Davies signs new five-year contract

Idrissa is utterly awesome. And we need to resist approaches. Signing our own Tom up for five years is exciting.

Err, em, I thought we hated International football. Does that mean that it's okay if Ross Barkley orr Tom Davies get to play for England?

Yet, it's a total pissoff when lads from the other home countries participate for their respective Countries?

Confused!

I couldn't give a toss whether Barkley signs his contract, this is the one that needed nailing down.

Nick, support your team, don't slag em off...

Note though that, although Ross is getting some stick, Tom got the wrong side for their goal– went to ground and our back line was exposed... being better positioned, stronger in the jostling and not going to ground would have stopped the goal.

Still, he will learn from the experience... and only if it is a pattern will it be a problem .

Tbh your comment is the type of comment that builds pressure on our young players.

Yes Davies is a very good player, but already you put a 2-year marker on him becoming better than Barkley whilst writing Barkley off.

We will have Liam Walsh or someone else through next season and as soon as Davies has a tough spell I'm sure you will hang him out to dry too.

Can't we just congratulate Davies without comparing him to other players!

If he does surpass Ross, then great, but if you keep comparing him, there will always be a level he can't get to and then the tables turn and we pick faults.

Fingers crossed he goes on to fulfil his potential as he seems to have tremendous ability.

Important we. as fans, back him all the way and not get on his back if he struggles for a few games.

Some good news after the weekend.

Defensive mid seems to be a non-starter given Idrissa and Morgan but will he have the aptitude to assume the Reidy role, tough tackling, ever available, ball-retaining know-how before killer little passes to willing runners (Lookman surely being one of them, maybe Bolasie the other).

Or will he be expected to perform the Bally role of goal-scoring catalyst to the entire attack, the answer to our fabled "No 10" conundrum?

I just hope that at 18/19 he's not the finished product, good as he is, and that he further develops physically and mentally to become a marked man for every team we play, and still wipes the floor with them.

I'm not putting any weight of expectation on Tom, I'm just happy for him and wish him every success as he continues to develop his career with us.

Some comments above on his showing in the derby. He's far from the finished article and still needs senior pros to guide him, especially in games like that. Barry should've started to give him that support (but then Koeman would've got hammered).

And well done also for the courage shown in standing by the other youngsters. Let's hope their development matches that of Davies. The future is looking bright.

The contract is well deserved and I'm pleased for him but the cynic in me can't help but feel it's good news just for the sake of having good news. We weren't going to lose him where we?

Let them achieve something first then tell them how good they are, eg, Gerrard across the park or the so-called Fergie fledglings in the '90s.

We are doomed to continual failure with this policy of "look how great we've been with youngsters".

I have the feeling that the contract negotiations took more than 1 day, fella.

Get twatted at Anfield, here's a new contract we have drawn up on the fly, Tom, do you fancy it?

I also think Barkley will be sold in the summer and this will be better for both parties. Expectations on him every game are too great and not signing a contract means one outcome. I don't know how much his new contract is but £100,000 a week should be the limit.

Unbelievable talking of players salaries. Surgeons at the top of their pay scale receive around £105,000 a year.

I know of plenty of signings at Everton at the age of 23 who got hammered for some of the stuff Barkley does and doesn't do. I don't understand why Barkley should be immune to criticism, there seems to be an expectation that you don't lay into him because he is a blue.

There is a reason that he can't get into the worst England midfield of the last 2 decades and I suspect Ian Riley is right in that Barkley moves on this summer.

If Rooney comes back, I don't see a role for Barkley in the team for the next 2 years and I can't see the club bringing in Rooney to mentor a 23-year-old who should be coming into his best years now.

As for Davies the only factor that will stop Davies outstripping Barkley will be injury.

The points that Don Alexander raises about defining a role for himself are valid but I suspect his energy and reading of the game means he'll be able to play anywhere in midfield that he wants to. I haven't been this excited about an Everton player since Rooney but this time the club are far better placed to hang on to him.

Colin, ffs, chill out.

I've said for a long time, Barkley isn't good enough and I still stand by that. Barkley has an 8/10 game and with some fans, he's suddenly the best midfielder in the world.

Agree with Nick. If we'd signed him two years ago from Spartak Moscow and his name was Igor, he would be gwtting destroyed on these pages.

I hope we sell him, he annoys me frequently at Goodison wirh his poor decision making and losing the ball a lot.

"I don't understand why Barkley should be immune to criticism."

Nick, don't you come onto ToffeeWeb much anymore? Barkley has been battered on here by loads of posters so I don't know where you get the idea that he's been mollycoddled.

I think that the very fact that he IS a local and a Blue means that he'll get more stick than someone who has been brought in. Harvey, Reid, Temple, Osman, Hibbert and Barkley, in fact most local lads have all been verbally hammered on here or in the ground prior to ToffeeWeb's existence.

Personally I would love Barkley to sign a new contract. I think he is a very good player and teams don't like playing against him. His ability to turn away from a challenge is exceptional and he is a potential match winner every time he steps out on to the pitch. So he is yet to have a good derby performance, but he has had enough man-of-the-match displays this season alone to warrant a new contract.

Lukaku can go for the right money. Always had one foot out of the door, anyway – never really felt like an Everton player and we will probably get £80m + for him this summer.

Apart from the goal against Man City all I've witnessed is another relatively sideways midfielder; sure he has a bit of energy but I'm not convinced he's yet as good as everyone bangs on about like he's already made it.

The kids young and might improve but I'm not entirely sure what his main role is going to be in the middle.

As for Barkley? I'd be quite happy if we got a £30 million bid to move him on, if ever a guy fails to produce the goods it's him.

Plenty of skill but the brains of a peanut and will never be a good enough attacking midfielder for where this club should be aiming to be.

It's got nothing to do with being a local lad and a Blue. It's all to do with him being a very inconsistent footballer and his reluctance to release the ball when others are better placed.

And as others have pointed out, Barkley's decision-making is shocking and I doubt it's going to get any better. I've given him the benefit of the doubt on many occasions but I can't no more because he is so frustrating.

I'd sell him this summer and he can take Pele... er, I mean Lukaku with him as well. Infuriating pair of fuckers.

Well let's hope we get Sigurdsson, Eriksen, Sánchez or WBA's Phillips to replace him then..with those four being the only Premier League players with more assists.

This often quoted stat may be true but it's hardly surprising everything goes through him by default. It's an indication of the dearth of attacking talent in the team and shouldn't be used to hide the fact that Barkley has an utter absence of footballing brains that no coach can fix. I'd cash in tomorrow.