ToffeeWeb

I think Ben White if we signed him would go straight into the team, either at fullback or centre back. What killed us last season was the Tarks Keane O’Brien combo, that cannot be allowed to happen again.
Moyes is right, the defence alone needs an additional three. Or players who can play in multiple positions to a high standard. I’m relatively relaxed about the rest of the squad. I’d really like to get Ndiaye out of the door if we can, his head has been turned, and I want George and Dibling to get significant game time, and that won’t happen if he sticks around. Also, we need the money to reinvest.
It would also be good to swap out Beto for a different kind of striker, I expect that will probably happen.
The key is the defence. On the assumption Branthwaite does have time out of the team, the whole back four suddenly looks very vulnerable.

I don’t see Arsenal selling White anytime soon anyway if Timber is still out injured.

John 41

I agree that it is essential to frame our ambitions with the reality of SCR and of course the trading we do during the window continuously changes the picture. The player costs look about right to me, but I think the revenue figure is somewhat pessimistic because I assume this is forward looking for 2026/7.

The number I’ve seen talked about reflecting a full year of contribution for the new stadium is nearer £250m for the coming year. I hope it’s nearer that otherwise our new stadium is not covering investment. If that higher number was planned for, we would be 80% based on your player cost guesstimate.

My hunch is that our transfer completion of last year’s two loan signings, plus Hackney has taken all the net spend available and right now we have to sell to buy (that’s Tim’s deal) or rely on more loans.

My other hunch is that they are also tying to contingency plan around the possible need/desire to sell Ndiaye because the proceeds from such a sale would provide a decent amount of funding to cover the positions we know we are short on.

All of which might explain why dealings have now ground to a halt, and we are in reactive, not proactive mode. Sad to say, we’re simply not as rich as we wish we were, and that is partly down to disastrous historic transfer activity.

I think you also have to look, in some cases, how hard it is to attract players to Merseyside for Everton, they are not offering huge wages as the Reds can.
I was in Bowden South of Manchester a couple of weeks back and as I went round this corner came face to face with Roy Keane, he actually let on. I travelled into Manchester from Altrincham on the Metro and sitting opposite was Tony Hibbert, I had a chat, said he was meeting up with some mates in Manchester, he also said, most of the Everton players live in and around the South Manchester area, not interested in living around Liverpool. When I was in Manchester, I was taken to a bar and the first guy I saw, was Dibling with a group of lads/girls. It is hard to attract players from abroad when their wives/partners only want to live in London. The moral being, they will come for big pay cheques, sadly not at Everton.

@12 – Dale

All he ever tells people is how long it takes to build success. He tries to apply that rule universally rather than more accurately pointing out how long it takes HIM to build success – a perpetual building process that he never manages to complete.

Didn’t take Unai Emery or Eddie Howe that long. Or Klopp. Carrick took a team that finished 15th and qualified them for the champions league.

Perhaps if he was more clear about exactly what needs to be built then supporters may understand. Otherwise they feels he’s just making excuses for his own shortcomings