The Mail Bag
Contract for Pienaar
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Well, it's been reported that they are looking to secure Tim Cahill's services for another 4 years. Tim has 2 years left on his current contract. So it's slightly strange that Pienaar, with only 1 year left (and had been making suggesting he'd like to sign on again) has yet to be offered any contract extension?
Does this mean he will be going in the summer? If so what's the bottom line. How much is he worth? Sell him before the World Cup? Let him have a great World Cup and increase his value?
Or does he have a bad one or even worse get injured, thus lowering his value? Or will he stay and help take us on to the Holy Grail of the Champions League!
Jimmy Saville, Posted 10/05/2010 at 20:11:11
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Maybe we should have an opinion pole about the probability Pienaar's future.
Will he:
A - Sign up and stay?
B - Stay and see out his final 12 months?
C - Move on this summer?
I hope I'm wrong, but at the moment I think its more likely 'C'.
If the guy wanted it, he'd have signed yesterday...
My limited understanding of what his agent has said, was simply that we won't allow Everton to drag this on, and we won't allow them to profit from Steven if he has a good World Cup. But would he and his agent really go the route of not moving on for a year to spite the club if he couldn't get a contract?
I don't know what worries me more, we loose money on him regardless of what happens... or we don't replace him with like for like or even better. We'll miss Pienaar, imo.
Pienaar isn't. Lay off Cahill
How would they get the Ferrari insured doing business like that?
Any Christians will assume that Steven will never be another Barmby — what is his nickname? — but others are clearly sceptical.
The brother reckons he could easily fade back to where he came from — mediocrity — in another club, and I think he's got a point.
Old Harry would pay £16/18m for him.
Pienaar is different. He has one big contract left in him. Let's be honest, he could go and get Champions League football. I would suggest that regular first team football and Champions League football may not be in England. Sevilla, Inter etc. maybe but if he goes to Tottenham he won't be a regular. It depends what his priority is.
I think the WC arguement is redundant. Representing SA means he is unlikely to have a good WC. They won't get past the groups.
Overall, I will be bitterly disappointed for him to go. I don't think he will but, if he does, I feel we have to accept it and move on.
On another note, anyone see the West Ham wage bill online today. Boa Morte/Dyer on £70k a week. No wonder they're broke.
I bet there would be at least half of Premier League teams after Cahill if he was for sale. To say it's Everton or nothing for him, is wide of the mark. Give him some credit, he will score some vital goals for us for a few seasons yet.
Pienaar is a player with sublime skill yet his goals tally has been equaled already by Bily. A player with very little game time in comparison.
Pienaar simply does not deliver as much as he should in the final third. A good player no doubt but vital to our success? Definitely not for me. Hopefully Bily will step up next season and he won't be missed at all.
The club are onto plums really and Steven holds all the aces as he can't actually be forced to go anywhere he doesn't want to should the club decide to try and sell him, after he refuses all contract offers.
Expecting him to show loyalty even after basically resurrecting a stuttering career is a bit naive as today's footballers are employees (the vast majority anyway) and the clubs are just employers.
Pienaar knows he's in the spotlight, has had a great season and he'll be wanting to maximise his earnings, play at the highest possible level, and win something (probably in that order) so if Everton don't meet the wage he must have in mind to make him stay, he'll be off at the end of his contract to find someone who will.....
It's all a process now, I think we are becoming a place where better players will gravitate to, so good players will come and go...
And if he does go through with that, by the time he plays for his (assuming) new club, he'll be 30 years old. Are teams throwing around big money at 30-year-olds at Pienaar's talent level? Not like he'll sell lots of jerseys or put extra butts in the seats.
I'd like him to stay, but I don't see where he's in such a superior bargaining position. Yeah, he can walk in a year, but to where and for how much more than EFC would pay? And if he does walk, he better hope he's not limping.
As for not many players etc... Beckford???
As for Pienaar... Yes, we want to keep him, the lad is brilliant on the ball and he's hot property... but we shouldn't be held to ransom. All solutions seem acceptable mind. Go for a large fee, stay and see out contract, re-sign — all positive outcomes in my eyes.
We all remember how gutted we were after Rooney left. I was gutted in 86 when we cashed in on Lineker. My dad before me went through it when they cashed in on Alan Ball. It happens, we move on.
Not all agents are sharks. 99.9% are though!
Obviously Pienaar has been offered at least one new contract, he either has not found them accecptable or wishes to leave. Hope we can tie him down to a contract.
If I remember, Tim and Mikel both signed their five-year contracts at the same time. If Tim's due to sign his, I hope to god someone has remembered about magic Mik!!!
On the Timmy front... great to have him re-signed. Even if he goes next summer he will command a decent fee...
As for Pienaar — he's playing silly buggers.
I don't deny for a second that many clubs would look at Cahill. I suspect you are correct in asserting half of the PL would like him. Of these half, though, I feel none will be at our level. Maybe close teams, a Sunderland etc, but no team that would seriously consider making it worth his while to leave Everton and uproot his family.
Cash in asap. COYB
I agree - I think the club and player have come to a contract agreement that suits them both and should see Tim stay at the club for the duration of his career now.
Cahill knows which side his bread's buttered, he says the right things and more importantly he does it on the pitch - he's not Maradonna but I think I'm right in saying he's scored more headers than any other PL player, loves playing for us, mixes it up, is a winner and I would imagine only has a positive effect on the training ground and dressing round.
In every good team there are senior pros with the club at heart to help encourage commitment to the cause and I think Cahill is one of these.
The only club above us I can see him at is as a bit-part player at Man Utd and that's stretching the imagination.
All-in-all, a good bit of business and IMO he's a "Hall of Famer" so good luck to him.
Pienaar is a must and by far our most important signing of the summer and if the problem is we are not making him the top earner, well that's stupid from BK as he is by far our most influencial player!
We need to get Pienaar signed up and not worry about Cahill until he starts getting some form back as, recently, he's been poor!
He is very loyal. The only reason we got him in 2004 was Millwall failed in the play offs and Simon Jordan refused to pay an agents fee (and maybe they wouldn't have gone down in '05). He's a player we'll miss when he finishes at Everton. A lot of other players hate facing him!
GET PIENAAR SIGNED!
Pienaar is an excellent footballer and I'm keen to see him stay but his overall impact on games often doesn't compare with Cahill's.
Tim drives us forward and never gives the opposition a moment's rest. In my opinion, our Europa Cup exit was due to him having to leave the field at Goodison when we were 2 up and well on top. If he'd stayed on I think we'd have pushed on for 3 or more.
Look at how lethargic we looked on Sunday without him. He's regularly the heart and soul of this team and how many times has he pulled something out of the bag in the last few minutes? Winning the pen against Fulham being the latest example. And in what people are calling an average season for him, he's still scored double figures.
As for 'most influential player', the names Arteta and Fellaini spring to mind more readily for me.
Still, let's hope they both stay and push us on to greater things next season.
I think we lose Pienaar, we will lose a lot more than if Cahill went! I know it doesn't sound like it, but I love Cahill and what he has done for us, but Everton as a club have progressed over the last few years into having class attacking footballers to which Pienaar, Arteta, Rodwell and Fellaini are.
Cahill IMO is not that! His touch is poor, his passing is poor and his shooting with his feet is poor. I don't think he can open defences up and if his heading is off, he is at times totally non-existent.
Pienaar on the other hand doesn't stop running, he always wants the ball and is always looking for the simple pass, killer through-ball and looking for quick movement and passing. Pienaar for me is at the heart of our creativity (along with Arteta).
As I said, all about opinions and that's mine. Think Cahill can still do a job, but I would rather see us go 4-4-2 with Cahill coming off the bench.
Good player Pienaar and he would be a loss, but if he wanted to sign me thinks it would have happened by now. God I'm starting to hate the transfare window.
I read the that the contract will not be signed before the world cup, which is a potential disstraction for a focused pre season. Let the fucker off if his heart is not in the club.
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Editorial Team
1 Posted 10/05/2010 at 20:58:22
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Search ToffeeWeb for "Pienaar contract" and you get 123 hits, some of which state that Pienaar rejected an improved contract extension offered last summer. So for you to suggest he has not been offered a contract extension seems just not right.
As for all your other questions... many diverse answers have already been provided, but we are no nearer to establishing the bottom line... and it's unlikely that we will do so any time soon until a resolution is reached: he stays... or he goes.
In the meantime, I suggest you kick back with a cool chablis, a cold beer, an ice-cold Cadillac margarita, or whatever your favourite midday summer beverage and patiently await developments.
Bottoms up!