Iwobi seals £22m Fulham move

And then blown it all in a oner if the Gnonto for £38.5 m story is true!!

I think so anyway (but can't be bothered checking I'm so happy) but admit to being glad the club have found some business savvy and just (if it goes ahead) gained us £22m rather than nowt at the end of the season and hopefully spend it wisely on a more effective player.

I don't believe Iwobi held this seasons league placing in his hands to be honest.

You could probably highlight a number of Pickford's saves that had he not made would have seen us relegated.

I will give great credit to Iwobi, for turning around a fan base, that had written him off. He must have skin made of Rhino hide, given the stick he once took. I wish him the best of luck but not when we play Fulham.

However, Dyche obviously doesn't fancy him as a central midfielder so it's in his interest to move on if he will be played in his favoured position.

And if we recoup £22m when he's in the last year of his contract then that's a cracking deal for us.

Maximum respect to him for the way he turned the crowd around and actually turned into a consistently good and creative player with one hell of an engine.

Having written that don't understand why Dyche hasn't put him back in the middle and tried to get him to sign a new deal.

Good luck with your new club Alex.

I can't remember the last time we played well and won. Brighton away in May - but when before that?

EFC Statto @EFC_Statto
Total initial fees Everton spent on Gylfi Sigurdsson, Yerry Mina, Yannick Bolasie, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Theo Walcott and Cenk Tosun - £156.7m

Total fees Everton received for those players - £0

Adding well over £100m in wages for those 6 as well. Only Gylfi gave us anything like a decent return before his demise ( never charged and case dropped, total disgrace the way he was treated tbh ) so that’s very little return on over a Quarter of A Billion quid!

That’s where bad recruitment gets you.

Hope we can miraculously train one of our midfielders to make progressive passes and create opportunities. Erm…

I don’t think he ‘gave’ us 4 years. He was grossly overpaid all those years. I appreciated his efforts and he did really well to turn his Everton career around but he’s another average player we wasted a fortune on.

I'll always remember the goal against Newcastle down to 10 men. That goal "saved" us as well.

Good luck Alex! I think you'll do better at Fulham, probably playing centrally and not stuck out wide as you constantly were with us.

Great piece of business. 22 million for him is superb.

Win-win for everyone involved.

They didn’t do that because he was stealing a wage.

I can remember it very well Alex because the Brighton game was only six league games ago.

With a year left on his contract Iwobi, could have took the piss, but thankfully he’s been respectful to both himself and also to Everton football club, and for this alone, I hope he fulfills his (marmite) potential at his new club.

Hopefully this is a sign of Everton turning into a much better professional outfit, but the fact that we haven’t signed anyone to replace him makes me think differently. We are definitely short in certain areas, and this is symbolic right throughout the football club.

Iwobi going - good financial business but we have just strengthened a potential rival to stay in the league. A mifdle two of Onana and Gana will get us relegated.

Admittedly, in some key games Iwobi made a contribution but overall, in my opinion, he was one of the worst Everton players I’ve ever seen and didn’t effect games in any way other than being a quasi ghost on the pitch

I know some revisionists seem to recall a different Iwobi, almost Messiesque who somehow saved us, twice, from relegation. Yet he was part and parcel of a squad of players who time and time again downed tools and meekly surrendered during games.

I wish him well but shall not weep over his departure. On the contrary, I’m glad he’s gone and shall look forward to seeing him replaced with someone who has guts and can at least do the basics.

My feelings entirely described in your excellent summary.

He could have run down his contract, many players would today. We get 23 million and he gets a fresh start.

I will remember him as a skillful, positive footballer and a class person with guts.

All the best Alex.

You can only play as well as the opposition let you I suppose. We need players that able to fight and apply their talents in every game and not go missing.

It was only 45 minutes and only against lower league opposition, but I hope the application, fight and determination to apply his talents that Beto showed on Wednesday night is there in every game. I also sincerely hope his example rubs off on the rest of the team. If they are, 'at it', for the now 101 minutes or whatever per game, I believe we shall be a very different animal indeed. UTFT.

Good Luck Alex with Fulham.

Maybe I'm being unkind and labouring on one traumatic derby and one performance, but Glenn Keeley also springs to mind.

Iwobi grew on me. You can see the talent, he's just erratic and makes mistakes. Tell me a footballer that doesn't. But he's always looking to make things happen.

I think he was about 23 years old when he joined us. We have a lot of players around that age right now. We have to give them time. Some wrote off McNeil early last season, only for him to become one of our most influential players towards to end. I'm looking forward to him and Beto linking up.

I'd rather he would have stayed, but given the contract situation I suppose it's good business. A good player and a seemingly decent individual.

Best moments in the past few seasons has to be that goal against Newcastle in the 120th (or whatever – it felt like it) minute. His pass to Calvert-Lewin to set up the first goal against Brighton. And in the same match, his pass to put through and enable McNeil dance around the Brighton defence and tap in the 4th practically on the goal line.

Best wishes from me. He will be welcomed back at Goodison and Bramley-Moore Dock.

Best of luck, lad, decent return when he only has just over a year left, and frees up wages too!

Couldn't of said it any better, absolutely spot on mate.

Who would you rather have in the number 10 position, Iwobi or Deli.

And I didn’t think we needed a new CB - I’m not sure it really matters who plays there - the full backs are going to cost us a lot of goals, regardless.

Down to 21 out field players which includes a number that can't play games - Alli, Gomes, finished, Chermiti looks way off. Older players like Coleman and Young, the unlucky dcl and the rag tag of players clearly not good enough - Mykolenko, Keane, Godfrey

It is clear we are absolutely potless. We've dumped a load of wages and are left with a squad incredibly short of quality and now quantity.

It really is down to there being 3 weaker teams in the league. If someone has a go, we are fucked on and off the pitch.

We have never, ever been so close to relegation and never been so reliant on our medical staff to keep our small squad fit.

Hope is all we've got really.

Iwobi for me was another classic Everton purchase. Huge transfer price for a player who you never really knew what his position was supposed to be.

He had a great engine and gave his all but I could never work out why we bought him. He’s not really a winger, number 10, box to box or defensive mid. Anyway, he tried his best for us and it’s not his fault we paid a massive fee and gave him a massive contract.

Wish him well but personally think it’s good business for us for a change. He wasn’t going to sign another contract in any case.

“The Alex that arrived at Goodison Park in 2019 isn’t the Alex saying goodbye today. I owe that to the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful game we’ve lived and loved together. Thank you for an unforgettable ride and I wish you the best of luck, Blues.”

Was he told not to sign until the last minute, he’d had his medical and agreed terms much earlier in the day.

We never even brought a player in on loan, that’s not Iwobi’s fault but we will struggle with this squad until January and God knows what will happen then with this club.

Something stinks again in the background and we are told nothing, I don’t blame Dyche or Thelwell for this state of affairs, we all know where the blame lies while the club stumbles towards oblivion.

£13M and £9M in add ons by the way so you can kiss goodbye to the £9M.

That said, his effort will be missed and he should leave with our thanks. Good luck Alex.

We have to spend a couple (I hope no more) of seasons merely surviving and making ends meet before there'll be any light at the end of the tunnel.

I think we just have to accept that and keep our fingers crossed the plan (for there does now seem to be one) works.

As always, thank him for his efforts and wish him well in future then stand back to see if "Everton has touched him".

He’s not a wide man and I don’t think he’s a top class no10, he hasn’t the vision or clever football brain. So selling him in the last year of his contract for up to £22m is good business, now we need to get Harrison on the pitch to chip in with the lost assists. Then Iwobi will be quickly forgotten.

Iwobi never hid during the relegation battles, but it was 22 million versus nought next year.

Iwobi had a slow start with us but worked his arse off over the last 2 years and was comfortably our most creative player. I bet the same people who slagged him off will now bemoan our inability to keep hold of the ball or pass it up the pitch; although I’m not sure that Dyche’s plan anyway.

Hope he gets to play centrally at Fulham and is better appreciated by their fans. He won’t ever score a bucket load of goals but people saying he can’t pass or doesn’t have a brain are talking out of their arse I’m afraid as some of his stats from last season show:

Alex Iwobi 2022-23 ranked at Everton.

Minutes played - 98.6%

Assists - 1st
xAG - 1st
Key Passes - 1st
Passes into Final 3rd - 1st
Passes into Penalty Box - 1st
Progressive Passes - 1st
Progressive Carries - 2nd
Attempted Dribbles - 1st
Tackles - 3rd
Ball Recoveries - 2nd

(Whether he has the green light to spend the replenished amount is an entirely different subject.)

Iwobi's motor is massive but he might be one of the very few who makes worse final ball decisions in the attacking third than a young Gerard Delofeu. So, I am not exactly shedding too much tears on his departure.

Nontheless, I still wish him the very best of luck heading back to the Capital. He might be quiet, but he is also gritty deep down, which helped turning his Goodison career around and helped saved us for the 2 relegation-fighting seasons.

I liked him and considered him valuable, but we got back almost what we overpaid for him, and that's good business in my book. Thelwell impresses me more with every transaction.

Also, here’s Dyche on Iwobi after yesterdays game:

“We were hoping to do more in the market but obviously we all know about the situation in the market, how we are trying to construct deals, we didn’t get what we want, and Alex Iwobi left us which is a shame because I think he is a top player.”

Good luck and best wishes Alex. Hopefully, their fans will recognise a footballer when they see one.

Three of the managers you mention were sacked, the other one not far off getting sacked.

You have your opinion, mine is that Iwobi was a waste of a shirt, a complete sham of a footballer, and I'm shocked and thrilled that we got paid that fee for him.

POTY

Like people have said I will be eternally grateful for him stepping up when it mattered the last 2 seasons when others didn't, we wouldn't have stayed up both occasions if it wasn't for his important performances and key goals (among a few others).

But at his age he still hasn't nailed down a position. Every manager apart from Frank has stuck him out on the wing, I prefer him central but is he good enough to take one of the spots regularly? The answer is no.

Lazy in the tackle, sloppy with the pass, his lifted slow lofted cross from the wing is one of the most frustrating things I've seen week in week out, and his shooting is abysmal lets be honest.

His energy, pace, adaptability will be missed. He was never injured, and I don't fault his attitude and will largely be remembered fondly, with that I'm glad as he seems a good kid, but we need to move on in terms of quality and cash in.