ToffeeWeb - Season 2008-09

Ray Robinson
1 Posted 07/01/2009 at 20:02:09

That rumour sounds caracas, Is Maldonaldo the Spanish version of MacDonalds? Never heard of him!

Anthony Millington
2 Posted 07/01/2009 at 20:09:46

Moyes and Kenwright have been working 24/7 by playing Footy Manager and he?s meant to be really good. Moyes also said he?s thinking of leaving Everton and might just stick to Ffootball Manager because he has money to spend on there! haha!

Brian Waring
3 Posted 07/01/2009 at 20:11:47

Word is, he is absolutely fucking mustard, and we have beaten the redshite, Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal, R Madrid, Barcelona and AC Milan for his signature. He is supposed to be as good as Castillo.

Nick Entwistle
4 Posted 07/01/2009 at 20:21:43

Nice one Brian, gave me a chuckle.
Any think this does come from the FM data base?

Ed Bottomley
5 Posted 07/01/2009 at 20:39:26

Some of his goals look good ? then again I was watching YouTube and the footage was grainy ? could be interesting...

Mike Gaynes
6 Posted 07/01/2009 at 20:19:08

Maldonado is a very fast and extremely productive goalscorer in the Mexican league, which is pretty good competition. He has scored 32 in 41 for league champions Atlante, and has 16 in 41 for Venezuela, which is a fine strike rate considering Venezuela sucks and he?s going up against Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

So what?s the bad news? He?s smaller than Ossie and has never played in Europe.

And hey, Brian, Castillo is plenty good when he?s healthy.

Keith Glazzard
7 Posted 07/01/2009 at 21:08:19

Ray, chances are that if you?ve heard of him he won?t be coming. I quite like the idea of Moyes bringing in someone we?ve never heard of ? if it confuses us, just think about what its doing to the opposition.

Maldonado? Roughly translated as badly given, like a Trojan Horse. A gift horse? Who knows. At least his first name translates as John Charles who, as your grandad will tell you, was a very fine player.

Roy Rennison
8 Posted 07/01/2009 at 21:34:16

On last year's form he was always the first player I signed... if he's as good in real life, I'll be happy.

Andy Rowlands
9 Posted 07/01/2009 at 21:42:51

On some of the YouTube clips he puts a Spiderman-like mask on when he scores... if he comes, that's got to go.

Think Tevez's dummy sucking means Sava?s mask.

Steve Burns
10 Posted 07/01/2009 at 22:07:06

.....So what if people hadn?t heard of him? ? How many people had heard of Pienaar or Arteta, Jag, Lescott, Yobo, Cahill, Carsley even Fellaini before that game against the shite? Look at the ones we had heard of: Beatie, Neville, AJ, Yak, Saha.... yet look who?s doing the business at the moment.

ps: Nothing against Pip he?s doing good now but it?s took a while.

Robert Jones
11 Posted 07/01/2009 at 22:55:26

Anthony - Ha ha we don’t even have money on FM! £1.2 million last I checked :¬)

Neil Eccles
12 Posted 07/01/2009 at 23:06:11

Was watching Sky Sports News today and they were doing a round up of transfer news from their various reporters around the country. The North West reporter, his name escapes me, said he understood we were ready to go back in for Alan Smith, on loan, as it was well documented we had no money to spend... Added that he is nearing full fitness!!

John Pickles
13 Posted 08/01/2009 at 00:00:13

At 5? 8" he?s certainly small enough to be a possible signing. I just wonder how good he is at sprinting to the corner flags.

Jason Lam
14 Posted 08/01/2009 at 02:22:42

If the spiderman mask was blue?

David Moore
15 Posted 08/01/2009 at 10:46:18

Sky Sports are quoting Atlante president Jose Antonio Garcia saying: "We want him to stay. He has a year and a half of his contract remaining but he is asking to leave. They want to take him on loan with an option to buy at the end of the deal. He told us he wants to play in England as these opportunities are very rare."
They also say we are interested in Jozy Altidore from Villerreal although they have already rejected our "bid".

Glen Anderson
16 Posted 08/01/2009 at 12:20:36

Gents, I speak fluent Spanish so I embarked on some research in the Mexican press on this fella, Maldonado.

At this page, very loosely translated, here is a summary of what I found: http://www.univision.com/content/content.jhtml;jsessionid=3HEJ0RU2ZYWBQCWIAA4SFFIKZAADYIWC?cid=689433

"The newspaper claims that Atlante have received an offer of $500k from Everton for Maldonado for a loan period of 6 months and with a view to buy. The press believe the offer to be a very tempting proposition in comparison with general Mexican transfer market values. The paper supports the claim that Atlante may be tempted by the offer since they can get Maldonado back after only 6 months and in time for the start of the Mexican season. They go on to say the only problem is the lack of established forwards in Atlante?s team, citing there is only one other striker in the squad: "Rafael Márquez Lugo". Finally, the paper says that Atlante has a recent history of selling its best players due to financial problems and that Maldonado and their keeper may be the next two to go."

So, looks like they have to find a replacement before they can release him. I will keep my eyes on the Mexican press and will write again if I see any interesting developments.

Nick Entwistle
17 Posted 08/01/2009 at 13:22:19

He?s got a good name ? perfect for comentators to shout out when he scores a last minute goal in the cup.

Andrew Laird
18 Posted 08/01/2009 at 13:23:01

Word has it that Andy Van der Meyde has run out of tequila, he will part fund the loan for 6 months and will then buy him permanently if he can guarantee to bring the good stuff.

In answer to your question James he is a Johnson clone who is quite nippy, small, not as industrious, a better touch but finds the net more often.

Aide Dews
19 Posted 08/01/2009 at 13:49:59

On another site I looked at it said we were keen on taking Jozy Altidore on loan from Villarreal, and if that didn?t come off then we?d switch our attentions to this Maldonado fella?!!

If I'm honest I?d rather us go for one of these lads than Alan Smith, I just don't rate him one bit. I?d much rather carry on with Cahill upfront than bring Smith in, to me he?s similar to Anichebe, puts himself about a bit when he fancies it and doesn?t score enough goals!!

I?d definitely give one of the other two a chance, ya never know we might get an Amr Zaki situation on are hands, a total unknown who will do the buisness??!!

Michael Jennings
20 Posted 08/01/2009 at 07:38:44

Skysports.com has us signing the young American from Villarreal, Jozy Altidore... He looks average on the youtube clips ? anyone know anything different?

It really is the silly season. No doubt we'll get no one 'til Alan Smith the week before the deadline.

James Marshall
21 Posted 08/01/2009 at 15:15:49

Just use Wikipedia for anything you want to know James - this bloke has scored shitloads of goals but that counts for bugger all as you know in the PL.

Wikipedia is a very reliable source of information.........honest guv.

Jimmy Daly
22 Posted 08/01/2009 at 15:22:23

Followed Altidore when he played here in USA. Looked good, but the MLS is certainly not the Premier League, doubt whether he would improve the present squad.

On the other hand, I have also seen quite a bit of the Mexican boy, Maldonado, and, I believe he could make it. He is two-footed and leaps like Cahill (think he?s about 5? 8 or 9). Aggressive in and around the box and not scared to track back.

Alex Yánez
23 Posted 08/01/2009 at 16:26:04

Hey my friends, I?m from Venezuela.

Maldonado is one of the best forwards of the world, in 2008 was the sixth better forward of the world according to IFFHS, In addition he gained the gold booty like better forward of America. This valued in $10,000,000.

They can see the videos that they want of in YouTube.

He?s a crack.
He can make goals from free kicks, header, with both foot, wherever you want...!!

Chris Wilson
24 Posted 08/01/2009 at 18:02:01

Being an American Evertonian, I thought I?d chip in my 2 cents on Jozy. We?ve had a lot of false dawns when it comes to strikers for the US men ? Eddie Johnson comes to mind.

But Jozy is the real deal. He reminds you of a cross between Vaughan and Anichebe, in that he?s big, he?s powerful, and he?s fast like our kids. He is passionate like Vaughn but he doesn?t overdo it with wild tackles. He?s not one who will generate his own scoring chance that often - although maybe he?s picked up a few tricks while training in Spain. He?s a great finisher though; either foot and loves to get his head on the end of crosses.

Jozy doesn?t score a lot of pretty goals ? he just scores goals. And he?ll work hard to do so. He?s only 19, so Villarreal are paying for potential, but they?re not Barcelona or Man City with unlimited funds. So if they shelled out 7 million pounds on him; somebody thinks he could be special. I think he?d be a great coup for us.

Jeremy Benson
25 Posted 08/01/2009 at 18:23:14

I wouldnt rubbish the footy manager database.

I’ve been playing the game for the last 8 or 9 years, and have been tearing my hair out that everton *havent* used it. It uses an extensive "proper" scouting network, and I can assure you it has an uncanny knack of predicting the rising stars. There are several world galactico’s today, unknown 5 years ago, that we could have gleefully plucked out for peanuts. Usually, when a player becomes known as a quality player today, I knew about him 3 years ago. Thats a fact fella’s....

Makes sense. Half a dozen paid scouts per premiership team, or several hundred paid scouts worldwide for the game. Do the maths.

Mike Gaynes
26 Posted 08/01/2009 at 18:34:01

I’ll second Chris’ motion on Altidore. This kid is a monster, far and away the most talented striker the US has ever developed. Still raw, but big, powerful, fearless and an arrogantly natural finisher, way better than Vic. Loves to run at defenders and can shrug ’em off like the Yak. Needs to work on composure in the box, tends to rush everything like most kids. Villareal paid $10M for him at age 17, and it’s hard to believe they’d sell him, since he’ll probably be the starting World Cup striker for the US next year at age 20. But they might loan him out.

George Sedlak
27 Posted 08/01/2009 at 23:18:33

Mike,

I have been living in Mexico for the last 5 months studying; Atlante did not finish as champions, that honour went to Toluca. Atlante made it to the play offs but wenmt out to cruz azul in the semis. However, this guy did look very good in the admittedly one game I have seen him play in the flesh so probably worth a punt on loan, we need the strikers and for £350,000 there's almost nothing to lose by takinjg a chance on him on loan.

Blair Johnson
28 Posted 09/01/2009 at 07:33:47

I?ll take him... as long as it?s NOT ALAN SMITH, I don?t mind who the emergency striker is.