Santiago Castro is the young Argentine set to solve Everton's striker problem

When he did finally break it into the team, it would be in the 92nd minute of a game where we are 4-0 down, only to never be seen of again.

The manager has said January is not the best time to buy, so I think there is very little chance of landing a proven finisher.

Recently he has been trying to build up young Barry, and I feel we have to back the club on this, supporters have views but they must get behind the team we put out.

A solid young right back is still a main issue, and I would love that to be resolved if possible.

Get Branthwaite back into a consolidated defence and Garner linking up the mid and I see us creating more chances for our young strikers.

A Top 8 finish would be realistic and mark some progress, if Beto and Barry shape up, then Top 6 isn't out of the question.

YouTube (I know) shows he likes a shot from distance, and seems pretty tenacious.

The video I watched shows his strengths & weaknesses at the beginning. It read thus:

Strengths - no outstanding strengths
Weaknesses - ball control.

Sign him ASAP.

Does he know a prolific goalscorer who is available at a bargain price?

Do yourself a favour son and sign for a manager that trusts youth and will not banish you to the realms of 4th or 5th choice in your position.

Moyes is a dinosaur who wouldn't recognise youthful talent if it fell out of a tree and hit him on the head.

No, get in a late twenties early thirties, been there, done it striker, he dosn't have to play every game, but if he scores, who cares. This lad ain't the answer. NEXT!!!

Let's stop looking at the young next big thing. It doesn't work at Everton.

Besides Chris Woods is 66 years old, so I doubt Moyes would consider him. Then again, who knows?

With over a quarter of the Premier League season gone, current Blues strikers Beto and Thierno Barry have just one goal between them in the competition. Dusan Vlahovic from Juve, who's on a free transfer in the summer/...

Vlahovic is in the prime of his career at 25 and is looking for a huge salary. Juve can't even afford to re-sign him, which is why it's the likes of Bayern and Barca and the London clubs that are preparing bids. We're not going to outbid them.

I'd love to try for someone like Chiesa but I doubt we could afford him.

We need someone from somewhere who would be a first choice ahead of calamity Beto and raw Barry who might one day score a goal. This fella would get us to a rotation of three rather than two.

But don't worry, we were told by one of our American correspondents in January that Beto was the answer and now the same fella is telling us that Barry has everything needed to succeed.

Phew! No need, then, to splash money on this kid or anyone else in January.

When I first came on, there were a lot of really good interesting analysis pieces by the likes of Steve Fern in particular. Proper tactical breakdowns etc and insightful pieces. It seems to have run out of steam.

Lot of bickering now, like a shitty Everton version of X, with people trying to score points rather than say anything of any interest. It might be a strange one to finish me off, this thread, but 19 comments almost all negative about the prospect of a sensationally talented striker joining the club (from people I expect who've never heard of him or seen him play and would rather have someone like Michael Antonio).

It's probably bollocks of course but it seems to capture the whole mentality of the site now. Dumbed down in terms of fan participation and dumbed down in terms of presentation and content etc and pimped up with betting ads.

People I find genuinely interesting are still here but few and far between -- as is the camaraderie and humour etc. I might visit now and again to keep track but that's probably it from me now. All the best everyone.

Santiago Castro is a top drawer talent who will go to a top side probably and kick on to have a glorious career, I am sure. He might lack some height to suit our system but, if we could get him, no doubt many will have written him off before he even lands in the country.

I think it's time we looked at moving Beto on, he isn't as bad as people think but -- like we do for so many of our strikers -- we destroy their confidence... and his has left the building.

Still well regarded in Italy, I wonder if the Freidkins would consider moving him on to Roma and we somehow get Dovbyk in exchange? Only 2 goals this season for him but I could see him fitting in well in the Premier League and our set-up.

Personally, I rate Robert Tressell up there with the likes of Steve Ferns whose pieces I did enjoy. (I can't see an image of Marco Silva without thinking of Steve), and if Robert is stepping back from contributing, I will miss his knowledge and opinions (thank you for the Castro insights, Robert).

Like Steve Shave (21), I am an infrequent visitor here these days. I have noticed a fair few conspicuous by their absences and do wonder if Danny O'Neill is similarly deterred.

I will keep an eye on things and continue to enjoy the comments from most contributors but from a safe distance.

This site has reverted to what it was 15 years ago, having the same tedious, cyclical conversations, but without many of the interesting people who kept things balanced.

This season, we have signed a youngish striker in Barry for £27M and he is yet to score after 12 games. I appreciate he hasn't played in every game, but how many games does a manager give him to start scoring?

We also made our most expensive signing in the Summer, young Dibling, the initial fee starting at £35M and rising, yet he hardly plays.

Now I understand that last season we had an ageing squad but when you are buying young players they need to be ready to hit the ground running. So I would say to TFG, "Let Moyes know what is in the budget for the January window and let him select the player or players to improve the squad."

I think his signings so far have worked out well in Grealish, Dewsbury-Hall and extending Michael Keanes contract which most posters on here wouldn't have wanted.

Now maybe the young players over time might come good, but with a limited budget, can we afford to wait? And on the other hand, maybe none of these young players will make the grade...

Rohl might have been a shoo-in for Gana but he is now injured and with Ndiaye off to the Afcon in January it may create another problem. Moyes now needs to give Dibling more time and Alcaraz or Iroegbunam.

Branthwaite would be a welcome return... but when?

Hopefully strengthening will come along in January but some more solid performances with what we have would also be welcome, starting with the tough Barcodes on Saturday.

This one's for you:

Link

Hope it works and I just don't mean the link.

It didn't.

Robert, if you ever return to this thread... Google the band "Hothouse Flowers" and the song "Don't Go"...though I've probably given too much away already.

People I find genuinely interesting are still here but few and far between -- as is the camaraderie and humour etc.

That is why I am staying on.

People like Robert Tressell know more about prospects than I do and maybe this guy is good, but it's a fair point that he is 21 -- Moyes likely wouldn't play him. And it's unlikely he'd be good quickly anyway, we can see it often takes time for a player to acclimatise from a different league.

For evidence, take Dibling. Hot prospect, the new Gazza, same price as Estevao, but he is the lesser spotted Dibling right now. Will he play while Ndiaye is away? Hmmm. Why do I think we'll see Alcaraz or even McNeil on the right?

On the upside, in the last two games, I've seen signs that Barry could make it. Compared to the start of the season, when he looked totally hapless, there are signs of a real player. I suggest though if Beto wasn't so obviously useless, he probably wouldn't be getting a look in. Maybe Moyes has been forced into identifying our next decent striker...

I'll.get me coat.

Seriously though, you hjsve been the true heavyweight of this site. I hope you find enough good punchlines to make it worthwhile.

I'm trying to mix an amyl nitrate reference with a fish pun to honor one of your finer jokes but it is beyond me right now.

I'm supportive of the Santiago link btw. I've seen him play a few times this season and his box sense is impressive. I think Illi and Jack would find him and he would find the net. Smart, well-timed runs looked to be his trade.

Unending respect for you always, Robert

Twenty-one goals in 114 games (18.42%) is hardly mouth-watering. He's a bit better than Beto with us (16.66%) but way below Mick Ferguson (50%). It took him the best part of five months to score his first goal for Bologna. Feels a bit Barryish.

There are strikers in the Championship I would rather have, but I respect your opinion, Robert, so let's see what happens.

In terms of transfer fee, what would it require to sign Castro? The article says £31M but that seems on the high side.

All the strikers we have signed recently were tall, athletic but technically poor -- Chermiti, Beto and Barry. It would good to have a striker in the squad who has good movement, close control and the actual ability to finish.

What I would like to ask though, having read the article now 4 times, is "Are we actually looking at Castro?" Or is this another of those “Ooo... he's a striker and we need one so let's throw him in there for discussion” type speculative articles?

On Dibling, given that Grealish, Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye are our first choice and remembering the Wolves away game when Moyes broke them up, I can understand why he's having to wait his turn. Indeed, I would say, and hope, that Alcaraz will play more than Dibling this season. The lad is still young and just because he played loads for (relegated) Southampton doesn't mean he's ready for our immediate battle.

Don't go, RT -- this site is slowly getting better... I see we're now on 18 points at last even!!

A completely overrated DoF who put us in a fucking mess after he left.

As someone who makes me wanna go all Gana on you at times, I think you have described yourself above as one of the more insightful posters who always gives original and analytical posts, an asset to this site.

Moreover, I always like debating with you as you are a proper man, the type who will go to war to defend his position but will always shake hands at the end of play and conducts himself with great integrity.

Robert, I think the Danny Camaderie is still here (cracker Dale), you just need to look at the reaction to your post at 20.

I have no worries though Robert as come the next window and we get those modern full backs and pacey widemen you won't be able to help yourself.

A top Blue

Do yourself a favour, me and plenty of others would advise you to go to VAR and review the situation. You would be definitely missed on here, mate.

All the talk of leaving by some, the problem is where?
There's moaning gets everywhere, I will say though that often there are legitimate reasons to complain, but some are serial moaners.

People come and go for all sorts of reasons, it's a fact of life that nothing stays the same... just look in the mirror.

Are you saying Mick Ferguson scored a goal every other game for us?? Is that right?

It's strange that Robert should suddenly join the deserters on the basis of this thread. It's a rumour piece so it comes with the standard disclaimer, completely unsubstantiated and unprovable stories we have read, heard, or that have been passed on to us. Please bear in mind that we make no claims of their veracity and that most of them turn out to be completely untrue.

If I had my druthers, these are the articles that I would point to as being a waste of space. I hate them for the fact that they are 98% rubbish — or in modern football parlance, the xT factor: expected Truth = 0.02.

I admit I don't like writing these stupid articles but the fact cannot be disputed that such transfer rumours are what a lot of fans seem to crave. They probably want true rumours rather than false ones, and we were led to believe that, in the last transfer window, most of the rumoured links really were true — the players involved just weren't interested or couldn't be persuaded to come to Everton (or was it to play under Moyes...?)

So what exactly is Robert's beef with this? That fans are sceptical about the club's ability to attract such a player? Such a risk was proven beyond all doubt in the Summer as a real factor.

That the player's attributes and qualities may be overstated? Hello!?!?! We've been there far, far too often in the last few years... it doesn't bear thinking about.

That he's too young and not Premier League ready, so Moyes wouldn't play him? Hello again?!?!

But fans raising such perfectly reasonable and valid reasons to be sceptical are characterised as "19 comments almost all negative about the prospect of a sensationally talented striker joining the club".

In all likelihood, it's the last straw that breaks the camel's back as far as Robert is concerned. He does cite a plethora of issues he now has with the rest of the site, and as one of our most regular contributors, he will be missed.

But the site will carry on. News and opinion articles will continue to be posted, matches will continue to be covered in real time, with the Live Forum for thise who want it, and comments from all Evertonians will always be welcome, whether you are 'positive', 'negative'... or perhaps just somewhere in-between, calling it how you see it.

I remember watching Mick (didn't he play in that Coventry game?) and was trying to remember any of his goals. I didn't realise he only played 8 games, which kind of explains it.