Reports: Everton seeking double loan move that includes Phillips

I don't!!!

Not a signing that excites but Dyche's capable of turning the players' fortunes around.

If Phillips is brought in on loan as Onana's replacement and this helps us keep Branthwaite for one more season, I don't think that is bad business.

I know Phillips had a bit of a nightmarish time at West Ham and the media seemed to be focused on every single mistake of his, but I am confident that Dyche can help him rediscover his Leeds United form.

The same report says that Everton are working on bringing back Jack Harrison on loan once again. So that would be our Premier League loan quota completed.

He had one good season in the Premier Leaague and one good season in the Championship when Leeds were promoted.

A decent player when settled and fit but given our finances can we afford to pay £80k+ per week to an injury prone player whose best form was 3-4 years ago?

A lot of our recent mistakes have been due to trusting reputation over form (Alli, Gomes etc). It depends on the deal and if we could get him for £50k p/w then I wouldn't mind so much but he's not cheap.

Harrison is inconsistent and did not improve as the season unfolded.

Philips is the new Dele Alli. A great footballer who has lost his way. His loan spell at West Ham was a complete disaster. The English game has bypassed him. He's better off in the Italian or French leagues.

Kalvin Phillips is another mis-firing high roller.

He's on 6-year contract at City that runs through 2027, with a salary of around £120k per week, so how much of that would they fund to get him out on loan?

Surely not yet another waster, the like of which we've seen far too often over the years?

But he signed Beto and Chermiti, so we can't rely on his judgement.

I can't remember the last time Phillips had a decent game and his wages would far outweigh his contribution.

I would much sooner Ndidi for defensive midfield and make a pitch for Summerville to replace Danjuma.

No thanks.

Maybe the money has gone to his head, who knows? Dyche will know a lot better than me. Not sure about him.

Harrison to keep is a no-brainer the state we are in, next season looks like another nail-biter.

More to come from Harrison; Philips lost his way for a couple of years, but there is a player there. Both could really benefit from a Dyche pre-season – remember, Harrison was injured when we got him.

Phillips could be one of those. However, it worries me that Moyes stopped picking him.

I'm sure there's hungry youngsters out there – bloody well find them!!!

The wages and durability is a problem. We need someone in that position 80% of the matches played, I don't think he is capable of that.

Does seem a bit like déjà vu.

Beto was bought with no money up front. We had no money! Chermiti was a young, upcoming player who could be developed and sold on.

Ellis Simms was going in circles in his development. As was Tom Cannon. We were offered good deals that would benefit our PSR standing, given that they were home grown and could go on the accounts as "pure profit".

We know that Beto isn't amazing. We may well sell him on. Chermiti has come on well late in the season, and will hopefully get more game time this season.

Please, Please, I'm begging you: move on. You post the same comment every fucking where.

Nonetheless, Phillips is a prototype of the kind of player we must gamble on -- a talented train wreck who needs a new start. Like Dele, he's more gifted than anyone we have. Unlike Dele, he's physically healthy. If Man City will pay half his salary, I reluctantly endorse this.

100% in favor of bringing back Harrison. I'm biased -- I was directly behind his Bournemouth volley and it was a moment of magic that I will cherish forever. His energy is relentless, his defensive work is crucial to Dyche's system, and he can pick a pass.

Yes, he loses every challenge, both on the ground and in the air, but a guy with a heart that big has a place in this depleted squad.

We have had some luck with rejuvenating jaded stars, but there are more failures than successes.

Where Brighton go for a Mitoma, Caicedo etc, we are after Philips after not succeeding at West Ham.

Apart from being available, it stinks of lazy scouting to me –again.

Pay half his wage, low risk and then potential to spend whatever limited funds are available on some pace at right-back and right-wing.

There's a few out-of-contract players who'll inevitably attract attention and be linked with us. Iheanacho, Ndidi and Brownhill… plus don't be too surprised if Dyche has his eye on Chris Wood either.

It was paying exorbitant wages on average players that got us into the financial state we are in. Look for young talent for lower transfer fees to develop.

The thing is Brighton don't buy to succeed, they buy to sell. You can almost guarantee that the likes of Ferguson and Mitoma will be sold without the club re investing the obvious silly money they'll receive.

Where does it get them? 11th & 48 points... the same 48 points we would have had if not for the deductions.

While I think Onana will come good, I believe he is the most dispensable out of all the potential sales. As a result, I can see the logic of bringing in Philips as a direct replacement, as long as we could negotiate his wages.

I for one think Chermiti could be a diamond in the rough. I would even try playing him alongside Calvert-Lewin. Therefore Beto along with Maupey are surplus to requirements.

It sounds like we might also be interested in the young lad from Newcastle and so, as long as we can get these deals done quickly, along with Harrison and maybe a midfield playmaker, the squad will be no worse than it is now.

This should be good enough to keep us in the Premier League next season and hopefully, with a decent purchaser, we could then start recruiting for the future. At the moment, beggars can't be choosers!!

Two experienced Premier League players and hopefully, a couple or three 'up & comers' from the Championship would do for starters.

We got £13.5M for Simms and Cannon and spent most of it (£12M) on Chermiti. I don't see much pure profit in that, especially if you compare those players' likely valuations now.

We added £26M to our debt pile for Beto. No one is going to take him off our hands for that kind of money.

Not that good anyway.

I was initially made up when we got Harrison on loan last season, but for me, he is a bit like a 'Duracell Bunny' with little or no end product.

Let's move on to players who may make a difference. Maybe paper talk, but if we are genuinely linked with these two, the money side can't be as dire as we are led to believe.

We are a parochial non-entity by comparison.

As for Harrison. Not once did I see him take on an opponent and pass him last season. Maybe I've got that wrong and no doubt someone will tell me so, but that is my lasting impression of him. Energy, tracking back and helping in defence – Yes. But he is supposed to be a winger making and scoring goals, for goodness sake.

I know we are hard-up but I think we can do more to help the squad than bringing in those two.

Fast, all effort, and dangerous around the box.

Please no!

As for Harrison, hard worker but zero productivity in the final third. How many times didn't we see him run down blind alleys before ceding possession? Can't cross, won't cross.

I'm not sure either of them will ever cost more than £20M in today's money whereas, if Chermiti reaches his potential, then he'll be worth double that at least.

As for Beto, I think he'll do okay. He's a £15-20M striker who we paid more for because of no cash up front. If you gave him almost 3,000 minutes (like Simms in the Championship) he'd have scored more than 13 and was scoring at a faster rate than that in Serie A, a tougher league.

Anyway, what is missing is the point that Philips will make Harrison more productive. Harrison just needs someone to play off to use what he has. They formed a decent counter attack tandem on the right at Leeds.

I'm sick of having the likes of Dele Alli and Young and fucking Delph sponging from our coffers.

Start using the youth, start being a club youngsters want to come to because we give them a chance.

Was there any of these so-called add-ons which sometimes can include a player earning his first full international cap, and a fee being paid to the selling club by the buying club?

Even if there is, I doubt it would be very much anyway.

We made an instant £13.5m profit in those players.

The cashflow of which might have gone to partly go against cheemitis fee, partly back to the club.

In terms of psr, we booked £13.5m gain, and will have expensed 1/5 of chermitiis cost assuming a 5 year contract. So around £11m better off under pSr.

As for young Chermiti, I like him very much... fine first touch and plenty of confidence, and three years younger than Simms.

Dale #40, good point.

Ed #35, agreed, if he'd been subbed on earlier Leeds might have bailed out that playoff.

Peter #34, he had 51 successful dribbles this season and three assists, second on the club to McNeil in both categories. His problem is steering into blind alleys and then losing the ball, but he does attack off the dribble. And we don't have anybody else (besides Dwight and maybe Gana) who will even try it.

Phi!ip a is a good player.Dyche must feel he can get a job out of him.It would be difficult to get selected at Man City, so he may be glad to get the chance to p!ay.

He looked great a few years ago to be sure. And I believe there's definitely a "new Club" dynamic that can work with a lot of players who have an off year or two.

Thing is, Everton can't even afford to buy the players who have a year or two of subpar performances but clearly have talent. They're expensive and a calculated risk. We can't afford to play the calculated risk game.

I'd prefer us to promote younger players or grab solid players from the Championship at this point.

We have no money. If we get new ownership that can clear out a majority of the debt and set up Everton on solid financial footing, then absolutely look for this type of player in these types of "new Club needed" circumstances.

Just don't do it right now. Stay up the next 2-3 years while the finances are righted under new ownership. That's all I care about any longer honestly. I don't want us squandering finances on players who need a new environment, it's just too risky.

And when you're coupling risk along with writing hot checks, shit usually doesn't work out in the end.

There's talk about DCL going to Newcastle.

Where? Where did you see this report? If you have a link please post.

I'm not challenging you, just want to read for myself because if there's anything at all in that, it's frightening.

So I'm blinders on, didn't see anything Madagascar Penguins style, until I see some article even mentioning that move.

There is absolutely zero upgrade there.

In fact. Harrison's stats in the premier league are vastly superior.

You think Harrison is bad for running into dead ends. Christ almighty.

We will likely sell DCL and Branthwaite or Onana this summer to balance the books.

Whether we like it or not, players like Phillips are all we can hope for so why people are complaining is beyond me.

Honestly, we'll be lucky to sign anyone on loan given the state of things at Everton. Phillips was brilliant for Leeds not so long ago, and he's had some injury difficulties but he's a very very talented footballer - something we have a very little of in our midfield.

I'd be happy if we took him on loan. If you think we can do better with no money and sales on the horizon in order to not incur more points deductions, I'd love to hear all about them.

People saying we can't afford his wages? How do you know this? Where's your proof of these claims? I don't claim to have any information on what Everton can or can't afford but I do know we'll need to sell players and our only potential options of incomings are freebies or loans so why not a quality footballer like Phillips?

I fail to understand what people have against this deal, even if he was underwhelming at West Ham (off the back of some injuries and playing next to never at City). He'd be in our first 11 every week for certain and that's what good players need.

As for Philips...no thanks,we need a wide man on the right to take on players with pace and be our out-ball player when we're under the cosh...Dolan at Blackburn would fit the bill perfectly.

As for a Striker... Shankland at Herts would do for me as Beto and Maupay look to be off and we simply can't rely on DCL's fitness,if his transfer to the Toon doesn't come off.

There's some decent players at Coventry too... Palmer,Torp and O'Hare...all would improve us greatly,look to the lower leagues for a Branthwaite clone as well,if sadly he is sold on (either this season or next).

I'm a bit puzzled, Thelwell and team have know the clubs predicament for some time and would have had to become much more smart and savvy with signings going forward.

Harrison has not pulled up any trees, i'd much rather we spent the loan fee on a young kid, likewise Onana's replacement. I think there is real upside to both replacements if Thelwell could actually identify a couple of rough diamonds.

As I understand it, there is strict criteria applicable to incoming footballers who have to be at least well established international players for their home countries before a visa will even be considered, so the prospect of unearthing "hidden gems" in Africa or South America" falls at the first hurdle.

He wasn't that good at Leeds and did not surprise me when he couldn't get into City's lineup and then couldn't get into an average Hammers team.

Okay, injuries don't help and Southgate didn't help by wrongly picking him for England. He would be like many other flops coming to Everton and we certainly don't want any more sick-notes getting big money for sitting on the sidelines.

Harrison did show promise but, like many Everton starters last season, wasn't consistent enough.

If I can play devil's advocate, I'd say we are being run season to season with the sole purpose of staying in the Premier League. To that end, it'll be no-risk or low-risk known quantities who can hit the ground running and keep us there.

Jack Harrison had 3 goals (one stolen from Calvert-Lewin) and 3 assists. He is only effective with an overlapping full-back and it is unlikely that we will have one of those next season.

I'd take a punt on him and send Chermiti out on loan for a season.

Some on here don't want Barkley back but would have a fake footballer to keep us away from a relegation fight. Imagine if we get caught out by Man City shafting us with a cash plus bobblehead for Branthwaite, still happy?

West Ham couldn't wait to get rid; City can't wait. (He possibly added to Moyes leaving…)

"Duh where shall I go duh? Oh I know, soft arse Everton, they are easily conned, so long as I run about a bit I'll fit right in."

If Mr Thelwell can't do any better than this, fuck him off, he's a fraud too!

Mr Pineapple to Everton, no thanks.

We will need to bolster the squad. I don't think we need to take chances like this. If it's a loan move for experience, then someone dependable would be a better option.

This is reading like a few still have some difficulty in accepting the proposition that Thelwell and Dyche are the only reliable people at Everton making football decisions. Just remember, when you continually make all-or-nothing bets, sometimes you end up with nothing. Like post 64.

I was excited we got Jack Harrison on loan but he ultimately disappointed me.
If both can get back to their best then, for the right price, they would be very useful.

Gavin #63, please tell me you're not actually advocating a "punt" on a player based on one goal four years ago -- since which he has done nothing above League One.

Kunal #57, when you wonder what Thelwell "is being paid for"... you mean aside from signing Tarkowski, McNeil, Garner, Gana, Onana and Beto, all of whom but the last have been major reasons we're still in the Premier League? You mean aside from clearing out enough deadwood to build a small town? DoFs don't "scour Africa", they hire networks of scouts to do it, and we don't have funds for that.

(BTW, Wolves didn't find Bellegarde in Africa, they "found" him in Ligue 1 after 200 appearances at Lens and Strasbourg. He's French born and raised.)

Denver #61, until we get new ownership we are most definitely "being run season to season with the sole purpose of staying in the Premier League "because we have no choice. And so far we're successful.

Too many red flags for me.

Surely a good attitude is a pre-requisite for any Dyche signing. We fought our way out of trouble this season with a fighting spirit and a real togetherness within the squad.

I'd hate to see us jeopardise that just because a player of moderate ability might be going cheap.

Harrison has generally been good and can play a couple of different positions. We need versatile payers like him.

I reckon Phillips would do well under Dyche. We know there is a great player in there, it's just a matter of providing the right environment.

Dyche has managed more than 500 top-level games and built a well-deserved reputation for putting up with absolutely no bullshit from anybody.

You can bet he will have a loooooonnngggg talk with Phillips, and probably one with Moyes as well -- and he will make the decision on the loan based on what he hears.

I don't do the football manager thing. I can't second guess who we will or won't sign or sell. That's down to the club, Director of Football and Manager.

I've not seen a lot of Phillips, but if Guardiola took him into the best squad in the league, he must have something about him.

Attitude? That can be sorted out. A lot of football players have egos. Sometimes they just need to find the right landing place and be managed.

Anthony Gordon had a reputation in his early days and had a live spat with Eddie Howe, but is now flourishing.

As for Harrison, I think a lot are being harsh. He works incredibly hard for the team, so gets my vote.

As others have pointed out, Harrison has suffered by not having a stable right-back to form a partnership – Patterson, Coleman, Young, Godfrey have all played there at various stages of last season. Whereas McNeil and Mykolenko have formed a solid partnership on the left wing.

If Phillips and Harrison were to join and Onana is let go, I can and would like to see Dyche playing the following formation (4-2-3-1):

Calvert-Lewin
McNeil Garner Harrison
Phillips Gana
Mykolenko Branthwaite Tarkowski Patterson (or ?)
Pickford

With Doucoure, Beto, Chermiti, Dobbin, Young, and any other incoming players and academy lads making up the squad. For all his admirable qualities, Doucoure should not be more than a squad filler next season, because his lack of footballing skills means we turn over the football too frequently.

This would be one tough team to play against – not a huge amount of flair, but it allows us one more year of stability and slow rebuild.

Regarding Phillips, well I'm sure Dyche and Thelwell know, and talk to all managers, coaches etc in all leagues.
We have to trust they know all about Phillips and if they sign him on loan they feel he can do a job for us

Out wide we only have Mcneill and at a push Dobbin and possibly Young but I'm far from convinced by either as a regular starter out wide.

I think Harrison played beneath himself last season but he still worked his arse off, was mostly available and was our second most creative player. I certainly wouldn't want to pay any decent fee for him but can see the sense in getting him back on loan as he is a known entity that Dyche feels he can trust.

And before getting hot under the collar or excited by any news story linking us to various players, remember. It's likely to be just made up column inches.
Until they are photographed with Dyche and wearing the blue scarf, calm down!

We have done.

Sheedy, Sharp, Reid and Gray.

Cahill and Neville.

There are probably more.

Sometimes it comes off, other times not. That's football.

In a different environment, he might do well.

If he's coming to Everton, let us give him a chance rather than criticising a player before he's kicked a ball for us.

On a similar note, why would Moshiri leave it so late to risk losing everything, if the chance of administration was looming?

Gomes has gone, and Onana could well leave as well so we're going to be very short centrally. Ball retention was a major issue for us all season last year, so to my mind a central midfielder is a massive priority.

Harrison will likely be back next season, and losing Danjuma was no great shakes because he never played anyway. Leeds need to offload players and I suspect we're going to go hard to get Phillips.

Also, I am sure that Thelwell and Dyche know who will be leaving and need replacing. Then it comes down to their judgement in getting in the best we can afford. Maybe if the rumours are correct, Phillips is a replacement for Onana.

My concern with Phillips is that he apparently spoke with Southgate to discuss the various loan options, and they both thought that joining West Ham gave him the best chance of retaining his England spot. But it turned into a disaster and given the motivation was to win back his England place.

Then you wonder what would motivate him moving to Everton, bearing in mind he still has 4 years of his contract with Man City and is on £150,000 per week.

At least he played under Dyche before and will understand the system we operate. He's 28 and wages shouldn't be high.

They avoid us overspending in desperation.

I don't rate Harrison at all and see his lack of pace and skill as holding back our attack. But I do also appreciate he helps to keep us solid and may improve with a quality right back. Means to an end.

Phillips didn't work out at West Ham. No big deal. Its still a low risk move on loan for an experienced player. It may buy a bit of time for Metcalfe to develop or a low cost young player from France etc to come in.

Branthwaite, Pickford, Calvert-Lewin, Onana, McNeil, Godfrey will all have admirers. It depends on the outcome of who finally ends up owning us in regard to which players are sold.

I'm surprised that there's been so few murmurs about Pickford being wanted by a 'big' club. Branthwaite I think is almost certain to be sold if we are indeed so desperate for money. Onana and Godfrey can leave for me without a great loss.

There's going to have to be some serious wheeling and dealing going on. Good that Dyche seems to have strong nerves because he's going to be put through the grinder again next season.

I would prefer to keep them all but if we have to sell to financially survive so be it, but it goes without saying that it's going to make staying in the Premier League more difficult.

Neither Guadiola nor Moyes nor Southgate could - what has Dyche got that these other managers haven't?

He went to City from a relatively low wage to £150k a week on a 6-year contract I believe, which still has 3 years to run. No wonder City are desperate to get shut.

I would wager the sudden arrival of a £45M 6-year contract may have had something to do with his drop of form and hunger for the game. Couple of injuries, can't get into the city side, but no matter, am set for life anyway. New chance at West Ham but apparently his attitude left much to be desired.

Either way, unless it's at very low cost, we simply should not be looking to sign Philips at all. Dele Alli Mk II to me. (We've only just gotten Alli off the books too.)

When you have to go back a quarter of a century, then further back – to the last millennium – to find just a few players that turned out okay, it shows how rotten Everton's charges were and are. To the core.

There are 3 separate and distinctive parts to this Club:

1) Playing and coaching;
2) The bellends at ownership, board and commercial level;
3) The new stadium.

None of which are in harmony with each other and the latter being so piss poorly financially managed from the get go, it is responsible for crippling the playing side on and off of the pitch.

If Dyche is heavily involved in saying who comes in on loan or full time then, why didn't three of those guys feature more significantly last season?

Martin @ 80 is spot-on. Attracting duffers who might turn good is our hope of salvation. I suspect a right-back will be Dyche's priority. But Godfrey did make a good fist of it at times last season.

Landing Harrison would seem to be an easy fit. Whether it is a further loan?? If we are forced to buy, I'm not sure that would happen.

We all know we need a strikerwho can score… so, for me, that excludes (fragile) Calvert-Lewin as first choice. Beto has a lot of jagged edges to smooth and sand down. He is energetic and powerful. But not a starter if we can get an old arse in who can score.

Wingers with pace are needed. At least one is doable.
As James @86 above observed, we need a decent ball-winning, passing, central midfielder. At present, we have Gueye, Onana and Garner. If Onana goes, we are down to two. Dele Alli is discounted. Doucoure (for me) is a foil for the striker kind of...

We have 19 recognised professionals in the squad. I include Lewis Dobbin and Chermiti. We are allowed 4 loan players. If all spaces are utilised (and so far the club has failed to do this) that drags our squad total to 23.

So that would be:-
RB
CM
WING
STRIKER

With Threlfall saying we will be selling and loans are our only source of obtaining players, then there are many imponderables. Factor in the Euros for Pickford, Onana and maybe Branthwaite, then it is unlikely anything will occur until after 14 July.

McNeil on the other flank hasn't done much better with 3 goals, although I think he could offer more played centrally. But neither Harrison nor McNeil has any pace and any full-back playing against them knows they won't try and go past you and will on most occasions play the ball backwards.

To do either means we would have to bring in other players, which is the obvious conundrum right now.

Could we play McNeil, Gueye and Garner as a three, with Dobbin, Lewin and another, playing further forward, in a system that Liverpool have used for the last few seasons?

I doubt it very much because, for a start, we don't have any marauding full-backs, so I personally think Dyche will probably stick with his tried and tested 4-5-1 system.

To upgrade this system and make it more palatable on the eye, then he has got to be looking at finding ways to get more pace and creativity in the wider areas?

Someone mentioned Josh Brownhill, Premier League experience, knows what is expected under Dyche. To be fair, not exactly a World beater but, from what I have seen, would offer anything that Philips would give us.

My views on Harrison seem to be shared by many having watched him all season. We can certainly do better and look at alternatives.

Respectfully, Phillips has not enjoyed a really positive season since 2020-21.

In terms of Harrison, forwards should be measured in goals and assists. They need to work the flank and provide defensive cover, but Harrison's contribution in the attacking third of the field is not good. He is also on huge wages.

Of course, if they sign, then Phillips and Harrison should get full support. But it is not being negative or disrespectful to say we can get better value elsewhere for less wages.

As a few have already said, McNeil may be better suited to a No 10 role and Brereton Diaz is certainly pacy enough to fill the left-wing berth and he provides cover for the striker role.

I agree with Steve @97 – we should give Phillips a wide berth.

Lots of better options in the Championship I would rather we pursue.

I got slated on here even mentioning Brereton Diaz a couple of years ago.

As Mike #99 says, I'd defo like Szmodics, but I suspect he may be too expensive for us. He has pace and can shoot.

I really don't see Phillips being a good fit for us. With Gana and Garner in midfield, we need some height and strength to replace Onana.

Barkley is going to Villa on a 2-year deal, apparently.

As said, the other side of that coin is if you can work from home for the next 3 years and earn £22,500,000 then why get out of bed? Maybe we can hope for Kier and Rachel to go for 98% tax rate for people earning over £100,000.

And the one we mortals all miss - it is a team game with a system. Dyche and Thelwell want the players who match best what they want to do. We want wingers to go past players – which is why we earn £500 per week and they earn £50,000 a week.

I think we would be better off taking a gamble on players on their way up rather than players on their way down.

For those citing Peter Reid, this was over 40 years ago and it's not relevant.

There are multiple advantages to identifying emerging talent.

It's not rocket science. Young with room to improve, with a stand-out skill, with 100 league appearances under their belt prior to age 20.

I hope you'll both be very happy together. :-)

He must have been doing something right last season, but mentioning him here is like Marmite. I'd definitely take him and Phillips, if we got the chance, and play 3 in midfield.

Sell Onana and keep our prized asset Branthwaite, whose stats showed he was No 1 in successful tackles last season in the Premier League.

The worst thing about a critic is they won't accept criticism, even when it's justified. Are you buying Philips? Are you related to Philips? Are you getting a backhander to buy him just as Thelwell probably will?

My opinion on a player who is not good enough to improve our squad. We can't afford his wage, he offers nothing to a team. He's lazy, Pep twice criticised him for being overweight.

What in the name of reality are you disagreeing with me for? You... don't make sense. Thelwell and Dyche are not the only ones buying players, then who the fuck is?

We haven't got an owner or a board! I always find your comments funny, not funny ha ha, but funny peculiar.

Take no notice of goals. Jebbison has been very unlucky with injuries and illness for the last 2 seasons. He scored 7 in 20 games in League One when he was 18 years old. That's still a respectable goal return for someone so young.

He's 6ft-3in and mobile and can hold the ball up. It's still a risk, but a low risk on a free with low wages, so it's one I'd be happy to take, given our financial plight.

Sheffield United also offered him a new contract, so it's the lad's decision to get a new club.

I agree fully with most of your post on Phillips but just one small point at the end:

"We haven't got an owner or a board!"

The fact is we do have an owner.

And we do have a board.

Let's just hold off on pretending otherwise, please.

Tommy, the point isn't what decade it is. Clubs have always taken a gamble on players. You never know how it will work out. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If you look at it, you could argue that Branthwaite was a gamble, but what a gem he's turned out to be. John Stones.

Bringing Idrissa back was a gamble. One of our Players of the Season.

Tarkowski and McNeil. I hope that brings me up to date. I was just using previous examples.

Phillips is a loan, not a purchase. We would not pay Phillips wages, just a small portion (as did Lille when loaning Gomes from us).

This then enables us to still buy the likes of Brownhill (free) and hopefully genuine talent age 22 and under.

With the likelihood of PSR being replaced by a cap on wages to a percentage of income rumoured to be a maximum of 85%, it's frying pans and fires whether we pay loaned players full wages or not.

Harrison would also be a great signing. He is better as a winger than he looked for us last season. As, with McNeil he was asked to play very deep for the cause.

Conversely, only Sheffield Utd scored less than us. We are either going to have to change to a more attacking system with the same players (unlikely) or play the same way but with a few new additions who can create and score more goals to make up for a weaker defence.

We need to be scoring more from open play regardless.

This has a lot of parallels with Fabian Delph for me!

"For all his admirable qualities, Doucoure should not be more than a squad filler next season"

Would you happen to know how many games Everton has won in the past two seasons without Doucoure in the lineup?

You have your choice of answers:
- Zero
- Zip
- Zilch
- Nil
- Nada
- Sweet FA
- Not one damn game

In fact, since Doucoure joined us 4 years ago, we have won exactly twice without him on the pitch.

But by all means you go ahead and focus on his "lack of footballing skills" because clearly we don't need him.

[*eye roll*]

Comparing him to Delph is Ridiculous. He's still very young and I think a move to us would revive his career.

Harrison… Probably.

Mmmm… good age and engine. If Onana leaves yes, otherwise not convinced on his wages. Would he be another André Gomes?

But what about West Ham? Moyes will demand organisation and work rate. He can't get Phillips to work. It seems more than just form or play style. It could be the motivation and maybe mental issues which can be difficult to address.

I hope Harrison and Phillips are friends and know about the real story behind all this and Dyche based on that makes the right assessment.

Perhaps you could send your assumption of having an owner and a board to Moshiri as a quiz. Ask him to tick the boxes he agrees with:

We haven't got an owner or a board?

The fact is we do have an owner?

We do have a board?

I would also add: Do you think you are acting responsibility?

I bet he would hesitate.

Also, I posted on another thread about Yerson Mosquera, whose contract is owned by Wolves but he played for FC Cincinnati and now Villarreal (15 + appearances over a half season due to FC Cincinnati making the semifinals of the MLS Cup). Quick, strong, plays well with his feet, can pass, and scores. He led MLS in stats based upon recovery runs and right up there in tackles, interceptions and challenges won. Tagged as the next Mina but without the glass hamstrings.

He developed rapidly into an A- defender in only one season. I think his upside is international quality having already been called up into the senior Columbian squad. Dyche and Tarks would be perfect for him to continue his growth.

Rather him than Phillips for me. Fitness record excellent. Scottish International - Played 105 games in the past two seasons!

Defensive midfielder. Scouser, was on our books at one time. Played in Premier League with Sheff Utd previously – not last season!

With Onana and Gomes both going, he would be on a reasonable wage and give us that Scottish aggression in midfield. Age 30. Clement was hoping he'd sign a new contract – he hasn't.

Also released by Rangers: Borna Barisic, Croatian left-back. he could be paid a lot less than what Young will be earning. Age 31. Good cover for Mykolenko.

Although not young, these two could be just what we need for the next couple of seasons, just to keep us afloat, as we all know: "Beggars can't be choosers!"