The Mail Bag
Player Shortages
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From about Christmas last season, we have forever moaned about the lack of a class forward or two and we all had thoughts of about a ?what if" scenario... yes, we had a 20-goal-a-season forward who turned our superiority into wins ? Hey, we could have finished in Top 4, we would possibly have reached Wembley again ?
But look closely at the squad: yes, we do need a forward or two, but we also need a cover centre-half, a Premier league quality cover at left back, a dominant defensive central midfielder, a quality wide man on the left. We were extremely fortunate last season to have Distin and Baines as virtual ever-presents, a major injury to either player would have given us substantial problems.
Please don?t give me the answer that the likes of Duffy, Garbutt, Barkley, Vellios, Baxter, and Gueye will all be coming through to the 1st team next season because they won't... We?d be lucky to have just one of them become a regular.
So where does that leave us? Well, with a conservative estimate, I?d guess we need at least £45M (forward ? £15M; centre-half ? £5M; left back ? £4M; central midfielder ? £10M, quality wide man ? £12M). Bill, as he always does, of course, will undoubtedly be working 24/7 to sell Yobo and Yakubu and give David Moyes £8M from their sales. Well, that leaves a shortfall of about £35M.
How do we generate this amount of money? Well, first and foremost, I?d sell Fellaini for about £20M; not because I don?t like him, when in fact I believe he will become an outstanding central midfielder, but because I believe he intends to do a Pienaar and leave us for a paltry £5m in 18 months.
All leading clubs have to sell their main assets, we are no different. I?d also sell Rodwell for £12m; once again, not because I don?t like him but because he?s now become completely lost ? he?s neither a centre half (he loves the ball too much to be an English centre-half) nor is he a central midfielder (he lacks vision, energy, speed and drive). I feel sorry for the lad as, 15 months ago, he was the country?s new find, on a par with Jack Wilshere, captain of the U21s at 19 etc etc... now he?s on both Everton?s and England U21?s sub's bench.
Unfortunately life is cruel; even though we have nearly found our £35M, we have lost two fine young players and, on top of the shortage of 5-6 players originally, we now need another one at least, with no money. Bring in the Loans...
Mike Oates, Posted 27/06/2011 at 21:53:15
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Quality wide man on the left, Baines.
Dominant defensive midfielder, Fellaini.
So that leaves us needing a forward or 2 and a cover left back.
I don't think you have factored in the salaries for each of these players. For the extra players needed they will probably be worth more than Rodwell/Fellaini's combined annual salary plus the funds from any other sales.
Other clubs will know we have money to spend and therefore will demand over the odds on transfer fees.
Just my opinion - don't be too shocked to see no first team incomings this summer. It's the Everton way. Fellaini's contract extension will be like a new signing according to BK!
Maybe we sell one of Rodders or Fella but certainly not both!
As for cover...
CB cover = Heitinga
LB cover = P Neville (or Bily... Didn't he play there for Russia?)
LM = Arteta. Thought he was pretty great there before he got injured last season.
CM = ? We have loads of CMs! Rodders, Fella, Arteta, Neville, Ossie, Heitinga.
I think most agree what we really don't have is great striking options. I would be keen to see Beckford have more starts but we still lack in the forward department. I would think this is where Moyes is concentrating his resources.
BK says Yobo is leaving, hopefully we can sell off the deadwood (Yak, Bily, Anichebe) and bring in Long & N'Zogbia.
To my mind we need 2 quick wingers, one for each side and a good striker as a minimum. I think defensively we're OK, but Moyes might need to use kids if we get injuries as always next season.
I don't get why we weren't in for Larsson, we clearly need wingers and he'd give an option. This happens each year, we see decent freebies go to 'lesser' clubs and I think that Moyes must have something better lined up, but no, no-one..... I understand that he wants players to improve the side, but when we have a bench full of kids and not a single option to change the game, surely a Larsson or the like is worth a place in the squad?!?
He seems to have spent more time at right wing last season than in central midfield. How the hell do you expect a young developing player to get any kind of form when he's consistently played in different positions? Same goes for bily who has been widely condemned as being shit because he's played as a left winger, when he clearly lacks pace.
As for signings, I think we need a couple of wingers, left back cover and a front-man. CB is covered with distin, heitinga, jags and duffy. In CM we have fellaini, arteta, osman, cahill and bily.
Shame DM seems to have burned his bridges with yak and yobo. Whatever has gone on privately between them, its cost the club a ton of money in lost transfer fees now that every buyer knows neither will be playing for Everton again....and regardless of his post-injury form Yak is far better than either anichebe or beckford.
What we need is wide men and/or a creative forward. My first three signings would be the three positions behind the striker. I'm not saying I don't want to improve the rest, but the creation of clear cut chances is the first thing I'd want to change.
I'm dying for a full on FM style rant, it'll probably happen eventually, this close season is so boring so far.
I think a World Cup finalist is sufficient Central Defensive cover and as an added bonus he can also play in Defensive midfield. The reason he doesn't play there regularly is because both Fellaini and Pip Nev are preferred options in that role. I think if Fellaini and Yobo both go Evertonians will see a lot more from Jonny H and, subsequently, get a better level of perfromance from him. Similarly from Rodders.
If we were to generate 25m from the sale of Fellaini and addthe 8m from the sale of Yak and Yobo we would be looking at 35m (including the Vaughan money already banked) with the urgent requirements being in the wing and up front.
I think this is more tan enough for Moyes to find 2 players of real quality. Velios and Gueye may not be world beaters by next season, but they have shown that they can provide suitable cover, so I really think we only need one each in these two roles and maybe a back-up left-back.
If we don't buy a decent striker to start 40 games next season, it'll be the same old shit all over again. If and when that's sorted, 2nd priority is a winger, who is actually a winger.
I never thought I'd see the day that Marcus Bent and Zinedine Kilbane would be missed.
Bily as LB cover? The very thought makes me shudder. I can see the Alan Hansen MotD analysis of that one already.
I have no idea who we will sign this summer because I think it depends on who we sell.
I do think that if we don't sell Rodwell he needs to play every game, otherwise his value will never rise and he'll probably still just go to United or Chelsea!
There was an interesting article by Gab Marcotti about Udinese and the links and scout network they have. their whole set up is designed to find young talented players they can sign cheap and potentially sell on for massive profit. It has worked for them as on a relatively small operating budget they have made the champions league! I wish we had the ability to unearth these gems of players and nuture them though like that as we will, barring investment, never have the cash to buy superstars.
Of course that means Everton being a feeder club in all but name for the bigger sides, but I don't see any alternative until big changes happen at director level.
Who are these clubs Mike? Or are you just going by rumours ? Because the last time I looked , I've never seen any clubs putting in any bids for him.
It was the same on another thread, when someone mentioned Fellaini was class, and thats why the top Spanish and prem teams were after him, again, where did this come from?
The fact that no-one has bid for him doesn't mean much, he's been injured for the second half of the last two seasons, is under a fairly long contract, to a club that doesn't want to sell, and if they did would want a substantial profit on £15M. Given all that, I wouldn't expect any bids as the minimum would be £20M for an injured player and even then they'd be knocked back.
Average prem players are now a min of 10million+ as its the going rate.
We need to bring players through the system and quick.
Even if our scouting youth system is set up properly, it will still take 3-4yrs for them to filter through.
L/b Baines, Distin
Dominant def mid , Felliani, pos Heitinga pos Rodwell pos Neville.
L/ mid ????
Striker. Saha if fit if not ????
So striker and l/mid is where we have to strengthen. It seems N'Zobia is a strong poss and i for one would love him here. As for strikers Long aint bad but would prefer Sturridge.
Anyway makes no fuckin odds not expecting owt .
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1 Posted 28/06/2011 at 06:14:33
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