Crunch time for key contacts

Keane is a liability in defence; move on.

Look at the likes of Milner and Barry, not to mention Modric, Ronaldo, Totti, Ibra etc… if you look after yourself, as he obviously does, then give him his bloody 2-year contract.

I'm normally dubious of giving older players 2-year contracts, but I think Gueye will certainly be worth it.

I won't repeat my continuous view on Keane since he arrived. I think Michael sums it up well for a lot of people.

At least we'll know today.

As for Keane. If he hasn't heard anyone by now, when he's out of contract today, it doesn't sound good.

It is well known our right flank is a priority, but depending on Gana, midfield becomes a close second. And for me, a Goalkeeper.

I hope these decisions are made as soon as possible this afternoon. The official website and the usual reliable sources on X are eerily quiet.

Then we can start business tomorrow.

Looks like Keane will be going and, as with Calvert-Lewin, it will leave a problem area that still needs to be filled. I have no criticism of anything that they have done btw.

Give Gueye the deal!

I hope Keane gets a contract with a Championship team, a good pro who scored some vital goals for us, especially the great finish against Palace.

I think Keane will want more regular football and move on. One of the promoted clubs may be a good fit for him.

Kieran, I am old enough to have seen Stanley Matthews play for Blackpool at Goodison Park,

I assume our medical and fitness dept are sufficiently high tech to be able to determine whether he would be good for 2 seasons, rather than 1. If he is, it's a no-brainer and means we can defer spending on his position for a while, and get the weak spaces filled.

True he is on good money but so he should be, it's still less than Doucoure got (no, I've no idea either) and not that much more than Calvert-Lewin and Keane who as I say, are nowhere near his class.

Nothing to do with Gana's situation though and I wonder if keeping the wage bill down is taking priority over everybody else, the exception possibly being Branthwaite.

I hope we see some players putting pen to paper very soon as the new season and a trip to America are just a few weeks away.

And I think it will be hard finding a quality player who is willing to be our third centre-back for the opening months of the season and then drop to 4th when Tarkowski comes back.

They're about. Callim Doyle Man City, Simpson Pusey, etc

Or look at ones that could play left-back also as cover.

We already have a lot of players to replace and in terms of 3rd/4th choice Moyes may prefer some continuity and the chance to save money. Not my preference but can see the sense in it.

As one of Keane's biggest critics due to his lapses of concentration at key moments I think we can do better but at least he is someone who knows the club, the Premier League and the other players and he saves us a fee so we can concentrate on other areas of the pitch.

Plus we are seeing how difficult it is with half the Premier League clubs and no-mark clubs who are in Europe all competing for players.

Doyle is a good example. Played 40 games for Norwich last season. Would he come to Everton to play maybe 10? No way. Might have gone to Hoffenheim to be a starter there, although City rejected a £6.5M bid.

Likewise Simpson-Pusey. Hot prospect at a top club. These kids don't want to come and sit and maybe hope they'll be loaned out. They will move for real opportunities.

If Moyes doesn't take the easy path with Keane, I think he will prefer a veteran looking to re-ignite his career, like Tarkowski was, or Coady. Or he'll go for a younger player whose development has stalled, like the rumored Diomandé.

Sam #17, that's my view. When you need to fill 6-8 open roster spots in a very short period of time, that's a hell of a load. Taking the easy way for one of them allows more attention on the others. And after Tarkowski returns (October? November?), he'll likely never see the field anyway.

A young Francis Jeffers once left Everton to sign behind Henry, Bergkamp, Kanu, Wiltord, Ljungberg, Pires, Pennant, Parlour, etc. He was first -hoice at Everton.

If it means going from £4k to £40k on a 5-year deal, and from 7th choice to 3rd choice, then yes, I think they'd come.

Crikey, players have left Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in the past for Bolton and Boro. You put enough dough on the table and they'll come. Just need a bit of vision not to make do with a serial bedwetter.

Richarlison went as a back up to Kane & Son as a Brazil #9. Did he think he was going to be sub all the time? No, I don't he would of. He took the money, and believed he would make it.

Look at Chelsea. They've signed all manner of players with game time limited. Did Dewesbury Hall put his game time over the contract on offer? Don't think he did.

But I still think the most likely outcome is that Keane re-ups for a year and Moyes moves on to more urgent issues.

If you are referring to Matthews's last match at Goodison for Blackpool, I too was there and we beat them 4-0 if memory serves me correctly. I remember to this day being shocked we beat a team with Matthews by such a scoreline!

Gana should be given 2 years – no-brainer for me by the way!

I think Everton beat Blackpool 4-0 when Harry Catterick was starting to get a very good Everton squad together and Blackpool and Mathews had seen better days.

Stan would still play a few more seasons with Stoke City, including the Saturday when there was two minutes silence for the death of J F Kennedy who had been assassinated the day before; I think we beat Stoke 2-0 that day.

I had seen a poor Everton team beat Blackpool 5-0 in 1949 when Eddie Wainwright scored four and Jimmy McIntosh scored the other goal after signing for Everton from Blackpool the day before.

Mathews didn't play that day — it had snowed heavily and an auld fella told me "You won't see Mathews today – he won't play in this."

If I'm not mistaken, Everton battered Blackpool with Mathews in the side not long after this — we won 3-0 on a lovely sunny Good Friday or Easter Monday before a packed out Goodison Park with about 76,000 in the ground.

By the way, Sir Stanley finished in top-flight football when he was 50.

But, even so, we know we're going to bring in players. Why the annual angst every transfer window? It's like déjà vu all over again…

The PSR deadline is really only a factor for clubs that need to sell players to comply.

Buying players... it isn't as much of an issue.

Nothing will happen tomorrow but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Although it looks like there has been no interest in Keane since May!