Idrissa Gana Gueye extends his future with Everton

Great news. 2 vital signings.

Please can we have some good news on definite new players incoming because at present I am not sure we could survive a season with the amount of injuries we get...

“We are delighted Idrissa has re-signed. His experience and his knowledge of the Club is going to be so important going forward with the introduction of lots of new players and the new stadium. Idrissa will play a big part in integrating everybody”

Interesting comment from Moyes on the official site: ”introduction of lots of new players”.

Are we now going to see some fresh additions??

Any advance on 'more than 2'?

Anyone bought at online auction on transfer deadline day.

Like Carsley, Gana is an unselfish and unspectacular player who wins the ball and gives it to those who can do the more flash stuff.

Very occasionally, there's a lapse in concentration and he'll be caught in possession; but, for the most part, he's relieving the opposition of the ball and his engine is superb.

I'm delighted he's signed on again.

I don't need to say anymore, I said it enough last season.

Now we can start adding the new faces, hopefully more strength in midfield to sit alongside Idrissa, a right winger and a full-back who can cover both sides. Exciting times ahead.

With Branthwaite, Gana and Keane all staying, may the exciting new additions be arriving soon, to bed in early in pre-season, ready to hit the Hill Dicko Stadium ground running in August.

So for me, 'lots coming in' is 6.

At the same time, we need to either sell or loan Patterson; if Lampard, Dyche and now Moyes don't seem to rate him, he needs to either prove himself somewhere or we cut our losses.

The problem with our midfield over recent seasons is that we don't have enough creative players who can do much with the scarce possession we have. I think last season we had one of the lowest possession stats of all the teams. If we don't fix that problem, then we'll just be repeating last season's lower table results.

So, while everyone is lauding the re-signing of an ageing Gana and saying how valuable he is to the team, we're overlooking the real need which is to bring in a couple of creative younger midfielders who really can "run the show in the heart of our midfield".

Yes, that's his strength. Although he makes the odd mistake (name me a player that doesn't), he can actually play a bit, that he doesn't always get credit for.

I don't dispute we need a bit more creativity in there. James Garner, who also attracts criticism from some quarters, is good at spotting a forward pass.

The way we were playing, it was their jobs to get the ball forward to the 3 behind the striker and let them do their thing. Feed it to the full-backs if they were overlapping. Mykolenko got better at that towards the end of last season.

I'm just pleased he's staying. He's an important player for us and an example to younger players, that if you look after yourself, age, within reason, has few barriers.

Still, with funds likely to be limited and a lot of personnel change apparently coming (from the mouth of Moyes himself today), keeping Gana was crucial. He was our most important outfield player last season, and disruptors will still be vital.

I too like what Alcaraz offers, Liam, but he strikes me as a bit of an opportunist type player, who may go missing a bit, whereas we need an ever-present distributor in the mould of a Peter Reid within a midfield playing in the opposition half – not our own.

Lots of players coming in, Davey?

Now this will be interesting...