The Mail Bag
Transfer Trash Talk #3
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Ipswich's Connor Wickham is one player that we really should be looking at trying to sign this summer. Ok, he may well cost a lot of money (that we don't have), potentially about £15m, but we should be trying to break the bank for this lad.
He has not long turned 18 and potentially looks a very good player. He scored the winning goal for England against Spain in the European U-17 Championship Final in 2010 and was named Football League Young Player of the Year for 2011. He has scored numerous goals for Ipswich in the Championship and already represented England at U-21 level.
He looks a complete all-round striker after scoring goals by going on amazing dribbles as well as with his head and both feet. He has already attracted interest from the 'big' clubs but Everton should offer him first-team Premier League football straight away rather than a few League Cup appearances at someone like Arsenal or Tottenham and maybe sitting on the bench for a couple of seasons.
I believe Everton can offer these Football League youngsters like Wickham and Chamberlain a lot more than the bigger teams, even if we are just a career stepping stone for a couple of seasons because we can guarantee first-team football and their wages won't break our bank like established stars.
£15m may be a hell of a lot of money to a club like Everton but we desperately need a top class striker, and if he is a success, we could sell him on in a couple of years for about three times as much. The money could be raised by selling Bily and Heitinga, together with the James Vaughan money, should be enough.
Surely this is a better option than the free signings of Bothroyd (29) and Klose (33).
Matthew Lovekin, Posted 04/06/2011 at 08:08:05
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Do these 2 "great young players" sound familiar to this Connor kid?
In 2001, Sinama Pongolle, along with his cousin Anthony Le Tallec were signed from Le Havre AC by Liverpool, after some impressive performances in both the European Under-16 Championship and the Under-17 World Championship. He was named player of the tournament as France won the latter competition,
Would you value those two players at £15m?
Clubs with money can risk it on these wonderkids, no one likes to lose large sums of money, but your Manchesters, arsenals and liverpools of this world can absorb a monetary loss of this kind without disrupting their first team.
Everton would have to sell to buy, and basically throw him in the firsts team. If the kid couldn't hack it, or ended up as another Anichebe then we are fucked. These wonderkids do not sell well at all when they get found out. We buy him for £15mil (for example), he flops, then we would be lucky to get £1-2mil for him from a championship or Scottish side. This kind of loss could potentially cripple us.
Of course, buying any player for a decent sum can prove a risk, but the older already proven players provide less risk. E.g. Bilyaletdinov had proven himself in Russia, and was playing for the national team before we bought him for around £9-10mil. If we were to sell him now, its not unreasonable to suppose we could still get £6-7mil for him from a Russian side, or other foreign side who know what he is capable of. Yeah, its a loss, but it is much easier on the wallet.
In some ways I love the idea of risking it on a child prodigy. It would be great to have some kid come out of nowhere, bagging goals at will and setting the premier league on fire. If the kid wanted to stay, then yay for us, but if he wanted to leave, then chuck a Torres-esque pricetag on his head and enjoy the payday.
The reality is though, that most of these kids disappear like a mist, and we would be stuffed. In saying all this, I've watched this fella play, and my feeling is he will be tearing up the premier league soon, and I will be cursing Everton for not taking the gamble.
Arshavin, in our games vs Zenit, you could see he was class, was there for the taking, for 'on the ball' management.
Oh yeah, sorry, Everton Management / Marketing does not go together with 'on the ball'...
Doddy, DM is doing such a good job on "Our Jack" that he looks like he is going backwards; what little time he has been on the pitch he hasn't really impressed and has been put all over the place, Moyes' hard on for utility players seemingly stalling any development with him.
In a couple of papers this morning United are supposed to lost interest in Rodwell, if thats true, then where do we stump up any money, for such signings.
Besides, I have a feeling that the kid from Ipswich is destined for one of the richer clubs.
Would you take £25m for him. Maybe.
Either way, as said above we cannot afford to spend £15m on a kid who has never played at a top level. Any penny Moyes spends given the current climate will have to be well accounted for.
We tend to spend/waste money when it has been available and luckily a few of our very cheap acquisitions have proved value for money eg; Cahill, Distin and even Saha who is by a distance the best striker we have (when fit of course).
I reckon that Becks would come good if played with a partner up front. I notice by the way that Baines is being mentioned as a prospective sale to provide funds for DM... Man Utd have supposedly lost interest in Rodwell??? We have no cover at all for Baines as it is...
Yes, there is no doubt the boy is talented and is the type of striker we need, but we cannot expect an 18 year old to lead the line for us next season.
It's a lot of pressure on him, and I dont think Everton can afford to let that happen. We need more established strikers and do not have the luxury to spend £10 million or so on potential.
Klose and Demba Ba would be amazing signings. Both class and offer different qualities.
Everton bought him in January on the agreement he would finish out the remainder of the season on loan at his previous club, which he has been doing. I wouldn't write this lad off yet ... he's only just turned 19! Maybe in a few seasons he will play for us and do well, who knows, but for kno I'm not expecting to see much of him in Royal Blue.
I don't know how true it is ( Couldn't be arsed checking ) but someone mentioned on another thread that in the last 2 seasons Klose had scored about 10 goals in over 60 games.
Also, Bayern won't pay him the wages he is after, and thats why he can go.
Methinks he will be looking for one last big payday, and thats why we wouldn't get him.
If we're looking for young prospects to take a punt on then Dale Jennings of Tranmere is probably more within our price range. That's if Blue Bill can manage to scrape a million or so together. I won't hold my breath.
He turns 33 this coming Thursday and is a great striker for the national side, always has been but has slowed considerably for Bayern Munich.
Jesus wept. What part of " we are goosed" can't you understand ? We would be lucky ? to land a world class striker such as Bothroyd. Wickham ? Long ? FFS...wake up
He has the potential to be very good, at the moment he is doing ok, nothing more. Ridiculous soundbites such as "World Class" do not apply to this lad at all, Messi, Maradona, Cruyff, Beckenbaur, Ronaldo (Brazil) he most certainly is not.
Can we really afford to pay out over £10million for a player who MAY become better than he is already? No. Would he be the best striker at the club if he joined? No.
1.Nugent
and
2.Nugent.
Now, I realise that's technically just one word repeated, but I thought it was worth mentioning twice!
And why anyone is getting their hopes up about summer signings I do not know.
Klose will be looking for a big payday and I would be very very surprised to see him at Everton! Can't doubt his quality though. One of the best finishers around.
Demba Ba is the one I would really love to see sign for us though. I was gutted when we didn't beat West Ham to him. The guy is class. Pace, power and can finish and work ethic is very much up there which Moyes will love.
If you had a fit Saha and Ba up front together that would be some partnership!
Pros: He's free. Not too old (25 years). Plays in midfield either on the right or the left, something we're not exactly bursting with talent in terms of squad numbers. Current international for Sweden.
I wouldn't mind us trying to sign him up. Sure he's not Messi, but I think he could benefit Everton in terms of numbers, especially if Moyes chooses to cash in on Bilyaletdinov or Rodwell/Fellaini. Competition for his services comes from Blackburn, Stoke, Newcastle, and Sunderland. For those of us who think we could do better, I think we have to adjust our sights slightly lower. We're not in the position to bid for Sneijder or even Parker in my opinion...
He was constantly running, was trying to create play and drive the team forward and has no hesitation in talking to his team mates, both positively and negatively when required.
I know people will say he's the wrong side of thirty and hasn't had a settled run in a team in ages, but I think that his work ethic, his willingness to lead the team and drive it forward, is something that this Everton squad would benefit hugely from. Imagine what both he and Phil Neville on the pitch would provide.
I also think with a regular game, there are still a lot of goals in Keane. His link up play and his ability to play up front or from deep would be ideal in an Everton team that is sometimes bereft of creativity. Also, considering we may be blooding a number of younger players next season, his experience and leadership abilities both on the pitch and in the dressing room would be brilliant.
I know that Spurs may not want to sell a player to us, and his wage demands may be a stumbling block. I do think though that he is definitely worth a punt.
No doubt a quality yongster with potential, yet his hype seems to be a little over-the-top. If it wasn't for the red-tops I wouldn't now the lad existed.
Seen as we don't have any cash, then we should go for Larsson. Would fit ito our style, can play on the right side and offer competition for Mikel in the middle. No brainer for me.
I would take Klose. If the wages are good, he has the potential to have one or 2 good season. 15 goals from him and we could challenge for Europe. Him with Beckford would suit our play, complement each other and would score goals. Saha could make his monthly appearance and give Klose a rest.
Other than that we should be looking for good players who've lost their way a little, and could be available on loan with view to a transfer.
We are neither capable of covering the costs of fantastic players like Chamberlain, or being an attractive proposition.
Ramsay is the obvious example, by all accounts we offered more - but he went to Arsenal - and look were he is now - on the edge of being a superstar - if he'd have come here he'd still be sitting on the bench - or worse - playing as a winger.
Miroslav Klose? Hahahaha - why!?
Bothroyd for nowt is yer best bet.
Charlie Adam? No thanks - I really dislike that red shite loving nobhead despite him being quite a good player.
Who's the other one we're buying.....?....errr...oh yeah, Lionel Messi for £2.50 a a family pack of monster munch - watch this space.
Boothroyd: This one has been going around for a week or so now. In my opinion, not good enough but if his wage demands are low then its no transfer fee for a 1 capped English International who does seem to know where the net is and at 6'3 offers a target man alternative to Vic. So why not.
Klose: A world class striker in his time. But i believe that time is over. Still scoring at International level but a real dearth of goals for Bayern indicate he may not be worth the huge wages we would have to pay him. Probably going to Lazio.
Demba Ba; Would be my choice of the 3 strikers we are most linked to. Younger and with an impressive goal return in the last 3 or so seasons. Reports suggest that he might be a bit of a mercenary, if true he'll probably be playing for Sunderland or Newcastle next season.
Charlie Adam: A fresh link today that Adam might be up for grabs with Man U favouring Modric and Liverpool about to complete on the overpriced Henderson. Would be quite a coup and though seemingly unlikely, we might be aided by his agent being none other than Moyes' brother.
Danny Welbeck- On loan. Why not? Though would prefer Sturridge.
Other players I wouldn't mind us having a look at Seb Larsson (free), David Vaughan (free), Victor Obinna (?), Messi (?).
In terms of outgoing, yak and Yobo should be soon off to Turkey for not much deniro and Rodwell is out of favour apparently at Man U so unless City make a bid then Moyes will no longer have even a modest transfer chest unless he opts to sell player of the season, Bainesy to City or the Arse. Second season in a row that we sell our previous player of the season? Hopefully not.
Please let me know your trivial gossip and random titbits. I do have a feeling there will be a lot of cash splashed this Summer. Shame none of it will be ours.
Everton's interest is said to have been genuine but the Merseysiders were unwilling to meet the 32-year-old's £80,000-a-week wage demands. WHAT?? 80 BLEEDING THOUSAND A WEEK!!!! The man is 32 for christ sake!!! Let this one go Moyesy!!!
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1 Posted 05/06/2011 at 00:35:28
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