ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

Fernandes

Does anyone think that if we do attempt to buy Fernandes that Benfica are going to take advantage of the 'Special Premier League Prices', and increase the price? At the end of the season, the rumours of the figure that range from £/€8-12 Million depending which currency was published. As crazy season is here with players reported values doubling (Richardson £2.5M to £5.5M) with the slight interest from other Premier League clubs. What is Fernandes going to be worth now?

If we are going to spend the big bucks on one player, I'd rather it be him than Riquelme. Obviously I think that the whole Riquelme rumour is just pure fantasy, but if there is a geniune interest from the club, I think it could be a huge gamble.

Fernandes would be a much better buy as he has proved that he can cut it in the Premier League and has brought a touch of class to the team. He adapted pretty much immediately to the league from the get go at the club, which is normally rare for a foreign player coming straight into the English game. Some might argue that he was already at Portsmouth, but he only played sporadically due to the reported clause in his contract.

The signing of Riquelme would be a risk as how many South American players really cut it in England? Look at Tevez, he didn't really start showing his real potential until the last 8-9 games of the season. Also look at Baptista, banging them in during the Copa America, but couldn't hardly make it into the first team for Aresnal.

But both of these deals look dead in the water due to the apparent lack of funds for players this summer. But if we were to splash the cash, Fernandes would be the better signing.

Just a side note, its interesting that no other clubs have been mentioned about interest in Fernandes. Benfica have quoted the reported figure(s) that he'd be available for. I'm surprised that all these money bags teams that aren't fazed about spending stupid amounts (West Ham & City) haven't put a bid in for him.
Kristian Boyce, WA USA Posted 17/07/2007 at 19:38:31

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Michael Kenrick

ps: Sorry, Kristian, for attributing a number of the earlier Comments you'd sent in from K Boyce as being from "Kyle Boyce".... you can see the problem.

Please, folks, use your full names and then there is no confusion who said what. And Bluenose, Toffeeboy, Blue Shaun etc ? can you also please switch to your full names too. That way, you avoid the risk of imitation, and it let's us identify and deal with any abuse more effectively. Thanks for your cooperation!

Dutch Schaffaer
1 Posted 17/07/2007 at 20:27:16

Maybe no other clubs have taken an interest in Fernandes because they all realise what David Moyes already knows, at the end of the day Fernandes simply isn’t worth £8-10 million.

Don’t get me wrong the lad is a good player, no doubting it. He scored a cracker against Man Utd and showed on many occaisions the kind of skill and flair which I would love to see at Goodison on a regular basis.

But its also fair to say that in the nine appearances he made for Everton not once did I feel he ran the game. Sure he was exciting on the ball at times but I never once saw him destroy the opposition almost singlehandly, which is what £8-10 million players should be able to do.

I remember the way Wayne Rooney use to destroy the opposition, they were terrified of him. Big Duncan on his day (which I admit wasn’t as often as it should have been) could also singlehandly win a game but I never saw that from Fernandes.

Fernandes has potential and could become that sort of player but at the moment he’s not and I think Moyes and the other managers know it. Thats why none of them are knocking Benfica’s door down.

If Moyes could get Fernandes for £5 million I’d say go for it but £8-10 million is such alot of money, especially to Everton.

Brian Waring
2 Posted 17/07/2007 at 20:53:38

I think you have to remember he is still only a young lad Dutch.When Man U got ronaldo,their fans were saying he wasn’t worth the money,wasn’t it £17m they paid?Look at Ronaldo now,I think at one time £50m was being touted round for him.I really do think if we paid £8 - £10m for him,it would be a good investment.

Jennifer Dawson
3 Posted 17/07/2007 at 21:10:18

I think we all need to let the fernandes transfer go. I?d love us to sign him and wouldn?t mind paying 12 mill for him so long as we brought in a few other loans/squad players. but were not gunna get him, if we were we?d have signed him by now.

John Callaway
4 Posted 17/07/2007 at 21:21:16

I think he is maybe worth the money, or maybe try n extend his loan and buy during the season or later on if he proves himself worth the price. He was a great player for us and also a goalscorer which is definately what we need!

Also, I think he is just ANOTHER plyer whom Moyes will let just slip away. We could have many players, just he doesnt make the move for them, or we wont pay wages.

How can we go forward in europe if we dont have a good enough squad with good players!

Dave Reiner
5 Posted 17/07/2007 at 21:12:44

When 8-10 million was first quoted I did a double-take too, but in the context of what other teams are doing(Chopra/Koumas/Richardson/Kamara) it suddenly doesn’t seem quite so unreasonable. At least we already know Fernandes has true Premiership quality (unlike those listed above)& meshes well with the other players we have. He is turning into a crowd favourite. I like how his flashy, dribbling style complements/stands out among most of our squad. Basically, he is a known commodity. No issues with integrating him into the squad, he already knows us. The man will almost certainly be successful for us. If he is not worth making a splash for, who is?
One thing to watch is the possible Tevez-like situation with his agent, admittedly I don’t know many details about that. Fernandes is good & getting better, I’d love to see him return permanently NOW. Another loan would be followed by more success & the inevitable, probably prohibitive increase in price. He adds another valuable element to our squad, 9 mill is justified in my opinion.

Shaun Cook
6 Posted 17/07/2007 at 21:43:31

I say buy him ! I mean Reo Craper went for 8.5m and fernandes is twice the player he is. 10 million in this climate is cheap-in a years time I would expect him to have doubled that at least. Signings like Vogel are all good and well but signings like Fernandes push us up a notch and signal our intentions. I don t understand why we took him on loan if there was no deal in place-yet another example of mismanagement ans short-sightedness !

Connor Rohrer
7 Posted 17/07/2007 at 21:10:36

Dutch your lack of knowledge of football is astonishing. 8-10 million is not even a lot of money in todays football. Name one player who can dominate games in the region of 8-10 million? Reo-coker, Xabi Alonso, Ashley Young, Scott Parker or Berbatov. All those players I named there can not dominate games.

There is not one player in this current everton squad who can dominate a game. How much would you buy Arteta for? He would cost more than ten million yet still does not consistently dominate games. The fact that he does not perform against the likes of Arsenal and Man utd proves my point. If you want someone to dominate a game you buy players like Zidane, Maradona, Gerrard, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Henry. That costs a lot more than 8-10 million.

In my opinion, Fernandes has shown us enough to know that we will regret the decision. He is a 21 year old boy who is going to keep getting better and better. He will be better than Arteta no problem. He has quick feet, skills, vision, pace, strength and a football brain. Arteta has all of those except pace and strength. I am not having a go at Arteta its just my opinion. Imagine then two on the same pitch for the next say 8 years.

Dave Turner
8 Posted 17/07/2007 at 22:11:07

"8-10 million is not even a lot of money in todays football."

It is when you haven’t got it..

And honestly, my gut feelings says, we haven’t.

Dutch Schaffaer
9 Posted 18/07/2007 at 08:04:52

Connor Rohrer, you say £8-10 million isn’t alot of money but its enough to break Everton’s all-time transfer record. Its also every penny and probably more of this seasons transfer budget.

Sounds like alot of money to me. Especially for a player although talented did have a habit of drifting in and out of games.

Duncan McDine
10 Posted 18/07/2007 at 10:38:05

He’s a big gamble at that price. The reason for me saying that, is he would need to significantly improve as a player to be a decent investment.

Against Utd he was awful, didn’t get involved, didn’t get stuck in, and then he scored THAT GOAL - a cracker no doubt.

Please don’t compare him to Ronaldo!!! Anyone with a remote knowledge of football knew that Ronaldo just needed to start passing the ball every now and then and he’d be a world beater... Fernandes is simply a luxury player - turning on the tricks (in your own half) when we’re a goal up!

Brian Waring
11 Posted 18/07/2007 at 12:17:20

Duncan,you might like to know that it was the media over in portugal who were comparing him to Ronaldo,and they must know,because they have seen more of him than you.

Duncan McDine
12 Posted 18/07/2007 at 12:34:37

The media have a thing for making comparisons between players who are essentially completely different in all aspects of the way they play. The only thing similar between the two is they’re both young and from Portugal! - that’s enough of a link for most journalists when its a quiet day with real news.

I’m not saying he won’t be a decent player in the future, but Moyes has done the right thing in not buying him (and he’s seen more of Manny’s footballing than anyone lately).

Brian Waring
13 Posted 18/07/2007 at 14:00:45

Sorry Brain Waring, but as someone who lives in Portugal and who understands and reads the language I have NEVER seen or heard any one in the Portuguese media compare Fernandes to Ronaldo. Their games are completely different.

Indeed, Manu has pretty much fallen off the radar in Portugal since his bust up with Benfica. Many Benfica fans actually loath him with a passion, others would like him back in the fold. He is certainly NOT regarded as "the future of Portuguese football" to quote some of the more outlandish claims I have read on this site.

The only recent reference to him was when he missed the deciding penalty in the Olympic game shoot out with Italy in the recent U-21 Euros. Nani is the closest current clone to Ronaldo in Portugal... and we all know where he has gone, don’t we?

Art Greeth
14 Posted 18/07/2007 at 14:10:14

Ooops! Sorry about the name in the previous post Brian... didn’t mean to steal your identity.

That should be MY name on that post. Obviously distracted whilst typing. Sorry again!!