club are fucking clueless... Wake the fuck up, Everton!

Never have I dreaded a new season more than this one.
Our fans are incredible and their optimism is immense but realistically we are totally crap. Let down by the most incompetent board in football history.

With all due respect, in our current situation, we haven't got time to invest in potential – we need a player now who will score goals.

There are no words.

You talk about Brighton, they evolve all the time and don't stand still. After nearly folding, you are correct: what an example of being reborn.

I look at Everton over the same years and take Tom Davies as an example (not slagging him off here). But would Brighton have kept Tom Davies for 6 years and see him leave out of contact? No! They would find a mug of a club who would pay £15 million for Maupay!.

Brighton would not have kept Tom Davies because he 'Gets Brighton' and is 'One Of Us'. Finch Farm and the culture has been farcical and amateurish for years and we have paid the price.

As if he's anywhere close to being the worst midfielder we've had in recent years – and he (relatively speaking) cost us sweet fuck-all. I think we'll miss him as a squad option this season.

In the Norwegian League, for example, the best players are often sold to France, Belgium etc for £3-5 million. After a year or two, we are interested in buying the same players for £15-20 million. Like Boniface, for example.

We need to pick up these players at an earlier stage. Nigerian Akor Adams is now on his way to Montpellier for £5 million. A strong pacy effective striker that would be an upgrade on what we have.

My post is not directly about Tom Davies, but the fact he left on a free. When Brighton would make sure someone paid for his services. Bill was observing how Brighton operate is the correct professional way.

I would like to see a cross-tab 2x2 with a breakout for those who did and did not set their hair on fire about selling Branthwaite and how surely that marked our club as fodder. The other breakout would be those who comment at all, at all, about his appearance preferably his performance.

I'll leave the conclusion to you.

Brighton, by way of example, have just bought a very highly rated 17-year-old Romanian called Adrian Mazilu for £3M. This isn't amazing scouting. He plays for the Romania U21s and anyone playing top-flight football in any league at that age stands out a mile.

It might not work – they tried with a Romanian called Baluta a few years ago – but when it does work, they end up with a top class player at extremely low cost.

We only have Mykolenko and Patterson from what might be called a low-cost market – and we managed to pay over the odds for both somehow.

Right now, we have Gray with 1 year left and, to Thelwell's credit, he is being sold so we can strengthen.

Then the curious case of of Alex Iwobi entering the final year of his contract, a player bought for £27M who will walk on a free if we don't sell him, as he reportedly won't sign an extension as he wants European football.

It concerns me that it's very quiet regarding him and doesn't seem to be high up the agenda. It's this forward planning that we need to get better at. If he leaves on a free, then there's no funds in the pot to get an adequate replacement. It's issues like these that can help us progress if we can get on top of them.

I conclude that you prat around with spreadsheets for a living.

Then, when Moshiri arrived and we had the money, we spent it like it was going out of style and we were all made up. "At last we can compete again" we thought…

Unfortunately things didn't work out as we had hoped. Now, because we have run out of cash, we have changed our tune just because some mid-sized clubs got a few bargains that they sold on for big money.

As I said, generally speaking, you get the players you pay for. The rich clubs spend big and compete at the top. The poor clubs, which is just about everyone else, spend as little as they can and hope for the best.

We are hoping for the best. So let's stop being hypocrites. We don't want cheap players because we have somehow seen the light. We want them because we can no longer afford expensive ones.

Discussing Southampton, Le Tissier said Southampton spent £140M last season.

I've said it before, but it was a modern day miracle that we stayed up last season. Goals scored, standard of play, money spent, months and months with the worst coach in the modern era, and still we finished above them, Leicester and Leeds!!!

This season is going to be pretty grim probably (to watch at least), but I'm pretty confident regardless of the failings of the boardroom that Dyche will keep us up. I suppose we should be grateful we have a competent coach; otherwise, I think we'd be finished now.

Coined by the American author Ken Blanchard in 1985, Seagull Managers are bosses or overseers who “fly in, make a lot of noise, dump on everyone, then fly out”.

I remember going to the Goldstone for a midweek game, in the early 80s I think, when Everton reached a milestone of 4,000 goals… or was it points? Perhaps, somebody can remember exactly what it was.

I know Lyons scored but hadn't realised it was also the night that Steve McMahon scored his first goal for the club.

I suspect getting any fee for Iwobi depends on him going to Saudi this summer. I can't see anyone else matching his wages. If he wants Champions League football, he'll need to have a storming season with us.

The moral of the story is: don't let your owner buy players the managers don't want and offer them a long contract on over-the-odds wages.

Any player entering the final year of a contract has the power.
Both the above-named players are fucking bang average and would not get into the starting line-up in any Top 8 side.

Years and years of awful management from those in control have left the club in the position that will take many years to correct and make us competitive. We can only hope we can stay in the Premier League and gradually build.

I think it's realistic to expect this season to once again be a survival strategy from Dyche — of course, the Evertonian in me expects more!

And don't forget: we may need up to 9 points more this season if we get any points reduction.

I think Joe McBride got the third that night, though the most memorable thing about that game was arriving back home at a ridiculous time!

Brighton's knack of getting very good players is nothing to do with luck whatsoever. They have a fantastic scouting and recruitment system that identifies players for the positions they want to fill.

There was no luck in getting Mitoma, Mac Allister, Caicedo, Enciso, Evan Ferguson, Trossard, Cucurella… They have just recruited 2 young forwards which I'm sure will make others look out far, Pedro and Adingra, both fast and skillful.

They have just signed a left-sided centre-back from Italy for £17m, Igor.

Luck is for Losers.

For example, Suphanat Mueanta is a 20-year-old Thai International. Predominantly a right winger but he can play up front. He needs better coaching and opposition to improve his talent and reach his potential.

I'd rather have him over Maupay any day.

Expectations firmly now being set for everyone that we are not going to be bringing anyone else in. "We tried" is what they will say.

We've been missing a recognised striking option for three transfer windows now from when Richarlison was sold. Name me any other club during that same period that hasn't addressed its own problem positions?

Buying established stars at high cost hasn't worked out for us. Now we can't do it because of P&S Rules. I think being brave and bringing in youthful hungry players is the only way forward.

Robert #230,

Exactly my point. We have tried this "buying established stars at high cost" for too long. It hasn't worked. We have no money now, we need to find the gems before they get established. Unfortunately, our scouts don't seem to be able to find these players, but there are plenty out there.

Another potential transfer disaster might be that we sold Simms, our best fit forward, before having an adequate replacement in place. Now we may have to rely on Maupay, who has absolutely nothing to offer in creativity or goalscoring. I really hope this doesn't come back to haunt us in May...

We are being outclassed in the transfer market by Brighton, Bournemouth, Brentford etc. They are being brave in their recruiting, and they are reaping the rewards. What the hell are our people doing?

"It's a tough market," he said. "There is only so much that we can do, so we are working very hard – I can assure everyone of that – to construct deals that can work.

"There is no exact moment until it's over the line. There have been situations where we have been into where we thought we were going to get it over the line and we don't – that's the way it goes.

"A lack of goals is always a concern because you need to score to win games. We showed in the second half of the season that we needed to find different ways of scoring goals and we are going to have to do that going forwards. That is part of football."

Dyche sounds like he is fully aware of Everton's position and is in concert with Thelwell on how to make substantive and sustainable progress from here. Stop fearing the cliff, you are on safe ground. If you want to escalate for some histrionics, fine. You'll surely get Carlo'd.

Instead we are selling and loaning out our best young players without them being replaced. I can only assume Dobbin and Cannon will wind up as first team squad players although given Dyche's track record it seems unlikely they'll be used well.

Iwobi was back on the wing at Stoke where he's always been ineffective, and anyone else with talent seems to be seeking the comfort of the treatment room. One of our only effective attackers, Damarai Gray, seems to be being credibly linked with moves away.

I haven't felt this negative during a pre-season since 2004.

I share the exasperation about new signings, previous seasons and potentially this season.

But when you say "Now Dyche story on BBC calling out that we've missed out on transfer targets. Same shit every window" – I think I'd just note that for every player up for sale, several clubs will be linked with the player, so several clubs will be "disappointed" in the end.

Let's judge it all at the end of the transfer window (and I guess it was you not Dyche who said "same shit show every season"!)

Dyche might also be trying to put the squeeze on the club with his statement.

I don't understand why we haven't identified 10-15 appropriate targets, contacted their clubs and agents, and got 2 of them over the line by now.

We're so utterly haphazard. We let Rondon go without a replacement (absolute madness as he would have been useful). We let Gordon go without a replacement (our top scorer at the time and a forward creative player).

We've let Simms go without a replacement (he may not be the finished product but he's better than Maupay). And we've loaned out Cannon: once again, he's not the answer: we know that… but who else is going to play up top???

I just can't understand the running of this club and the imbeciles behind this all. It's so depressing.

"The Saudis' money has changed everything. If there is a whisper of interest from over there in players like Gray and Iwobi, their agents will be doing their best to cut a deal in my opinion."

If, as some analyses suggest, the Saudis are looking to build a high-level league to compete with Europe (or to actually be part of the European competitions, as also suggested) then high level clubs by attracting high level players will be part of that.

"Gray" or "Iwobi" and "high level" don't trip off the tongue together.

So basically no striker incoming then!

HA HA fucking HA!

I'm still waiting for the holy grail of that side's reasoning, “well we were so close to getting relegated that you have to think it was pure luck and face the fact that we were relegated in some sense and should start acting like it.”

Keep it coming man. This is some unexpected comedy gold.

And Sean, that conclusion really deserves a scooby doo response but I will refrain from playing on people's names. It may slip occasionally but I'm cutting that out.

I cannot forsee the same thing happening to Everton as last season.

Defence is the order of preference and I think that in Dyche we have a manager who will get a big improvement in the squad when they don't have possession of the football.

Obviously he is not to blame when it comes down to the finances available for quality new players but it does beg the question why Everton have not off-loaded some ''waste of space'' players that would have saved on wages to a degree.

It won't be pretty to watch without the presence of a natural goalscorer but I think they will be more difficult to beat.

The almost disaster of last season is the final wake up call to the board that says no team is immune from the drop unless of course you have a Saudi or U.S. bankroll.

We are all purists, but have to be realists.

We want to win points, but first and foremost, don't lose them.

It isn't where I want to be, but its where we are.

Not long now and we are back on the road.

You can't win games if you don't score goals, we all know that's been the case for the last two seasons. Ah, but it's all down to finances, "we've got no money" is the refrain on TW.

How then could we splurge £34M on an unproven central midfielder in Onana? If we have no money for strikers, where did the money come from to buy him? Is there a separate pot of money for midfielders?

We have a number of winnable fixtures early season but we aren't going to win them without goalscorers.

I know posters on here say it's still early days other clubs haven't seen much movement etc, but I really don't care about other clubs. Looking at the pre-season games, our lack of a goal threat is still a glaring problem and our inability to conclude any deals is exactly the same as the last two windows.

Yet we still read “Everton show an interest in, Everton linked with…” Striker is a must-fill position if we're not going to struggle again this season. There can be no excuses for failure to deliver this time like all the others.

I agree, but they have to start somewhere… Henderson?

As we all know, the Saudis have the cash and they are spending it on many sports, boxing, UFC, football, golf, polo… tennis is next.

Will they build a league capable of producing a team that can be competitive in terms of the Champions League is another story, but I'm sure they think they can with their 'money no object' approach.

If they can't, it is already being rumoured they will create their own champions league trophy!

Money, as we Evertonians know, does not always work in sport but, if you have it, you certainly are in a better place.

I've just been told recently that a guy I had not seen in a while had moved over there and in doing so more than tripled his wage from €60k to €200k – he worked as a lighting technician at big festivals in Ireland and the UK.

If you have expertise in anything, the Saudis are currently trying to establish they will pay you a load of money.

I wonder if the former board members are in the running for Saudi public relations managers, especially the wordsmith talents of our erstwhile CEO, she could make a stale jam sandwich sound like a royal banquet.

Then there's the magician of a chairman who can make even the largest war-chest disappear in very short order, without having anything to show for it, but I don't suppose the Saudis are that desperate to waste their fortunes.

If we are waiting for the start of August for a few pennies, then we are royally in the shit.

Also, not a word about anything from the club...

If so, our name must be mud indeed. I wonder why, when we are such a big club with a Chairman who is the envy of the footballing world?

However, looking at our financial situation, Dyche admitting we've missed out on our targets and the lack of improvement so far this preseason, I may have to backtrack on Morelos…

The guy is an idiot, totally indisciplined but he does have some idea where the goal is.

If available, he'll be on a free, so might be worth a punt?

This is what happens when you keep Kenwright on as Chairman.

We plod on... it seems!

Ah, Henderson! Yes, I take your point. In fairness, he did a decent job in a very decent side… but yes, he's on a downward trajectory.

On a free, this one wants a return to the Premier League and was at Leicester, it could happen. Okay for some of you lot it surely won't but the rest of us can get a lift from the news.

We need a good start as all four teams we meet are beatable before the dreaded international break kicks in. Our coaching staff should challenge the players to try to go unbeaten with our first four games too!

Just be braver Blues... For fuck's sake.

Morelos was a one-season wonder up here. Then his on-pitch discipline went, then his fitness and weight control went.

I'd suspect that Dyche wouldn't touch him with a bargepole. I certainly wouldn't.

Lots of clubs around Europe will be interested in Gnonto, I'm sure we're one of them. But I wouldn't get excited about anything these websites say – they're just guessing.

Morelos, as I said, is an idiot… but a one-season wonder?
Just league games for Rangers:

Season 17-18, 14 in 35 games
Season 18-19, 18 in 30 games
Season 19-20, 12 in 29 games
Season 21-22, 11 in 26 games
Season 22-23, 11 in 32 games

As you know his appearances were affected by many bans due to discipline and the last couple of seasons a few injuries

I see Morelos a fair bit. I was at Easter Road last season and saw him come on as sub and then shortly sent off in a 2-2 draw!!

Anyway all could be moot as I hear he might be going to new boys Grenada in Spain?

Morelos or Maupay? I know who I would have put a punt on.

Could I have the choice of neither him nor Maupay?

Maupay appeared to me a classic case of buying someone because we 'had to buy someone'. 10 goals a season man, not a lone striker. So we play him as a lone striker. A truly awful piece of recruitment.

Surely not the overweight, unfit, bewildered Rondon? A man whose elasticated shorts resembled the circus tent trunks of the over-the-hill old heavyweights who crawled out for one more payday after Tyson was decked by Buster Douglas.

More to the point, when you saw him play last season, were you impressed at any point? Are the reports true that he's put on a lot of weight and gotten lazy?

I'm just assuming that, when a striker is dropped at age 27 after scoring that many goals, there must be a serious problem, and it doesn't seem to be red cards anymore.

Haha, agreed. Although surprisingly he starred in Argentina and won the Championship after he left.

Although, then again, Jay Wood would always tell us the South American leagues were poor as all the good young players had been plundered so maybe he found his level.

Juve recently got disqualified from one of this season's competitions so are we to see a Saudi-financed club competition or is their target the Asian Cup competitions?

Perhaps some of our America based fans on here can shed light on it?

According to our accountant owner, Bill has done such a brilliant job in the past that he has had to beg him to carry on for an unforeseeable future as club chairman!

So no fear if we get relegated the coming season as our chairman knows better.

Meanwhile, yet another Everton target (Iliman Ndiaye) agrees to sign for Marseille!!!

"If the Saudis were to qualify and apply for UEFA competitions would they pass the FFP regulations and would fining them mean anything?"

Probably not, on both counts, if this from today's Observer is a good indicator (relates to UAE but the principle is the same):

"One of the emails leaked by Der Spiegel in 2018 suggested the Man City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak had said that 'he would rather spend £30 million on the 50 best lawyers to sue them for the next 10 years than accept a deal on FFP breaches."

West Ham may not have signed anyone yet in this window but they have signed 12 players since the start of last season. My point being that we've had 3 transfer windows to address our issues and failed on the striker front (so far).

Brent @248 – yes, I'm the one who made that statement but I bet he's thinking it. 😂

You're right, I think, about Morelos's red against Hibs – his first for a while.

To be honest, Mike, that red was ridiculous but his reputation is such that he's a marked man for refs.

Don't get me wrong: when he first came to Ranger,s he was a liability discipline-wise. Certainly last season he picked up a couple of bad injuries and consequently had fitness issues. Colak was Rangers' choice up front due to Morelos's injuries.

In normal circumstances, I wouldn't go near Morelos but he knows where the goal is, that's for sure, and will put in a shift.

With us appearing to be losing our targets and time getting on, I can see us getting desperate. However, as I said, I think Granada are talking to him.

Interesting article on West Ham Utd today in The Guardian, expecting an implosion.

The new German recruiter and Moyes don't see eye to eye, Sullivan is slow to pull the trigger on deals, Mark Noble is DOF effectively in name only as he has no defined role. Players don't like Moyes's style, etc etc.

They're well ahead of us but seemingly have the same kind of internal dysfunction that did us in.

I'm not holding West Ham up as some exemplar that we should aspire to be, I was merely responding to Paul Tran's comment that West Ham haven't signed anyone. It was him who bought them into the discussion, not me.

I'm only focused on us, and those in charge rectifying the issues that we've all been calling out for years and doing something about it.

Luton: I am sure they will put up a good fight but ultimately they are largely a third-tier side that has massively over-achieved and isn't ready for this promotion. They have bought two wing-backs, one on loan. They have a tiny squad.

Sheffield Utd: Financial difficulties mean they've made just two low-cost signings and barely have anything beyond their first XI. Almost certain to sell star player Ndiaye before the window closes.

Burnley: Although they took the Championship by storm, they've lost loan players like Tella and Harwood-Bellis that did so well for them. Kompany did extremely well but he's young and inexperienced. It'll be interesting to see how he copes after a run of defeats, which they will surely get at some point.

Bournemouth: Not a bad squad but ended the season in poor form after Gary O'Neill somehow managed to put a run of wins together. They have now sacked him and recruited a new manager. Big risk.

Fulham: Looks like they might lose Mitrovic to Saudi Arabia – and possibly Palhinha and Adarabioyo also – which would really hurt the squad. We all know Silva is a good manager but can lose his bottle when the pressure mounts.

Nottm Forest: Cooper did extremely well last season managing to get a completely new squad together. That squad is now pretty good – but very bloated. It will be tricky to manage the numbers and egos. Talk of them losing Brennan Johnson.

Wolves: Lopetegui was given credit for turning their season around last year, but I think that had a lot more to do with a spending spree for Cunha, J Gomes, Lemina and Sarabia. They now seem to have run out of money and Lopetegui is complaining about it. The old guard of Jiminez, Traore, Moutinho and Neves have all left. They still have talent – but are they a team?

Brentford: an exceptionally well-put-together outfit with tactics to suit the strengths of the players. But who is going to score the goals and lead the line while Ivan Toney is out for his betting ban? Although they have effective forwards in Wissa, Mbeumo and Schade, they don't have anyone to replace Toney as the target man.

West Ham: Struggled last season, possibly due to the strain of European football. They have a decent First XI but a very thin squad indeed and big money Scammacca is completely ill-suited to their style of play. Losing Rice will hit them hard.

Palace: Losing Zaha on a free is a huge blow for a side that looked destined to go down at one point. Hodgson did a magnificent job of settling the ship but he is really ancient now. They have a decent squad (quality and numbers) but Zaha is a big miss.

So there we go, a bit more perspective on our current woes. In all honesty, only the traditional Big 6 + Villa, Newcastle and Brighton look "safe" going into the new season.

I was in the company of some professional football people earlier today and Morelos actually came into the conversation. One of them said he watched Celtic play Rangers at the beginning of this year, and he couldn't believe the size of the Rangers player.

This person said he looked at least 2 stone overweight and he was already blowing for tugs with only 20 minutes on the clock.

We could have signed Raúl Jiménez. Fulham paid £5M for him.

I wasn't disagreeing with you mate you had a good point I was just sharing what I read in WHU.

Robert

Context is everything

It's not like we are searching the jungles of wildest Indonesia with a torch and a compass for the Javan Rhino. There are 3-4 of them in every football club's squad around the world.

Most of the names being mentioned would never sign for Everton in their current state. We should be looking at players performing at lower leagues, instead of last minute panic buys like Maupay.

There may well be 3-4 forwards in every football club's squad around the world that'd improve us but, after 30 years of Kenwright gross ineptitude, massively enhanced by Moshiri's tenure, you can bet your bollocks that no young player of any slight aptitude will even dream of signing for us right now.

Reminded me of young Richarlison. Chased after everything, and shit-housery in droves.

Definitely worth a punt. 40,000 home fans didn't affect his performance. Head & shoulders above Maupay.

Henry Martin of Mexico and Nicolas Ibanez of Argentina would be great shouts too, as would a couple of the MLS guys we've watched. Even an old fart like Funes Mori (yeah, his twin brother) would be better than Maupay.

Unimpressed with our Sounders tonight, BTW. Spectacular start and then one mistake after another.

But, there are always solutions. We are letting the club hierarchy off the hook by simply saying that the club blew all the money and nothing can be done. Shape an alternative strategy, for example looking in the championship or outside Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga or Ligue 1.

Brighton (yes I know we all cite them) have signed the following players from outside the top European leagues in the last four season - Enclso, Buonnanatte, Joao Pedro, Verbruggen, Mazilu, Mitoma, Sarmiento, Caicedo, Trossard, MacAllister and Lamptey. They have also been very clever in the loan market, for example with Colwill.

The fact that we were aiming to spend 60 million combined for Onana and Billal Toure when we could have bought both for 13 million shows where we are failing. We are too conservative about investing in early talent from global leagues, and want to see the players to perform in one of the top European 4 leagues before we commit.

So, I am just not accepting the "no-one in their right mind would sign for us", "it's a tough market" and "we thought we had some deals wrapped up" lines any longer.

And I am pretty sure the new MSP consortium investors won't either.

Shame really as I feel the fee and salary would be in our price range.

You just want to see some desire and passion. And some goals.

With those names you mention we're not talking Denis Stracqualursi either. Proven strikers who know where the net is.

We live in hope.

The Bundesliga teams seem to tap into it much better. I found this article:

Link

Decent read and some interesting names in there including our own Brian McBride and Landon Donovan who tried their trade in Germany.

I'm surprised Weston McKennie wasn't given more of a mention. I watched him play for Schalke and was impressed. Not the most technical, but versatile and full of energy. Went on to play for Juventus and ended up at Leeds last season.

Still only 24 as well? I'd take a punt. Maybe scope for some negotiation with the Moise Kean situation.

I see Juventus has been kicked out of next season's Europa Conference after breaching FFP.

To all those saying, ‘wait until the transfer window is closed before you judge' and ‘why are you being so pessimistic?'

We've been here before: the longer we leave it to buy our forward option (a), the less time the selling club has to get in their replacements which means either (i) they'll say ‘no', and/or (ii) said forward options will cost a premium.

We've been down this road so so many times before…. why can the idiots in charge of administrating this club ever learn anything???

I was bored, so I did read your piece, it was interesting and posed some really good questions for the modern audience and the effect that they may have on young and upcoming players.

My take is that the 'very best' players will ignore most of the noise and get on with their job, but the players who aren't fully confident in their own abilities could possibly fail to fulfill their potential if they begin to take notice of the many critics.

Barkley was the first Everton player who I thought took too much criticism, far too early in his career and that cameo picture of him in the Wembley tunnel, asking if it was him that the crowd were booing, remains a poignant and difficult image to forget.

Davies on the other hand wasn't blessed with enough talent to become the player that he was being touted to be, but he could have been managed better had the club been in a more stable condition.

I recommend that fellow ToffeeWebbers read the article that you linked, if only to reflect on some of the things that they sometimes post, and whether they are being entirely fair, when they rightly air their frustrations with a player, a board, or the club.

There was a guy who used to post on here (Damian something or other?), who would pipe up without fail whenever Barkley was mentioned.

The level of obsession and the intensity of his opprobrium over this one player was a sight to behold.

I honestly think he spent any spare time when he was not posting about Barkley kneeling in silent prayer, begging with all his mental might that Barkley's car would one day break down in a snowstorm outside of his house so he could go all Annie Wilkes from ‘Misery' on the midfielder's arse, strap him to the bed, and hobble him with a big hammer.

Barkley, Stones, Rodwell. Too much too young? Too much expectation on young shoulders when they are still developing?

We could go back further. Osman and Hibbert were continuously criticised by many over the years. I rated both. Osman was a gifted technical footballer and Hibbert a committed full-back. I can see Mykolenko in a similar manner to Hibbert, only better at delivery and has already scored, so no wait for a riot!

Slightly different, but even many were unconvinced by Seamus when he first arrived, especially as many judge on price tag.

The thing with those 3 is that they all went out on loans before properly hitting the first team.

Now, whilst I would rather see a restructuring of the system and a B Team or Satellite Club model for our development players, maybe there is something to be said for the loan system.

Hopefully Branthwaite comes back better for his experience, but let's not forget how young he is for a centre-back before we start ringing out the Game of Thrones shame bells.

I'll never forget sitting in Bullens and seeing one grown arse man stand up 20 feet from Barkley and proceed to shout to him just how shite he was. Then we wonder why players have little loyalty to us. The most embarrassing thing was nobody stood up and called the heckler out.

Over the last season or two, there's been a lot more people prepared to stand up and address the haters at the match. There were 4 or 5 incidents by me last season of it. Need more of it too. Might be too wishful online behind their keyboards tho.

I forgot to add Tom Davies to my list. There are probably countless others.

I know people get emotional. I do in a different way. But if we want young players to have their chance, we have to be patient with them.

Frustration builds, especially in the situation we've been in over past decades and I can't imagine the situation around the club and the pressure and expectation from the supporters has made it a constructive environment for young players to develop.

That said, ever the optimist. We have Patterson, Mykolenko, Garner, Onana, and Branthwaite, Godfrey is still young for a defender and can still come good once he gets his confidence back after that injury. McNeil. Stanley Mills is still an Everton player as is Lewis Warrington.

I'm not dismissing the need for additions, that's a given.

Along with the surrounding experience of Pickford, Tarkowski and Gueye, plus players like Calvert-Lewin, who hopefully will recover, there is the nucleus of a decent side.

Fulham soon.

Always end on a positive!

Link

I still remember the way Victor Anichibe was treated under Moyes. Not the most talented player by any means but he certainly got way more stick any time he made a mistake.

Interestingly I watched Juventus vs Madrid this pre season and Moise Kean was excellent. His decision making has improved tenfold looks much stronger on and off the ball. Looks like a good striker.

Dom was written off at a young age and some people still call him a championship striker although i'd say that's increased with the homophobic comments about skirts by a small section.

Regarding Chermiti he has a lot of potential but I can foresee him getting a rough time if he's thrown into the deep end. Everyone is clamouring for someone to hit the ground running which is understandable. We'll still get that striker (whether he's good or not is a different question).

Reality is a lot of these young players take a year or so to get up to speed. Look at Brighton and the likes of caicedo. The lad did nothing for over a year and when Bissuma was sold he was integrated into the team and has now just had a 80million offer rejected. Patience with these lads is crucial and if done right not only will we get a good player (at a great age!) but selling them sorts our financial mess out. It's the correct business model.

There is the counter point that some just aren't good enough and that's where our scouts need to be at their best. Alongside that stability is needed at the club. Tom Davies was ruined by playing under 8 managers who all used him differently and the lad never progressed and eventually the fans turned on him.

Get the experienced striker in for the short term, sort the squad out enough for midtable and give these young players (hopefully a few more to be bought) time to be developed and in a few years we'll see the rewards. Reality is the Brighton model is the only way we'll be challenging for European places as we're never going to be able to spend big until we are able to bring in the money to do so. 15mil for Chermiti seems like a lot right now but in a few years he COULD be worth triple that.