Season 2011-12 Fan Articles
Investing in the Future
By Joel Durkin :: 29/01/2012
9 Comments (ğLast)
The transfer window is more of often than not something to be feared by Evertonians. We fear our best players being poached by teams to whom money is of no concern, whilst Moyes frantically tries to find a replacement and Mr Kenwright takes his family out for a nice dinner. We are, for the vast majority of the time, a selling club, which is why I believe Moyes should look to his young players, and concentrate on keeping, and build on the batch of talented youngsters we have.
There are a host of quality young players who, it appears, are only given a chance of first team action if all other options are exhausted. For example, Evertonians are being told to be very excited about the potential of Ross Barkley, but time and again we are seeing him overlooked, and Moyes playing a defensively minded Neville or Heitinga in centre midfield and Barkley rarely being given a chance even from the bench.
Shane Duffy?s temporary promotion to the senior squad highlights the quality of young players that Finch Farm is producing. The young defender looks assured at the back and natural when attacking corners, but he seems to be used as a last resort. We have players like Jose Baxter, who after a short and relatively promising try-out in the first team a couple of seasons ago, has returned from his latest loan spell to Tranmere and will be hungry for first team action.
The move away from Bellefield was undoubtedly a business step by the club, but the modern facilities at Finch Farm mean that players should be able to progress with the very best help, but training needs to continue on the pitch and Moyes?s stubbornness in playing out-of-form players such as Saha week-in, week-out, is only halting such progress.
Bilyaletdinov?s departure underlines this point: a foreign player whose transfer fee and wage budget could have been used to cultivate talented young players for the long term, players such as Magaye Gueye, who has this season, looked equally as adept as Bilyaletdinov in the same position. We do not have the funds to lose money on players who do not perform in the long term.
The times when Moyes has trusted his youth have paid off. Seamus Coleman has become pretty much a first-team regular in a season and, after a string of unfortunate injuries, Victor Anichebe has returned to action and delivered goals immediately.
Of course the short term acquisitions of Drenthe on the left and Donovan on the right mean that the likes of Coleman and Gueye may play second choice at present but Moyes appears reluctant to experiment, especially when a game could go either way and the pace of a young player could make the difference.
The quality of Jack Rodwell requires no reminder; if he stays, we may well have a world class midfielder with his best years ahead of him... but, if he moves on, I would like to see the money invested in some form of young talent, preferably someone to solve the immediate problem of a striker.
Teams such as Arsenal show how it is possible to train young players to become the very best; in these times when there is little money available, I would like to see Moyes is using his resources to secure young players who can benefit the club, one way or another, for years to come.
Reader Comments (9)
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2 Posted 29/01/2012 at 21:33:47
For the last three years Moyes has pretty much done nothing except sign young "players for the future." He signed the likes of Coleman and Gueye who you mentioned. He gave first team chances to Anichebe, Barkley, Rodwell, Duffy, Baxter and he even gave first team run outs to the likes of Forshaw, Craig, Bidwell in the Europa Cup. Baxter just had a good spell at Tranmere and now people are clamoring for him to get in the team. Let's not forget that Moyes put him in the team when he was just 16 and it was his poor form and off-the-field problems (drug arrest) that cost him his place. Moyes has also signed a number of other youngsters many of whom have not made the grade, eg, Plessis, Vidarsson etc.
I wouldn't worry too much about Moyes spending any money on big name players. West Ham had a £7 million bid turned down for a Rangers striker and then the day before deadline day we make a bid for the same player. Rangers want £8 million and according to the media we have offered less than West Ham did. This is the same situation we had a few years ago with our phantom bids for Dirk Kuyt and Barry Ferguson when we offered less than the bids that other teams had already had rejected.
BK always plays this game just before deadline day and then tries to act as if he worked 24/7 to get the deal done. Then come next summer the money we supposedly would have spent on this guy will have disappeared into the black hole and Moyes will have to sell Rodwell or Barkely to raise money to buy the next promising Coleman or Vellios.
My point is that you don't have to worry because Moyes is already following your script... whether he likes it or not.
3 Posted 29/01/2012 at 23:08:43
I'm pretty sure Moyes and the team will sort out the wheat from the chaff. Destroy all the bad qualities of shooting and attacking with flair and replace them with dour defensive minded abilities. Then we'll really see how many of those promising youngsters really 'make the grade'.
4 Posted 30/01/2012 at 04:11:49
Sign 'em up, Mr Moyes...
5 Posted 30/01/2012 at 04:16:27
6 Posted 30/01/2012 at 14:23:58
Moyes plays his youth players as a last resort though which is the most saddening thing.
7 Posted 30/01/2012 at 15:15:44
They were marvellous acquisitions, Arnoux and Peterlin, bloody marvellous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8 Posted 31/01/2012 at 05:38:26
Also I would expect that Jake Bidwell will be given a shot on the right to a similar extent.
I would guess that they are being primed for introduction by being sent out on loan for most of this season.
I would hope these 2 continue to improve and can save the club some money in the long run.
9 Posted 31/01/2012 at 06:39:29
Given the current position of the club and without major investment (IMHO unlikely) then we are dependent on youth for the future. It seems that Everton (by EPL standards) have a good youth set up even though (IMHO) the overall English youth set up leaves a lot to be desired. We have a fair bit of talent coming through judging by England appearances etc. Moyes has used youth when he can (as pointed out by Kieran above) and has loaned plenty out to get valuable experience (eg Duffy, Baxter etc). I know a lot of people would like to see the likes of Barkley getting more of a run but I have often wondered if Moyes is trying to quietly build a new generation without attracting the interest of the big clubs. Just a thought.
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1 Posted 29/01/2012 at 19:09:45