Martinez looks to Gomis as cover for Lukaku

Good player, hopefully could have an impact like Remy, or dare I say it. Jela 2011

I know it's inevitable with the speculation, but he would be good.

French international for £3 million. Could be the first team striker for next season. Hope this one comes off.

Jelavic should never have been sold without a replacement being bought not a loanee

Whilst we definitely need cover in a multitude of positions, as last night showed, not sure this guy is the answer.

Big, slow, cumbersome, poor control and puts his foot through everything. Reminds me of Saha. Need I say more!

If true, chalk this down to 'beggars can't be choosers'!

Hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing. But yes, we did take a chance on selling Jeli before lining up a full time replacement; but we all thought we would maybe have a couple more games to get the lad on loan fit enough to play.

Put Mirallas upfront with McGeady on the right. I think a left winger is more needed as Pienaar didn't look very effective last night (I don't know if it's because he has only just come back from injury or not) and Oviedo is on the long-term injury list.

Adam, Louis Saha was a great player and the problem is that we got him too late.

I don't know if this guy is much good or not but I know one thing that's certain and that is we need to friggin well do something in the next 48 hours because if we don't we are just asking for the season to fall apart.

Lukaku may or may not be missed but lets face facts, we now have only Steven Naismith who looks like he is going to lead the line. We can't even play Mirallas there now because we are so short on numbers in midfield, what with Pienaar going off again its clear he doesn't look like playing a full game on Saturday and McGeady isn't fit either.

Why have we not signed a proven striker with the money we have raked in over the last six months?
We sold our top scorer for 27 million pound, replaced him McCarthy, who is a fine player but doesn't score Fellaini's goals and we brought in Lukaku on loan, which seemed like great business to complement the injured Kone.

Since then, it's pretty much gone pear-shaped, let's be honest, and the joy and elation of those deals of September 1st seem like a very very distant memory given the current injury situation on the back of some not so convincing displays that stem back to when our self-induced coma led to a mistake which proved costly at home to Sunderland.

Since then our performances have seriously lacked punch and if we are thinking of finishing the season with hope that injuries will clear up then we are heading for a big shit hole in my opinion.

scored 8 goals in 18 games this season.

Trouble is, you cant see City et al buying this guy, that's the difference between us & the top 4 clubs unfortunately!

Sign him up. Bargain at that price. We need a striker. Lukaku is temporary and without him we have Naismith and Vellios!

Just checked him out on, what's it called, FaceTube?

He looks class like a young Drogba.

Get Gomis in and let Lukaku go back Chelsea.

I'd prefer Adrian Lopez from Athletico Madrid. 22 years old, bags of skill and pace, scores for fun, can't get a game with Diego Costa ahead of him, has fallen out with Simeone and is out of contract in the summer. Valued at £7m. He'd be a bargain.

He'll send shudders through the teams above us. A real signal of intent...

To finish 7th

Looks a lot better than Kenwhine Jones.

I tell you I want to see come in, as well as a striker - Lee Catermole. I know I'll be chased out of town for saying this! I think he'd be a great addition to our midfield options.

Cattermole what the fuck?! Are you his agent. Terrible player and borderline thug. I'm all for fiery passionate types but they have to be able to actually play too!

Mark

I'm not going to disagree with you

We need a proper "nasty bastard" in midfield and for all the bouquets Barry and McCarthy have had this season they need a few slaps for the drop in form they have had since December

I have no idea if Cattermole is the man but at the moment im totally out of ideas

Cattermole what the fuck?! Are you his agent. Terrible player and borderline thug. I'm all for fiery passionate types but they have to be able to actually play too!

Cattermole? Ffs, I've heard it all now.

Mark

You have got to be joking Lee Catermole, he is so slow thats why he keeps getting sent off the ball has well gone by the time his tackle arrives. Also every team he plays for is usually in the bottom few places, which is pretty much his level of performance.

I think sometimes some think seeing a player kick lumps out of the opposition means he shows passion and commitment but you need a lot more than that to play for a top 6 club.

Cattermole? Bold suggestion Mark. I'd like us to sign this Gomis, and make a move for Tom Ince.

We needed a striker before Lukaku's injury and I hoped that one silver lining from his injury last night might be to force the club to buy a striker and beggars can't be choosers as another poster has said. However I expect the good news about his injury will mean that Boys' Pen Bill tells Roberto that he is only going to be without a striker for a couple of weeks and in four weeks he will be spoiled for choice between lukaku Traore and Naismith. The fact that our season my be over by then is neither here nor there.

Lewis Holtby at Spurs is who we should be going after. Barry/McCarthy look tired and Barkley needs a rest to aid his development. Adding Hotlby would enable a nice rotation and ease the pressure with injuries.

I've been touting Gomis's name for weeks, get this lad signed up! He's big, strong, a French international with a decent goal scoring record – £3 million would be such a bargain.

Phil, Holtby would be great but Spurs are asking min £8m for him after paying £1m for him. That dithering dope should've got him last season but didn't even try.

Philip 730.
Have to agree Holtby is one I would have no problem, would fit right in,

Think Holtby could be out of our price range what with the cost of buying him and his wages + is he the striking option that we are really looking for or just an extra midfielder who might nick the odd goal or two?

Apparently he - Holtby - comes from a die-hard blue family with a mad-blue dad so my hunch is that we will have no problem getting him, a nailed on cert in fact in my humble view

Regarding Holtby - I can't Levy selling to us; and if he did he'd take us to the cleaners. We should never have bought Pienaar back in hindsight.

Would Spurs sell Holtby to a rival top 4 club? I have my doubts

Paul - he could of come for free previously. Players, are not fans.

In the absence of fit centre halves why is Duffy still at Yeovil? He has been excellent there. As regards a striker, I would like to see Mirallis in front of Barkley.

Agree that Levy won't sell to us. Apparently according to the BBC, Dortmund, the Champions League Runners Up, are interested but put off by the asking price. Expect that to go up by 50% for a Premier League team.

Out of curiosity, how much money does everybody think we have to spend? I hear the usual "none", I hear the Felli money minus McCarthy fee plus Jealvic so that would be £15 - 20 million to spend (don't know how much the banks have taken)? I thought RM said the purchase McCarthy did not come about because of the Fellaini sale.

There was a thought that we were saving to buy Lukaku in the Summer which will be £23-25 million to start. With loan fees and wages, maybe £10 million to spend? I honestly don't know, what is everybody's thoughts?

Kenwright has said all along, and went to great lengths to emphasise on transfer deadline day, that the McCarthy money was not reliant on Fellaini's sale.

He also said Martinez would get every penny from sales. So putting those two statments together - McCarthy was from a pre-exisiting budget and we have the proceeds of Fellaini and Jelavic. Anichebe and Kone cancel each other out.

Saw Duffy last week. Looked slower than Alcaraz.

Mark, Kenwright says a lot of things. Only 50% tend to be true at best.

This time last year we were laughably meant to be in for Negredo. £40 million in transfer fees in, a bucket load of wages of the books and a stack of EPL TV cash later and we're looking at a loan or a £3 million striker.....

Those Other Operating Costs must be through the roof this year.

And before anyone says that we're saving to the summer; do you really believe that and also what is the impact of FFP? Can you actually carry accrued income into the following season/year?

Trevor #615, you're kidding right? Are we talking about the same player?

Saha was never a great player. He never had composure or footballing intelligence, or finesse - put his foot through everything like a David Unsworth clearance! He never got himself into good positions. The only thing he did have before we got him was pace. Add to the mix an inability to stay onside and we are talking about a poor player.

Given the fact that we are currently desperate for strikers, I find the opinions of many Evertonians on the subject of forwards totally baffling. Most people raved about Saha. The usual line that was trotted out was "on his day . . ." Well that's no fucking use if his day was twice a season and (one great game against Chelsea aside) usually against opposition of the calibre of Blackpool.

Yet I remember distinctly back in my season ticket holding days, having to endure everyone moaning about how shit and lazy the best striker we've had since our glory days was - Yakubu. He was fast when he needed to be, had excellent close control, was strong as an ox, could score with both feet from a variety of distances. Was a massively underrated passer (he played more incisive through-balls than Arteta used to), a decent dribbler, and had a poachers positional sense. He wasn't the best at heading but still scored a few with his head.

All fans used to complain about was laziness, but he actually always put a shift in - he was a different animal with us than his previous clubs. He was also the only striker Moyes ever brought in who was capable of running the channels AND scoring goals. In truth, he was worth considerably more than the £11.5m we paid for him. What I wouldn't give for a pre-injury Yak playing in this current team - we would get CL football then!

Yakubu was unloved yet Jelavic was adored by fans. He tried hard but could not do a single one of the things above at Premiership level and was even worse than Saha (you may have gathered, I never liked him much).

Now, before Tuesday's injury, I read loads of comments from fans of how shit Lukaku is. Not true people! Yes his touch can be lousy, but he is a finisher, and if you watch him, he usually makes great runs but is never found - either because our skillful player hold the ball for too long (Mirallas, Barkley and Deulofeu) or because players don't have the vision to play a well weighted forward pass to him (Osman and, ermm, no, mostly Osman). As someone who played as a striker, albeit at pub team level, it is the most frustrating and mentally exhausting thing when you are making all these runs but are seldom found!

The reason I write this, is because we can all agree that we are in urgent need for a new forward. I just wonder what it is exactly that Evertonians want in one????

sorry, Trevor # 681!

Lukaku would have had a few more goals if Mirallas hadn't been such a greedy bastard.

Desperate for a decent striker and a quality midfield general who can distribute the ball effectively

Adam smith (778) Spot On.

I rate Alex Fergusons opinion a lot more highly than the guy on here who is berating Saha. Fergie extolled the virtues of Saha until he had a spate of injuries he never recovered from. He is the last EFC player to score FOUR goals in a game and I cannot remember anyone scoring so many for us in one game since Jimmy Harris scored 4 when we got stuffed 10 - 4 by Spurs years ago.

I repeat that Saha had been a great player until he got injured badly. Man Utd paid good money for him from Fulham.

We got him too late and the same can be said of players like Ginola and Gascoigne. We could have bought Ginola for £2 million and Spurs snapped him up and he was footballer of the year the next season. We tend to buy players who WERE good or NO good unfortunately.

To be fair Trevor, Sir Alex also said that Steven Gerrard isn't world class, praised Phil Neville as a footballer, thought Charlie Adam had "the best left foot in the business" and picked David Moyes as his successor.

Not saying that I know more about football than the most successful manager in football history - but even he makes mistakes!!

Oh and Saha bagged those four against a Blackpool side who defended worse than we did yesterday. Even Brett Angell would have scored in that game!

My point is more about asking fellow Everton fans about what they want in a forward and some examples. It confuses me what they like and don't like.

Saha was a quality player on his day but most of those days were behind him unfortunately. Still occasionally class for us.

Hope we get Gomis but disappointed we weren't in for Luuk Dejong and Clement Grenier as the skunks have been.. Two classy players of the type (position and level) and profile (price/wages/loan/resale) that would have suited us in my opinion.

Trevor #818 Bob Latchford away to QPR 1977, Sharpie away to Southampton 1987, Joe Royle at home to Southampton 1971 and Alan Ball 1968 at West Brom all scored 4 times for Everton and the Latch also scored five against Wimbledon in the League Cup.

The things you pick up when you have to wade through information for a column - otherwise I would have forgotten most of those things too
.

Erm Stephen, can't stand the guy but Gerrard was world class and is still a top player.

If Gerrard is only suited to the cut and thrust of the Premier League then why on earth has he had so many great European games for Liverpool (including the Champions League final you mentioned)? Probably the only thing you could say is that he hasn't been amongst the top 5 or 6 players in the world - despite this, he could still be world class. I don't like this idea that because a player hasn't shone for mighty England and dragged their sorry backsides to a major trophy, then he's not world class.

The days of Maradonna inspiring an average (but often underrated) Argentinian team to World Cup glory are behind us. Never thought I'd see a better player than him in my lifetime and I've seen one, (Messi), arguably two, (Cristiano Ronaldo). Neither of those players have even had particularly good games in World Cup finals - are they not World Class? The man has next to no weaknesses to his game and the drive of a true winner. World class. What more could he do? He's won virtually everything he could considering he's never played for a side capable of winning the league or world cup.

Not meaning to hijack the thread here - just responding to your point. But even if he is no longer, at the very least Gerrard has been world class. And it pains me to say it!!!

I also liked The Yak.

Can we please please concentrate on Everton players as this is an Everton site. My previous reply has been removed because it wasn't as polite as this one. But come on boys - can we forget about them and their stars.

Adam. I bet you could control a ball with your back to goal, even at pub level.

Lukaku can’t. Strange.

Saha - compared to David Unsworth?? This is nonsense. By the time we got him he was past his best and had suffered a series of injuries(which is why he cost nothing to buy). But at Fulham he was a top top striker. He never really made it at Utd but that was because he started getting injured. I would be delighted if we could get another (young) Saha.

Have to agree with Patrick on this being an Everton site and not praising one of the most hated of all Redshite players Stevie Me.

I certainly don't want to read people heaping praise on that bastard, and sorry I can't be polite when it comes to the RS.

Gomis, Ince and Holtby, Canales or Capoue — all on deadline day, anyone?

Gomis may not have lived up to his "Baby Drogba" nickname, but at £3m surely he would be a steal? I must confess that I have not seen him play much so Adam Smith 652 may well be correct in his assesment. I wonder why France, with all their striking options, would have picked him?

Not keen on 28 yr olds but he knows how to play centre forward. Good movement and a helluva shot but not much finesse. Hard to get the right guy in January. Whoever we get, he's not going to see much or the ball anyway. Our service to the striker is almost non-existent.

He looks pretty decent to me - here are all his goals & assists from last season. Looks a good player if you ask me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFBChUbxqoE&feature=player_embedded

Why is he only £3m though, seems his own club don't rate him much.

Could be he's a right jerk off the field, so it would put serious doubt in my mind!

I'd say pass on that one.

I would like to see the transfer happen as we are in desperate need of players at the moment. Could fill in until Lukaku and Traore are fully fit, and even though it would never happen under Martinez imagine having all three on the pitch at the same time, defences would be shitting themselves.

How would a double move for Gomis and his Lyon team mate Clement Grenier go down? Grenier would add creativity to our midfield (similarly what Arteta did for us) as well as being a long term replacement for when the likes of Pienaar and Osman finally end their Everton careers. Just hope Newcastle don't purchase him, now that Cabaye has been sold.

Raymond Fox

Gomis is 3mill because his contract ends in few months, mate.

Raymond Fox (090) he is in the last six months of his contract as it says in the story hence the price.

Course it does when I look again David, egg on the face. Thanks.