What makes you think they could put a deal like this together?

Even Tony Barrett had something to say about the shambles we call a Board. O'Keeffe - he will report on how well the snow was cleared from around the ground.

(1) An outstanding midfielder – along with others who might or might not come on board with us.

(2) Wanting to play in the Premier League – he is now!

(3) An Everton supporter from an Evertonian family – Holtby, Holtby, Holtby, Blue dad, Blue dad, Blue dad. Er... Rush, Owen, Macca – need I go on?

Guess what, who you support is no indicator of where you might play your fottie: 'Once a Blue, Always a Blue' – right? A dose of daylight realism needed here, I think.

(4) Available for a bargain sum of £1.5million – so?

There is not a single scrap of evidence that Holtby wanted to play for us except for the oh so tiresome "He's got a blue pop" stuff which has been aired on here too many times now. We do not even know that Everton had him in their sights, wanted, him, courted him, made any move of any kind whatsoever.

Can this please be the last ever Holtby thread on this site? Can we bin him now?

Oh, and I'm one of the last not to criticize Moyes/players/board whenever appropriate. But I'm thinking, "Ah, this Clough fella is cashing in on the last day window mess. Let's have another poke at the club, why not? Well, there are many more reasons over the last month or so to aim arrows at our sad board than Lewis fucking Holtby who never had a single concrete link with us.

Just turned up with his boots at Finch Farm one day and said "I've had enough of that place where I grew up! Just pay me what you want - if you want - and I'm all yours."

Just asking because there is no evidence that we even put a bid in for the lad.

Also, he might be an Everton fan from distance but he's been citing London as his preferred location. Remember the Arsenal quotes and, it just so happens, he winds up in North London.

Get over it!!!

Face it, if he turns out to be any good, then that is the reason we never had a chance of signing him.

At his best just behind the main striker, his movement and speed of thought are electrifying. Unfortunately, none of his new team-mates will be on the same wavelength. Bale might be a wonder player but he operates with tunnel vision which seldom includes others... and no,. I find it hard to believe he is on £80k a week. Not without proving his worth. Spurs are notoriously tight.

We didn't get him and that's that. Fer will probably come in when Fellaini goes. Same height, same build, same position. Like for like and good business. When no-one came in for Fellaini, we didn't need Fer.

Andrew / Nick (re Holtby) — I didn't know about the Arsenal quotes but I am not surprised. He is the perfect Arsenal type player. Someone somewhere has made a cock-up.

Maybe we weren't interested in him but I can't understand someone with his CV for so cheap not getting interest from just about everybody – especially a club like us who don't possess oodles of money. Just feels like a chance missed. Let's hope the summer brings us the players we actually need. Fingers crossed!

Also on the subject of wages, he certainly will be on top dollar (as not much of a fee paid for him). Wether its £80k is another story.

Sissoko however?! Here is a player, very much in the Fer mould that was available at bargain price (c£2m) due to a run down contract. He was well known about and surely would have considered choosing us over Newcastle. He has pace and power and is what our squad is crying out for. Even if he had not cut it we could have sold him for a profit. Given the Fer bid we were obviously looking for a player of this ilk. I really can't work out why we were not in for him...unless his wages were prohibitively high but even so, we're paying Heitinga 60k p/w ffs.

We never get to know what really went on in the transfer window i.e. who Moyes seriously went after and what amount of cash he had in hand if any. The bottom line is we have no-one to strengthen the squad and the likes of Barkley and Gueye are dispensed with, leading us to believe that Moyes is quite happy that the current midfielders we have can carry us into the Champions Lleague... Yeah right!

After that sorry debacle against Villa, an outfit that has been totally inept in recent weeks. His inept tampering of the back four was diabolical. Anyone (except BK) still think he's the right man for Everton?

When no-one came in for Fellaini, I guess we shelved everything, loans and all. Our wage bill needs to come down.

The problem with hijacking Holtby was that he'd already signed a pre-contract agreement to sign for free in the summer so Spurs simply brought the deal forward to January. Spurs don't pay decent wages – I doubt he is on more than £30-40k per week so no excuses there. He is more than good enough to play for Everton.

Other clubs have shown that good players can be signed for bargains this season – Newcastle, Swansea and Fulham, to name but a few, but we seemed to have missed the boat on these players. It's one thing scouting players but you need to know about the contracts they are on as well, clauses/wages etc. We don't appear to have someone at the club who can strike a good deal in the way that someone like Levy can!

On last season's results for our remaining games, we took only 11 points from the teams we play...

We did need a boost.

Spurs - London club, money to spare, bright young continental manager, recently appeared (successfully) in the Champions League etc. Hell, he might even have a friend/family who lives in the city or plays for the club for all we know! What is the point in speculating as to why he is not currently an Everton player.

MOYES OUT AND KENWRIGHT OUT AND THE REST OF THEM OUT WE'RE A SHOWER OF A CLUB AND NEVILLE AND OSMAN TOO, OH AND HEITINGA AND JELAVIC WHY HAVEN'T WE BOUGHT MESSI AND INIESTA though, yeah, of course. Sorry.

Never mind the fact the lad is a blue, a world class midfielder has just been signed by one of our rivals for a small fee, on wages we could easily a match.

Don't you think our support has a right to question if we were even considering signing players in this bracket?

As for Holtby and Sissoko....real class players, who the world has known were available for cheap in the near future....the whole world except everton (it seems).

There is a lack of ambition at this club, but not by the fans

Even if we make don't make fourth this season we are going to need a long-term replacement for Leon Osman (as well as a better option than Naismith unless he really does come good). Spurs original deal was for the lad in the summer, when we would be getting money from selling someone like Fellaini.

If we do make fourth then we would still be looking to strengthen these areas though the money would be more likely to be offset against projected revenue from domestic TV deal and potential qualification for CL proper first stage.

It is not about hijacking the Spurs deal once that was in place, it is about whether we tried at all to get in first and really pitch the good things about playing for us and residing in the north-west (London really isn't that far away if you fancy a bit of sight-seeing).

Why don't you post under your real name?

1) The most outstanding young 'keeper in the country.

2) Wants to play in the Premier League

3) Available for a mere £3.5m

4) We definitely wanted him in the summer

5) Tim Howard hasn't got any younger or any better since the summer.

6) We had enough money to bid for Dutch and Spanish international players.

7) He went to a club below us in the league, not in London, not in Europe.

Someone explain that one to me!

If we just didn't even try to get him though then that is a big mistake on our part. I have family in Germany who have seen lots of him and said he is one of the most exciting German players coming through.

Now, about that stupid fake tan...

Well, why not any of the quality players who have been signed by x number of clubs during the window?

For a start, EFC must have a short list of players to go for (provided by Myes presumably). They simply can't chase every dog that runs around the corner - there are a finite number of scouts and a finite number of hours in the day when transfer negotiations etc can take place. No club can scattergun too far for fear of not getting anyone.

Clearly, holtby wasn't on that short list.

Am not sure what all the fuss is about. Arsenal have wads of financial leverage, are a more attractive proposition, probably a bigger scouting network and backroom staff to do deals, and they only brought in one player.

The january window is not a good time to bring players in. Unless they are about to be on a free in the summer (in which case most buying clubs wait till the summer to get them free...), then any players you do bring in were not wanted by their clubs during the current contracted season. Ergo, not many quality signings.