Thierno Barry becomes the first of many summer arrivals for Everton

Pure speculation from you, that.

And David Moyes has just said there's more additions to come in the next few weeks.

Lets be that dark horse team

COYB

The UK is not part of the Eurozone, so it does not use the Euro as its currency. The UK, true to its established tradition of holding steadfast to its Pound Sterling, has remained independent of the Eurozone and thus opted out of using the Suro as its currency.

So we paid £27M in Pounds, not Euros, okay? Unless of course the person or thing writing this article is, in fact, a European.

Anyway, let's hope Barry is the real deal and not another Chermiti or Beto. Hopefully after paying £27M, Moyes doesn't come out with the bullshit excuse, in, "he's young, and needs time to adapt". We ain't got time for signing players who aren't up to doing the job we bought them for.

Not one mention of Everton signing Barry.

How do you know we paid in pounds? The other club are in Europe.

Assuming we sent a wire transfer, you have the option of sending it as Pounds and the Spanish bank convert it to Euros or converting it to Euros first and then wiring it as Euros.

Often times, you get a better exchange rate if you convert it to a foreign currency at your bank before it is sent as opposed to sending it as Pounds and letting their bank convert it. Ergo, we probably did pay in Euros.

I firmly believe my calling on TW is to bitch, and moan and complain. If it gets people to do what I'm doing, which is moaning and bitching, then I've achieved my goal, instead of a lot of old housewives knitting away in agreement.😁

No worries. If Kenwright was still alive, we probably would have paid in pounds. A bag of used fivers dug up from his backyard -- half of them counterfeit.

It would have been horrible if this had dragged on, and we'd not been able to get in one of our top targets. Best in all top five leagues in the air (well, second).

I can't see us having either him or Beto on the bench, I think Beto will go, and we will get in another attacker who can play across all forward positions.

He's only 22, so I reckon there will be a fair few games when he's not very effective, but he seems to be improving at a rate of knots, and anyone who is tall, fast, and scores goals, will get on okay.

Assuming we are not just a temporary stepping stone for him, you have to wonder why he would choose Everton if he actually does have the ability to "terrorise Premier League defences" as the pundits like to say. Hopefully he will at least be able to trap the ball first time. That'll be a start.

Sky Sports, TalkSport… they're all one-eyed and obsessed with the Sly 6. The Sly 6 are the only teams to talk about in their one eyes(s).

I think one of them is actually an Evertonian. Imagine being surrounded by endless Sly 6 bile. Fuck them.

Welcome to Everton, Barry.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

I have no idea nor strong feelings one way or another about whether this is a good buy. It feels like it could go both ways, but he’s younger than Cenk or Niasse was when we brought them in, more polished than Chermiti, with a better touch than Beto, or so it seems. We absolutely have to keep Beto unless we’re sure we can bring in another striker and plan to keep Chermiti around. Otherwise we’re asking way too much of the young lad to be our starting number 9 and hit the ground running, even at that price.

I was surprised that striker was our first big buy, but we have no choice but to bring in 4-6 more, so it doesn’t really matter the order they come in, just that they come in at all. Only Armstrong is ready from the youngsters to compete, so let’s just hope we have the money and smarts to bring in the right people from here.

All signs so far are good.

Nobody starts a season with one striker, or even two.

And Barry has been signed because he has bags of pace, aggression and skill. And tons of potential.

He's not the finished article. Not yet ready to lead the line.

Lighten up.

There is a sequence in Villarreal's 3-1 win against Las Palmas last season that highlights Thierno Barry's promise.

The striker is facing his own goal, midway inside his own half, with a defender right on his back. The two grapple for possession, tumbling to the turf, but Barry is quickest to react, beating his opponent and another covering Las Palmas player to the stray ball.

From there, he races, socks rolled down, to the edge of the penalty area, sending another defender, Alex Suarez, to the turf with a shoulder barge, before calmly setting up Nicolas Pepe for the opener.

It is not always slick, but stopping Barry in these moments feels like an ordeal. His 6ft 5in (196cm) frame, ability in transition and eye for a pass, witnessed in that goal against Las Palmas, mark him out as a unique proposition.

Everton have been aware of the Lyon-born striker since the 2023-24 season, when he was a raw yet promising talent at Swiss side Basel. Now 22, he is still refining his game, but his displays in his sole season with Villarreal in La Liga saw his name move up scouting shortlists. By the second half of the campaign, he had emerged as a regular one to watch alongside Nick Woltemade, Stuttgart's 23-year-old striker.

The comparison between Barry and Germany international Woltemade is interesting in the sense that they are very different players. Both are tall strikers with an eye for goal, but Barry looks to stretch the opposition's defence while Woltemade is better in tight spaces, with the ball played to his feet. The question for Everton manager David Moyes and his staff to answer was whether they wanted another striker closer in fit to first-choice Beto or a point of difference.

Barry, who made eight caps for France Under-21s, is not afraid to get physical. Everton ended up plumping for Barry, largely due to his ability to dominate the box and stretch defences.

The club's internal data showed a player with an elite physical profile who should work well in Moyes' system, while having a high ceiling in terms of future development.

There is an acceptance on Merseyside that he will require time and patience as he acclimatises, but also a belief that he is ready to share minutes with Beto next season.

Talks took place over the past month and it has taken time to get to the point where Barry is now an Everton player. His Villarreal deal, signed when he joined from Basel for an initial €13.5m (£11.6m; $16m) last summer, contained a hefty release clause of €40m.

Everton started negotiations looking for a significant discount on that number but both parties are likely to see the final figure of €32m plus bonuses as a happy compromise.

There was confusion at times. Towards the end of last week, noises from Spain suggested a deal had been reached between the clubs. The insistence on Merseyside was that progress had been made, but certain details were still to be ironed out.

The fee does not appear to have changed much, if at all, in the intervening period, but the suggestion since has been that the clubs were haggling over the structure of the deal and when certain amounts were paid. Barry cut short his holiday in Miami, after representing France at this summer's European Under-21 Championship in Switzerland, to travel early this week for a medical on Tuesday and complete a move. In Florida, he had trained with soon-to-be team-mate Carlos Alcaraz and former Everton loanee Jack Harrison.

Everton will be pleased to have finally signed a top target and bolstered their forward line after the departure of Dominic Calvert-Lewin as a free agent. They were aware of interest in Barry from England and some Champions League clubs, but they did their groundwork with the player and his camp. Moyes' sales pitch, where he outlined his interest in working with the Frenchman, helped convince him Everton was the right club.

Now player and club will hope the switch pays dividends.

Don't bother listening to Sky Sports and TalkSport — they are shows hosted by bandwagon jumpers for bandwagon jumpers.

We could well be in the envied position of having two very physical strikers to choose from, plus Chermiti's potential.
Barry is just the sort of young player we should be looking at signing; thankfully, it's happened!

So who's next in will be on people's minds. Will it be a full-back, midfielder or right winger next through the door? I am sure moves are going on behind the scenes.

Personally, I hope it's McAtee from Man City, an incredibly talented young player with immense potential.

Either he or Barry will play, and I can see Moyes thinking that, if he swapped Beto for a Richarlison-type forward, he could get them both on the pitch at the same time.

I know some are saying 'he's raw' etc, but we haven't lashed out £30M just to put him on the bench, and when he does play, Beto will be unused.

I also suspect that Moyes, whilst he likes Beto, wants more from his all-round game. We'll see, it does of course depend on if there is a Richarlison-type player that Moyes likes.

Not watched any of the YouTube stuff, just want to see with my own eyes.

Hopefully a new hero.

If we did, we'd have to spend on another striker.

I'm just pleased we've got this one over the line.

We can’t do this ‘oh we’ve signed a player, x player has to leave’ stuff.

We need a squad not just 13 players.

Really could do with another CF plus Beto and Barry.

Beto will start v Leeds I'm sure.

May he light up the pitch, the stadium, the league, our hopes and dreams of winning a trophy whilst scoring and contributing plenty of goals and wins.

However, I'm not convinced Barry will start the season as first choice striker. I think the likelihood is Beto is in pole position. He and Chermiti will battle for the second spot.

Having done a little research on him his play is not too dissimilar to Beto. A younger version with maybe a better touch and understanding of the offside rule. Crucially he has a little more time on his side to improve and develop his game.

If he stays fit and plays well he can become our main striker before the season finishes but that will depend on how he adapts and who else we bring in to help create chances and improve our general play.

I still think Chermiti is technically better but injures have blunted his development and chances.

Could all 3 play together, maybe, but I doubt we would risk it, good luck to all!

Welcome, good luck and enjoy banging the goals in.

Nailed on they will say "former Everton Manager" with it not being in a positive light.

I spent a total of 7 hours in the car on a round trip to Liverpool on Sunday to go to a Christening stupidly subjecting myself to TalkSport.

Manchester City this, Arsenal that, Chelsea, Manchester United. Tottenham.

I kid you not, in those 7 hours, not one mention of Everton!!

Maybe I was on one of my calls of nature at the services when they may have mentioned us.

And why would we now off load Beto? He’s not the best but give him some credit? He improved with a run of games at end of season, he cannot trap a ball but he put himself about. No need to off load him,

If we can get a pacy right winger and attacking right-back who can cross balls, we are going to test many teams. What's TWebbers' thoughts on this Omari Hutchinson from Ipswich?

I've not seen enough of him to make a valid judgement, but he does look quick and tricky. I guess my question is, is he good enough or should we be looking at Weah like Mike G advocates?

Oh and don't offload Beto. If we need to, then send Chermiti out on loan to maybe Leicester to get some experience.

A class creative midfielder would be nice next.

Social media saying Moyes wants him.

It was not a suggestion to offload him without having another striker in as some posters have wrongly interpreted. That wouldn't make sense as we'd have too few options. But our attack has been our weakest link for a good few seasons now, so we need to strengthen that area with some depth more than our defense if we have to prioritize.

I personally don't rate Beto, but that's just my opinion. Some on here clearly love him. I just don't see him delivering the goals for us to progress and I'd rather Moyes used his wages for another player if we can get a replacement for him.

Two things about the fee:

- €30m is peanuts for a striker - and not expensive for a first team player (any position) in the Premier League. Sunderland have just paid €30m for a central midfield player (Diarra). In fact it's less than we paid for Lukaku over 10 years ago.

- whilst that sounds negative, I'm actually impressed that we have managed to negotiate the fee down. Because Man Utd paid €77.8m for Hojlund after a similar sort of season at Atalanta in Italy.

Beto - at €25m - was peanuts for a striker, so surely won't be leaving. We need both of them. And as others have said, Beto will probably be the starting Number 9 for the season opening at least.

You just have to give them a winning team, which is beautiful to watch and full of academy graduates.

Let's hope we can two of those three things this season - at least some of the time.

Your words took me back to 1984-85 when going to Goodison was nothing but an absolute pleasure. A simply unbelievable transformation from the last match the famous old stadium had encountered at the very end of 1983.

It will definitely be done again, I just hope I'm around to see it.

I’ve not seen him play so I’ll make no predictions.

Just looking forwards to the day when the clue ‘Thier_ _ _ _ _ ry, best French striker to play in England.’ has two possible answers.

We haven't just spent €50M – we've spent €30M.

And that is less than Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton have spent on their top strikers – and about the same as Wolves have paid for Strand-Larsen and Palace paid for Nketiah as a back-up striker.

Like I say, it's also less than we paid for Lukaku over 10 years ago – and probably less in real terms than what we paid for Johnson, Yakubu and certainly Beattie (the latter would be more like the €65m that Spurs paid for Solanke last summer).

So kudos to the recruitment team for pulling that off and hopefully it proves to be a bargain.

Can't keep up with the players we've been linked with, but I'd take Luiz.

I've no issue on the fee here. I just wish we had more dough for a right-winger, a midfielder or two, a right-back, left-back, a centre-back and a goalkeeper.

Omari Hutchinson would indeed be an excellent addition, I fear his fee has increased over the summer due to good performances. Fast, tricky and with high potential ceiling. I'd love to see that happen, or Dibling.

Loads of scope to improve, loads of ability, looks like will relish the physical challenges the PL will throw at him.

Every foreign player untried in this league is a gamble, people may say he was €12M last year year, but the time he's had in Spain has brought him on.

He's got a better touch than Beto, his got more pace than Calvert-Lewin, more physical than Chermiti, he's like 3 Maupays, has an eye for a pass, a bit of grit, likes to scrap for his spoils.

At 22 what's not to like when we have 1 first team striker on the books?

£30M these days ?? Doesn't normally get you a prospect at thus level.

Onana £40M!
Maupay £12M!
Godfrey £28M!
Allan £25M!
Gomes £25M!
Gabamin £25M!
Iwobi £31M!

No club gets every transfer spot on!

Welcome, Big Bad Barry!!!

I wonder if he goes straight into the #9? Feels a bit premature but with Beto, Barry, Chermiti we don't really have an obvious wearer of that shirt. Maybe it stays vacant.

He last played on 25 June and the first friendly is next week, so I doubt he will play in that. The closed season is now far too short for the players these days.

The closed season is now far too short for the players these days.

Is it really though? A lot of them have had 6 weeks off. That's plenty for most of them, I reckon.

Yes, these extra competitions eat into those 6 weeks... but that's relatively few. And if it does knacker the likes of Chelsea and Man City because they have had to play all summer... all the better for us, I reckon.

I don't ever remember pre-season being longer than it is now.

Here is a short account (narrated by Mr Wall, Chapman's assistant) of his negotiations with the directors of Bolton Wanderers, who were demanding £13,000 for their forward, David Jack, which was almost twice the British record fee at the time. Chapman was desperate to make the signing:-

“We arrived at the hotel half-an-hour early. Chapman immediately went into the lounge bar. He called the waiter, placed two pound notes in his hand and said: "George, this is Mr Wall, my assistant. He will drink whisky and dry ginger. I will drink gin and tonic. We shall be joined by guests. They will drink whatever they like. See that our guests are given double of everything, but Mr Wall's whisky and dry ginger will contain no whisky, and my gin and tonic will contain no gin”.

I believe they agreed a fee of around £10,800!

Brighton paid £35M for Pedro and sold him for £60M. They paid £4M for Caicedo and sold him for zillions to Chelsea.

It's not about money, it's about bringing these players on with good coaching.

As to being able to find low-cost talent out there, yes, I agree - and have written loads of articles to that effect over the years. However, that tends not to give you players ready for the first team straight away.

As to what money can buy you in the short term – the answer is Gallagher, McAtee, Doak, Wesley, Dibling and Kubo.

I remember the anger I felt when Trevor Steven was stolen up to Rangers. Nobody was pleased with that deal south of the border. I think it does show that he is very much a prospect, and that we may have paid a little over the odds.

We open the new season at Leeds who have already brought in 4 new faces. Whilst I have no idea as to the quality of the signings, they will, at least, get a full pre-season in.

I remember talking with Burnley fans at the time of the Trevor Steven transfer – they, rightly, thought he was a magnificent prospect and had been undersold.

Style could be part of it too. The attributes being talked up here are his height and aerial ability. Not things typically marveled at in Spain.

After all, as we recall a similarly tall aerially strong Everton striker once scored at Villarreal and it was disallowed — basically because they just don't like that kind of thing there?

Who have we lost out of the first team that played under Moyes? Doucoure – okay, replaced by Alcaraz. Harrison, who would have been on the bench if both Ndiaye and McNeil were fit. Young? Well, maybe as O'Brien will be used as a centre-back, not a right-back until Tarkowski is fit.

So generally, I think it is not that massive of a deal that players are brought in later than fans would like. Calvert-Lewin, Lindstrom, Broja (because he was injured most of the time), Mangala (injured) for example would not have been first choice anyway, or unavailable.

We bitched about having to sell Richie "cheap" for PSR reasons. There's not many Spurs fans who now feel they got him on the cheap.

Don't forget the reaction after the sale of Anthony Gordon by many Everton fans... pretty sure Newcastle fans are pretty happy with that deal.

Just some of them? 60% of them?

Peter, yes, a Rolls-Royce of a player. You don't wanna sell them cheap.

It's true, though, fans don't always make the right call. I'm just thinking of the last player who left here, who then went very good. I suppose it would be Anthony Gordon.

I just edited my post to that effect!

What's the chances ToffeeWeb will concur on "two great minds "

I was deffo wrong about Anthony Gordon. I asked the question - would you be happy paying out that much for Anthony Gordon if he was coming from Newcastle to Everton? - insinuating that we were pulling their pants down a wee bit, however ......

That said, I will never lose the sense of how obscene the amounts of money being spent are - much to the detriment of the game me thinks!

He may have started well for the barcodes but he has been going backwards for a while now — their supporters were not too happy with him for the second half of last season.

Totally Neil. I caught up with my Newcastle mate on Monday, the one I met up with in Newcastle in May before the match. We spoke about all kinds, but inevitably strayed to football.

He and others I was talking to don't rate him and don't like his attitude. Something some of us can relate to.

My mate predicted we'll finish 8th next season. I told him 6th!!

He's a good source for the feeling up there, and right now they have concerns their squad is too thin to take on Champions league and the Premier League.

Why the bile with Anthony Gordon?

You and your mate are going to be somewhat disappointed

It's possibly a cross section of the Newcastle supporters I met, not all of them. But the ones I was with were quite unnaminous in their opinion.

I do remember early accounts of his attitude from his U21s days coming through the ranks at Everton.

No bile from me. Personally, I think he is a decent player.

There's a post on the Barry thread by Paul H where he wants the player to be more arrogant.

But somehow... Anthony was too arrogant?

You can't do right for doing wrong... chuck.

Have you ruled out confirmation bias?

Players have to have arrogance about them. But it can stray into attitude. Francis Jeffers?

Anyway, when he was with us he was consistently unable to match the way more powerful players who largely come in from abroad. He was a wimp, through no fault of his own.

Very soon after joining Newcy he visibly put weight on, without losing pace, but in terms of improving with the ball at his feet or whatever, he's still not top drawer.

They've now signed Elanga, Harvey Barnes is still very effective indeed so I suggest "our" Anthony has more than a bit of a hill to climb before sustaining consistent appearances next season.

Isak apart, I bet he'd love a young vibrant 6'5" bloke to be leading his line next season!

That type of CF is manna from Heaven for even bog-standard crossers-of-the-ball aren't they Davie?

I remember, as a teen back then, reading an Echo article in the 80s warning that children in Liverpool faced becoming smaller than the national average due to diet and nutrition.

I seem to have escaped it. I think a lot is also down to genetics. Saying that, only my paternal Grandfather, one of my cousins and myself reached the lofty heights of 6ft. The rest of the family are in the 5ft 6 - 5ft 9 bracket.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to hopefully watching Thierno play on Tuesday night and then again next Saturday.

As for Gordon, it would depend what he wants. To move, not necessarily to Everton, or remain as part of a squad playing in the Champions League. Also on what Newcastle want to do with him.

After two seasons with Rangers Trevor went to Marseille for over £5M making some of us think that something wasn’t quite right with the way Everton was being run.

Moyes had nothing to do with this Ryan!