Alcaraz to become first transfer this week

You could get young Redmond for the money you get on one third of his wages.

Simon Mignolet, £9M
Lago Aspas £7M;
Luis Alberto £6.8M; and
Kolo Toure free.

Alcaraz seems like a sensible if unglamorous way to start.

Shall we sign Messi for £100 million but pay £5 million in 25 yearly installments?

Who knows, it could be the launch of EFC to the next level and even help with finding a rich new owner. What I have said might sound unrealistic, but why not see if it could happen? My biggest fear would be that the club would not know how to market this idea.

Our player trading in recent times has been excellent (obviously within the monetary restraints... but that's another issue). The amount of times we've supposedly 'missed out' on a 'target' that's gone to some team lower than us in the league and turned out to be rubbish, only for us then to move for our real targets that have mostly been top quality (I still cannot believe Mirallas for £5M when people like McManaman are being quoted at £7M). Quality transfers take time.

We're in the tough situation of wanting top class players but having little money. These players are usually wanted by other clubs, such as Milan. Most players will not choose us in that situation. Honda isn't going to sign for us just because we rushed him if he knows Milan might be interested; that's not us dawdling.

If you want quick transfers, then they're going to be rubbish players that are only too happy to play for us because no-one above us wants them. If you want Everton to buy quality players, then they may well turn out to be long protracted transfer sagas because that is the nature of the market Everton are operating in. We can't just throw £35 million at a club just to get the deal done quickly.

If some of these players that are supposedly slipping away from us are signing for Norwich and Swansea, then you have to ask: Are they good enough for us anyway? It's not as though Tottenham are coming in and pinching them as we 'dawdle' on a deal. They're not all going to turn out to be like Michu – who is the exception to the rule.

The right signings are better than rushed ones. If they had been our targets then we'd probably know about it or might yet have done something about it. Do people not think we could match Norwich or Swansea for a transfer? Just because players who some people would like to see at Everton are going elsewhere doesn't mean the targets we really want are.

Lots of exciting names have been mentioned but our targets may not be the targets of Mr Martinez. So much will depend on the movement of Fellaini and Baines...

What did Roberto say, "I want players with the right character first and foremost."

I think we've all seen some very good players, that only stay at a club for a short time before they're transfer-listed, it's usually because they are 'trouble' behind the scenes.

Having said that, I'm pretty sure RM already has a list of players he likes, as will the scouting system in place at Everton. I expect things will move forward a bit more once he comes into the office tomorrow – probably starting with backroom staff.

We do dawdle over transfers, so many of our transfers have happened right at the end of the transfer windows. We never seem to get players so we can bed them into pre-season. You can't tell me the majority of the best available players won't've already been snapped up before we start making our move in the transfer market. I think it's got a lot to do with BK trying to get players cheaper right at the end of the window.

Often I think many of the better players are gone by the time we start to get involved in the transfer market. Aston Villa for example might not of got the players they wanted if they waited any longer.

We can only really make 10-12 million pounds worth of signings anyway, because we haven't sold anyone yet.

I too am worried we will miss out on Honda and Fer because RM has not started his job yet. How come we did not get RM early like Man Utd did with Moyes???

We always wait until the last minute here at Everton.

Your comment that for love of Everton or whatever, Rooney could eschew another club's offer of a bigger wage brings to mind my old mum's saying that much always wants more.

BUY
Étienne Capoue £13M - best holding midfielder I know of
Vladimir Dyadyun £1M - contract about to expire; worth the risk
Nathan Redmond £2.75M - exciting prospect
Asmir Begovic £7M - 7-10 extra points
Some Brazilian: £1M
Some Bolivian: £1M
Some Mexican: £1M
TOTAL: £26.75M

SELL
Fellaini £23M
Heitinga £2M
Naismith £0.5M
TOTAL: £25.5M

To be fair, if you begin in January then this can be done quickly in the summer. But you stand the chance of musing out on last minute bargains because you have spent your money. Like Mirallas.

We fans are simple folk. At independents, hey do things differently. Forget 'taxi for manager' see 'seat chairman?' http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/football-fans-throw-chairs-at-club-president-in-argentina/2gt7b049

Thank you good sir.

If Alcaraz means the end of Heitinga then I'm all for it

No thanks, plus we couldn't afford him anyway, which is a good thing.

Unless Fellaini, Heitinga and Naegood were on £100k a piece each to then be split amongst the new guys, it won't work.

Heitinga's got to go, regardless; we should get £3/4 mill for him surely?

Jon, Portugese clubs buy Brazilians for peanuts.

So Al, we send Bill to hang around immigration control at Heathrow and the first Brazilian, Mexican and Bolivian he sees, we sign them up for £1m?