Another Moyes Rabbit out of the hat?! In Moyes I Trust

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Leeds United manager Simon Grayson has suggested Jermaine Beckford has agreed a deal to join Everton at the end of the season

Beckford, whose current Leeds contract expires in the summer, recently withdrew a request to leave Elland Road before the close of the transfer window.

He had been a target for Newcastle United, with the Championship leaders reportedly having several bids for the striker turned down by Leeds.

However, reports now suggest that Beckford has already signed a pre-contract to move to Premier League side Everton when his Leeds deal runs out.

Grayson intimated that a deal is in place between Beckford and the Toffees, but believes the 26-year-old could yet move to a bigger club.

"Pre-contract agreements aren't binding, so both parties could pull out at any time," said Grayson in The Sun.

"If he bangs in another 20 goals, there might be bigger teams than Everton coming in for him."

http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,2483_5872429,00.html

Sylvain Eubanks Blake of Wolves comes to mind as a prolific striker at Championship level who couldn't cut the mustard in the Premier League.

I think back to players we bought upfront from the lower leagues in years gone by and I have nightmares: Bernie the Bolt Wright and Brett Angell to name but two... Ted McDougall comes to mind also who Man Utd signed. David Healey another.

I think strikers from the lower divisions find it difficult more so than other positions on the pitch. From what I have seen of him he looks really good so lets hope he can make the breakthrough, with Saha probably leaving unless we match his wage demands for a new contract we have to bring in some fresh blood.

I’ve no doubt some players can make the grade but others can’t. I remember Bobby Zamora’s first stint in the top flight, he was well out of his depth and looking shocking, at the time we had been linked to him and I thought bloody near miss well avoided, but he returned stronger and much better, not a world beater but much improved on his first attempt. In contrast look at Nugent, look at the chances he misses and think if we could afford our striker(s) to miss so many chances?

I think he will be a good sub against tired defenders.

I don’t think we’re signing him as a marquee number nine, there’ll still be at least one of Yakubu and Saha here and hopefully both, so assuming there’s very little outlay financially, its a punt worth taking.

Doesn’t make too much sense to me. Victor and (a fit) JV, plus Timmy in his preferred role would surely be ahead of him in the pecking order. That means he’d be 6th choice in a team that prefers 4-5-1.

If he’s a a proven goalscorer at a high level then yes, otherwise don’t see the point.

Makes perfect sense. He is on a free!
He is better than Vaughn or Victor by a long way.
He will be backup for Saha if he stays or Yakubu.
Good signing.

James, Vaughan's goals-per-game ratio compared to his time on the field is very good, whilst Victor has an admirable goalscoring record in Europe and has proved he can play on the right in an attacking formation, yet you say this League 1 striker, yet to play a Premier League game is better.

Doesn’t add up.

On a free, why not?

Though, I agree that at 26 years old he’s a little long in the tooth to not even having established himself at the Championship level.

His pedigree at Wealdstone FC gets my tip of the hat. Psycho Pearce, Vinnie Jones, Iain Dowie, Johnny Haynes, and of course absolute legend George Duck have all played for The Mighty Stones. They were my local non-league team as a young’un and still cherish their Treble win of 84-85, 1985 being a particularly good year for me footy-wise.

As an aside, and another Everton parallel, this is about when Wealdstone began years of homelessness and financial woe after their Lower Mead ground was sold off by their pariah owner, with the club getting practically nothing........to Tesco’s.

He is a free transfer yet still his wages won’t be huge because he is coming from League 1. He will immediately have a resale value regardless of how he performs.

Bearing in mind the Lucas Neill deal he could be sold within 6 months for say £2 million to a Championship team. He will be eager to prove himself and at 26 should be coming into his prime. He knows Moyes has a reputation for bringing lower league players through.

Jo will obviously be discarded in the summer (if not sooner) and this is a cheap, eager player who can find the net in League 1. He rose to the occasion at Old Trafford which is possibly the hardest away venue in the Premier League. It makes perfect sense to me. Obviously Seamus Coleman is younger but he came from a lower level than League 1 and look how he has done. Low risk — potential for great reward — suits me fine.

Liam what ratio would that be, about ten full games in 4 years? Not a JV fan sorry. Despite his injury problems I just don’t think he is very good. His goals have all been tap ins. Useful squad player perhaps but cannot be relied on. Hopefully we will have Saha fit and playing next season anyway so it will be a non issue. Show me where you can sign a good backup striker for less than £0 though? Beckford is a good option and is goal threat at whatever level. Ask Manchester Utd! I would rather have the option of bring him on than JV or VA.

Considering that this lad only made the move from non-league to league football in the past three years, he is doing considerably well, given the development he has missed.

Consider these stats:

Wealdstone: apps 82; gls 54

Scunthorpe: apps18; gls 8 and helped to secure a Championship.

Leeds: apps 105; gls 63.

Now fellow ToffeeWebbers he does have his detractors but, given the short amount of time he has had to prove himself, he HAS proven one thing in abundance and that is he scores goals prolifically.

A certain Ian Wright didn’t get his break in league football until he was 23, then at 27 he joined Arsenal and the rest is history. Even mercurial players like Waddle and Beardsley got their breaks later and went on to become full internationls.

Now I am not for one minute suggesting he will emulate any of these outstanding footballers but a prolific goalscorer on a free is definitely worth the punt.

He also has his detractors at Leeds who say he misses a lot more than he scores, point is players like this usually get in to these positions because of how good they are, not because of how good their team mates are and ultimately he’s scored 40 goals in a season and a half.

I’ve also heard that he is a ’Championship player with a Premier League ego’ well if that’s the case for me that can only be a good thing, because its usually the players who believe in themselves that get to the top.

So if we get him, I say welcome it with open arms because we haven’t got anything to lose by it.

COYB

Hardly a ’rabbit out of the hat’...

People have been asking the questions about him for years... would he be able to cope with the prem?

I’m not so sure... but then again, you never know till you try.

He’s been accused of getting lost in big games - but he certainly contradicted that suggestion against United...

Will.......that post almost brought a tear to my eye!

Everton are a team crying out for some pace and athleticism in the side, just look how donavan had already added that bit extra threat and outlet, Beckford seems to me to be a player that has a bit of pace and is a good finisher. Even should he turn out to be a flop signing him on a free is hardly what I call a gamble.

IF true — good bit of business from Mr Moyes.

James Stewart - most of JV’s goals have not been tap ins but him running at the keeper at pace and finishing. His "tap ins" have been in crowded boxes whereby he had to place it.

Plus you must value his "annoyance" factor which unsettles centre backs thus allowing others to get involved when meaningless causes are chased down.

He is a good player and has been unlucky with injury. That’s all. You throw him on and you get total commitment and an outlet. You cannot say that of some of the other strikers.

James Stewart, I totally disagree with you with regards Beckford being better than JV and Vic. An injury-free and fully fit JV would be great to have. Beckford is a Championship player at best, he needs 5 or 6 chances to score; he won't get those chances in the Prem each game!

Must have missed those goals Andrew. How can you "place" a tap may I ask? Yes he has an annoyance factor albeit in a headless chicken Marcus Bent kind of way.

Jack sadly when have we ever had an injury free and fully fit JV for any sustained period? Beckford is a more reliable option. Being from Leeds I have seen him play quite a bit and can understand Moyes going for him. You could also say players like Andy Cole, Owen etc needed 5 chances to score one. They were pretty successful in the Premier League. Could be the next Ian Wright you never know.

Worth a gamble for £0 as far as I am concerned.

James Stewart, I class a tap-in as the kind of goal Giggs scored last night against City. Or an open goal from six yards. JV hasn’t scored those kind of goals.

A tap in is when you basically need to hit the ball straight ahead of you without aim or power. You just need to make contact.

And JV is not like Marcus Bent. Vaughan is far more physical during corners and isn’t a "headless chicken" because (as seen against Arsenal the other week) he chases down the player in possession who might surrender the ball.

Marcus Bent was not a physical player he was someone who would run the ball down and use his pace. He wouldn’t chase and niggle the back four for it.

They are different players.

If he’s "free" then patently not much of a risk. But I’m not sure about him. I have some friends who follow Leeds and two things regularly arise. Firstly, although his goals ratio looks good, his game is somewhat unsophisticated and his ball control leaves much to be desired. Even his goal against ManU followed a miscontrol. But I suppose Michael Owen has been doing it for years, so we’ll see.

The second thing that is generally linked to him is that he’s not a particularly pleasant chap, if I may put it that way. For one who has scored so many goals, he’s not that well liked either by team mates or fans. Could just be fish/pond stuff, but Moyes would usually be up on such things.

Still, he’s free and you can never have enough goal scorers. And didn’t you just love his manager’s comments The idea that "bigger clubs" than a team that’s finihed 5th in the EPL last 2 seasons would usurp us and snap up a proven 3rd division goalscorer. Tyke Tosser.

Andrew your right JV isn’t like Bent I take it back.
Bent played far more games and scored far more goals.

Glad your brought that up Alan i saw the same quote from Grayson and thought ditto. Sour grapes.
I live in Leeds by the way and I’m not sure where this unpopular thing is coming from. Leeds fans love him! Well they did until he decided to leave!

I still think Beckford a Championship standard player at best! But it's worth taking a chance on him with him being a freebie, can always sell him on if it doesnt work out!

Has it really become that bad at our club that we are after freebies from a lower division for the summer? Kenwright, get your coat!

Beckford has something that we have been missing since AJ left — pace to run the channels and drag defenders all over the place.

Moyes will use Beckford in the same way he used AJ.

I also think that Saha will leave in the summer, meaning that out striers will be Yak, Vaughan, Vic and Beckford. That’s one out-and-out goalscorer, one complete centre-forward (in terms of style), one big fella and one speed-demon.

Moyes will start with either Yak or Vaughany ahead of a 5-man midfield and bring off the bench whatever he needs from the other two.

Moyes had better not sell Vaughan and buy Beckford, as suggested in tomorrow’s Mirror. I really rate the boy Vaughan and we should give him to the end of the season to see if he can stay injury free and if so to see if he can produce the goals I know he’s capable of. Vaughan is a striker of the highest quality and Beckford should not be brought in at Vaughan’s expense.

James, your comparison of Bent to Vaughan is ridiculous for the reasons already pointed out. Also you say Bent scored far more goals — maybe for other clubs but not for Everton, in fact he only scored 7 — the same amount as Vaughan has scored for us.

In fact, looking at it again, Vaughan may actually have scored 9. Two more than Bent.

They are similar; both rubbish & not good enough for EFC!

Saha is world class and only at Everton due to his age and injury problems. We don’t need another sicknote in JV. Anichebe is a much better threat from the bench. I see no reason to keep JV on only for him to manage at best 10 games if we are lucky.

Bullshit. Leeds are just saying Everton are in for him as they know anything Moyes’s interested in then a host of other clubs come knocking to jack up the price. Shitty, Spuds and Black Cats come to mind already.

Who really heard of Bily, Jonny and Felli before they joined us?

If it's true that we have him on a pre-contract, then we could be saying bye to the Yak. Let's say we get £10M/£12M for him and Beckford in for nowt, plus another striker... I hear Torres will be looking for European Football next season, and he loves Merseyside, I am sure Bill would Break the Bank to sign him!

Worth a punt. If he stinks the gaff out sell him to Galatasaray.

In a local rag, I read that Simon (Larry) Grayson, Leeds manager says that if Jermaine Beckford scores another 20 goals, then bigger clubs than Everton will be interested.????
I am sure Master Bates will make sure of that.

At the end of the day, this one should be a no-brainer! We get him for nothing, offer him a relatively low wage with heavy goal bonuses. He knows how to score in lower leauges but if he can't do it in the Prem then we can get rid. (Simples!)

Look what happened with Fabian Delph last year... believe it when I see it!

As an Everton fan living in Leeds I have seen plenty of Beckford and have the following observations on the matter.

On a free there’s no gamble and the wages won’t be steep either, so can’t really see a problem there.

Sorry James Stewart but I can’t agree with your assessment and I think your comparison of JV, VA and Beckford is pointless. Beckford has never played in the Prem so cannot be compared with the other two. Whether he is or isn’t better than JV or VA remains to be seen but your entire evaluation is based on your assumption that Beckford will do well in the Prem which you cannot be sure of.

On to my assessment of Beckford’s footballing ability. I have many Leeds Utd fans as friends and I know they would agree when I restate the point that has already been made above. Beckford does often go missing in the bigger games. He sulks and clearly has a big ego, but can on his day be the difference... IN LEAGUE 1! As yet we have no idea if he can make the step up. The Man Utd game alone does not prove he is a big game player.

My biggest concern with Beckford is his link-up play. On a good day it is average, usually it is woeful. he does have pace, but I don’t believe he is lightening like Johnson. His finishing looks good, but Chris Boyd bangs them in up in the Scottish Pub League, I don’t think he’d do it in the Prem. Less time, more pressure, better keepers etc.

To conclude, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal either way. We could take a punt on him without really losing much, but at 26 I don’t really see him as a prospect. I would worry about his character and the effect he would have on the dressing room in a team like ours which relies heavily on spirit and unity. If he comes then so be it, but I don’t think he’ll bring much to the party and I actually believe he’d be better staying at Leeds and playing for them in the Championship.

COYB!!

I’ve seen Beckford play a few times. Right now, he has gone as far as his talent will take him, not in his own mind, however. Believe me, he is shite. Beside him, Jô looks like Torres.