Khalifa is next striker to be linked

Scraping the barrel now.

What a shit shout this is.

1 in 20
Should have kept Jellybaby

I have been very positive about Roberto's dealings in the transfer market at he beginning of the season, but in this transfer window, bringing in McGeady and Traore who were not match fit or even fit enough to be considered is at the wrong time of the season.

Players need to come in and hit the ground running because points and games are starting to roll by as Everton experience a blip in their season, compounded by having so many players out injured or just returning from injury.

I'd rather have Vaughany back.

To be fair we may well need Traore when he does get fit, and he apparently comes with the option of extending the loan. As for McGeady, I'm not convinced by what I've seen so far. Let's hope he has a shot on him, or something.

Forget Khalifa whoever he is.

I just read that Man City paid its employees £639,000 a DAY last year.

Might as well go to bed!

I like the look of McGeady. Seems an intelligent player with good movement. The Traore business is quite strange. When discussing him on the official site, Martinez said, "He is not allow---...err, while he recovers from his injury". A definite slip of the tongue which suggested that we are not getting the whole truth. Is he really injured? Can he not play until a certain date? Strange days indeed. (Can you hear me mamma?)

20 games but a total of only 466 minutes which is only about 5 games. The pertinent question is: why so little game time? A quick scan of the Marseille website suggests that he is at the bottom of the pecking order of their available forwards but there are possibilities other than it is due to his actual ability. He may still be more effective than Jelavic.

Personally, I have been fairly pleased with what I have seen so far from McGeady. He has been able to appear in a decent number of games considering his recent competitive inactivity, has shown some flair and awareness, and should improve quite a bit as he settles in and reaches full fitness.

Khalifa should at least be immediately available and his fitness should be good since he has been available for 20 games but not over used. At least we would then be taking a sword to any potential gunfights.... I'll get my coat!

Harold, I remember you and Patrick (I think) discussing that slip of the tongue and checked the press conference out myself. Have to say I didn't hear more than a momentary lapse from someone speaking their second-language and there was nothing facially to indicate it was a potentially embarrassing revelation.

Unless he is a shameless / well practised liar (who knows what 'personal development' courses Bill offers his managers ;) ) I don't see how he could have covered a mistake like that so swiftly.

Seems like a desperation move and I agree about Traore and McGeady. I think long-term McGeady may be good but with the injury crisis we have now it seems odd to bring in to unfit guys who won't be ready for some weeks -- by which time the bulk of our injured players should be fully fit anyway.

Everton had a very good transfer window in 2012 when Moyes brought in Landan Donovan and Pienaar on loan and bought Jelavic. And all 3 performed exceptionally well because they played immediately by hitting the ground running. And they propelled Everton up the league who went on and played in the semis against Liverpool (although Donovan had returned to his parent club by then, and a big miss back then.)

Does not matter who we sign, rest assured they will have a dodgy injury or will be out of action within weeks of signing.

We need a 20-goal-a-season striker to go with Lukaku when he's back from injury.

As for McGeady, how can you say "I'm not sure about him"? He's barely played. When he came on against the Redshite, we looked better (if it's any consolation); I think he will be a dime of a player. Very clever.

This weekend's game against Villa is going to be massive; drop points and we will most definitely drop away from the Champions Leagues place with a trip to Spurs on the horizon. We need to see a reaction on Saturday. Villa will be full of beans after last night.

Si. Well remembered. Yes, It was Patrick who put me on to it and I still think Traore is not allowed something or other. Second language or not, seldom have I heard anyone with a better command of the English lingo and the way he smoothly corrected things was typically masterful.

That said. Where you get the "potentially embarrassing revelation" from is a mystery. Not from me that's for sure. I've always thought it to be some sort of red tape which doesn't allow Traore to do "whatever" until a certain date. No big deal. These things happen.

Steavey, add Gibson to that. I think he played fairly immediately (great prose there from an English teacher) and even got an early winner against Shitty within a few weeks of joining.

On Khalifa, the name alone makes me want him to sign.

Not the right Khalifa! (Although the Sheikh in Abu Dhabi already has a Prem Club).

Thought the point of baseless transfer gossip is that it can be fanciful and exciting. This guy sounds thoroughly uninspiring. Meanwhile our supposed 4th spot rivals RS and spurs are fighting it out over a 15m pacy Russian flyer who scores for fun. Ha, the inequality!

Si Cooper, I've realised over the past few days that you are the voice of reason on TW and I want to subscribe to your newsletter.

This is most probably nothing more than the usual desperate gossip that you always get 24 hours before a transfer window closes.
What will it be tomorrow?? ' Martinez tries to prize Soldado from Spurs on a two week loan'??

Not being funny here again though but Fulham are making an 11 million bid for a striker with a proven Champions League and International pedigree...We are scraping after a striker with a goal return of 1 in 20 and thats without me having the slightest idea what his record is like for Tunisia...Sad how far behind the big spenders we have fallen.

Sounds to me like a carbon copy of a Marouane Chamahk..

We should be aiming higher than this..What about Gomis??

Can we get Timmy back for a few weeks !!

We have signed a injured striker, on loan, so with Lukaku out with the same problem, where does that leave us on Saturday? Answer, in Shit Street.

Villa will be a tough test, & they are desperate for points, and as they showed at Anfield on Jan 18th they are capable of doing it. I just hope we can organise ourselves better than Tuesday as goals are going to be at a premium!

I am not sure how you can say you don't rate Sturridge as top class because if he had scored the same amount of goals for Everton over the last 12 months that he has at Liverpool, we all know that every Evertonian would be crowing from the rooftops about him.

He is not International class possibly but the again there are lots of examples of great strikers at club level but cant do it at the International level..

Ian Wright.
Robbie Fowler.
Tony Cottee.

Three strikers there straight off who never made it at International level but were fantastic goalscorers at club level and really, hand on heart, thats all most Everton fans want.

On to Saturday, its going to be a damn hard match against what looks like a re-invigorated pacy energetic Villa side. I have massive concerns that our midfield could be burnt off because lately we have looked sluggish and basically downright tired and lethargic.

We havent beat Villa at home since March 2006 and to do so we must do it with another even more patched up starting 11, possibly no Pienaar, no Coleman and Distin for sure, no chance for Traore, no Lukaku and we are not 110% sure how fit Jagielka, Alcaraz or Barkley are going to be.

Could be a long afternoon, and for me if we can get 3 points it will rank as one of the best wins of the season under the circumstances.

No of course we don't fear Sturridge..

He has only scored 3 goals in 3 derbies against us..oh and 1 while he was on loan at Bolton in February 2011 and another 2 in the space of a few weeks when he played for Chelsea in October 2011 (League and Carlind Cup)

If you ask me the little shit is fast becoming another bogeyman.

Adrian Ramos of Hertha Berlin in talks with Stoke. Fee: £5mill. Leading scorer in Germany, got to be worth a shout...

Yes Jim. I can't stand the bloke but he's an outstanding goal scorer.

Jim Bennings,

Cottee, are you serious, good record at club level? That bloke scored 99 goals for us, but when you look at his record it was littered with loads of goals when he got the only goal in a defeat. Never once scored a big match winner and never delivered when it mattered.

Coming off the bench to get an equaliser against the RS doesn’t make him a hero in my eyes. A goal-poaching lazy bastard in my eyes. He was never a team player and as Sharpie said, if we got beat and he scored a goal, he truly believed he had done his bit and everyone else had not done theirs.

Sturridge, can't deny he's a good goal scorer, just can't stand the twat. I'd like to shoot him, if only for that silly dance he sometimes does after he scores.

Peter Bell

It does not matter how a striker scores goals.
A striker is not meant to run around like a healess chicken for 90 minutes and at the end of each season say ' oh well I worked hard all season, but only scored 7 goals'.

A striker is meant to be a poacher of goals, its what we at Everton Football Club DO NOT HAVE ANYMORE.

I am sick of seeing Everton strikers recieving the ball from throw ins by the corner flag and looking at the penalty area and seeing nobody in there.

Cottee scored 99 goals for EFC, its hardly his fault that he played in some shite sides that kept losing.

Sharpe is a Davie Moyes lover, I loved Sharpe as a player but you just don't get goals off hard work, if that was the case we may aswell of gave Marcus Bent a 10 year contract because whilst he couldnt hit a barn door nobody worked harder.

The point is if Everton had signed Daniel Sturridge instead of Liverpool you would likely be seeing an Everton team that would have far more movement up front and be able to finish off shite like West Brom and Stoke.

Sturridge is not World class granted but his goalscoring exploits speak for themself and would do me anyday instead of sitting here watching a strikers graveyard at Everton, where its all just toil and no end product, watching Everton strikers start well and just slowly deteriorate.

I fucking hate sturridge! Almost as much as Gerrard! Not as much as Ratface!

Why can't we find someone Liverpool fucking hate??? Who'll ram it down their throats!!

I fucking hate Liverpool!!

I agreed with Martinez on not wanting to buy this window and saving all that cash from Bill (no laughing at the back) till the summer, changed my mind, Bill needs to get the cheque book out ASAP.

Everton are now also being linked to Athleco Madrid for striker Aidrian Lopez .

I don’t know much about the lad but he sounds a bit tastier than the guy we’re being linked to here.

This guy sounds amazing. 1 goal in 20 appearances. He's just what we need!

James - don't be cynical, I've heard he's the new Magaye Gueye.

Mike, shh, no one's heard of Magaye Gueye. He's our secret weapon.

Sky sports keep showing pictures of Martinez with Traore saying what a great signing he will be. The penultimate day of the transfer window and he is still talking about a crocked loan signing who may do well for us when fit!!!
Sounds to me like we have got all we will get and Martinez has been told to make the most of it. Fucking bollocks.

My understanding is we can't have any more loan players so this is bollox

Nick - yeah, sorry, for some reason I forgot about that. I wonder why?

Matthew - it is unlimited loans from foreign clubs, only domestic ones have a strict limit.

Martinez has said further comings and goings depend on what happens to Heitinga and that he is happy with his two signings. He states that they were his priorities. Bull shit!! He didn't know anything about Traore until he had almost signed for West Ham.

Why is it dependent on Heitinga?!
We need midfield and forward cover.

Surely he doesn't mean that he needs the money from his departure before he can buy!

He is beginning to talk rubbish. I think his hands are tied and he has to come out with shit and try and make it all sound positive.

Well he can't... we just lost fucking 4-0 to the fucking shite! Players are dropping like flies and those that are supposedly fit look tired and jaded.

Finally when we all start to feel positive it all comes crashing down. Sick of it.

I don't think we need Khalifa, we need someone with Prem experience, lets weather the storm, and play a 2 man up front Traore & Naismith/Mirallas or Mirallas & Naismith, hopefully we can bang in some goals and ignite the fire that is needed when Lukaku is back. BUY NOT LOAN, but buy a striker in the summer as we will not have Lukaku, Traore, Delboy next season, so why not go for someone like Remy or Ba, maybe even Benteke?

I don't know just a thought.

@088 — Since when did you expect anything less from Kenwright and his board of wankers?

We have a new manager but, other than a change of footballing style, what else did you think it was going to change?

I’ll give the answer in two words: fuck all.

Smug, annoying git that he is Sturridge was a great signing for the RS. £12m for a young international striker who has barely stopped scoring when fit. Less than the price of Jelavic and anichebe!

So Naismith is our only fit striker for the next 2/3 games???? I feel my lunch coming back up.

Harold (#937) - "potentially embarrassing revelation" - erm, that was my take on how daft our hierarchy would look if it was accidentally revealed that we couldn't play Traore even if he was fully fit due to an agreement with Monaco / bureaucratic red tape.

No one seems to have as many convoluted transfer dealings as we do and we would all be voicing our dismay. It seems that the club has been doing its utmost to convince everyone Traore was our main target all along and that he could even be available for some role in the derby.

Like Chris Gould, I am getting that sinking feeling that our transfer activity remains most likely shackled by lack of funds rather than hindered by lack of choice.

Off topic a bit this but........................

COULD SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW THE POST NUMBERING SYSTEM WORKS...?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Honestly how can you go start at 866 and finish on 103...????

If were serious about the top 4, we need to be buying players valued at £20m+, do you think we will?

City have Aguro, god knows what he'd bring on the open market. Watched him play last night- Genius.
Utd have RVP & Rooney-enough said.

Tottenham have Adebayor... Brilliant when he feels like it, he does at moment.
Chelski have Eto, Torres & Ba; not ripping up trees but I'd take any of them.
Rs have Goofy & Sturridge.
Arsenal have Giroud, Podolski & a load of other midfielders who can score.

I rest my case!

Andy (#106), they are the last three digits of a sequential number assigned to each comment as it is posted. (See what I did there?) They serve as a convenient way to reference other posts on the thread, but will appear in full sequence only if that thread is the only one receiving posts. Otherwise, as is more usual, the posts are spread among the various current threads, with gaps apparent in the sequence on any particular thread.

Hope this helps.

Michael,

Thanks for that and yes I totally understand now why the gaps between the numbers appear, it's a bit annoying when you can't see the full number and someone says to go look at post 501 and their post says 086.....

Cheers for the explanation though :)

@-110. Raymond you’re in la-la land if you think Kenwright is going to fork out £20m + for a striker. He’d sooner take injured no-marks on loan for next to nothing and pocket the cash.

Si. Yes. It's beginning to look that way but I'll be very disappointed if we don't get a nice surprise before Jim White and Natalie say goodnight on Friday.

I have a feeling that Martinez will bring in someone by Saturday morning and by that I mean one of those "the paperwork got stuck in the fax machine" type of affairs......

Well folks I have just heard on the Radio that Martinez has stated he will not be buying anyone else in this transfer window.

Most clubs do not do much in January as clubs will want to hold on to players anyway

Supposedly Fulham are odds on to sign Lewis Holtby.

He didn't say he wouldn't be loaning anyone else though... ; )

Linda I wouldn’t put too much on what Martinez say’s to the media, be it Merseyside, City, or whoever.

I think we will, but, as to who, your guess is as good as anyone’s.

On an upbeat though, Spurs are trying to hijack the RS’s move for Koloplank or whatever his name is.

Harold 129, last minute surprise on Friday, all depends on the top Natalie will be wearing

Really? I thought the system works pretty well... three digits is the most you want to deal with, and you very rarely get duplicate numbers on a thread. They are in numerical order (with gaps) so you can just scroll up (or down) until you find it...

Simples!

If it is a long thread, I use Find in Page within the browser software that will get you right there.

Norwich to sign Yobo on loan....

I don't think RM will be spending much in this window, instead keeping his money for the summer. Lets not forget that he has already brought in 2 players in this window and he will have to weigh up what he does in the summer, will he be able to sign any of the loan players and if not who does he replace them with.

Carl I hope you are right but I do have a feeling that we will sign at least 1 more player. I hope if we do they are for a change FULLY FIT!

Any weight to the Moisander links....

http://myevertonnews.com/everton-to-bid-3m-for-finland-captain-niklas-moisander/

I'm surprised nobody has made a joke about us signing a rapper based on this lad's name.....

Tom Ince loan to Palace.

Holtby looking like a loan to Fulham.

Can't understand why we are not in for Holtby. Good cover for Barkley and CM. Even wide midfield at a push.

Can't understand why we have sold a fit striker and replaced him with a crocked one whose return date from injury is 100% opaque.

We are not currently behaving like a club in a strong financial position. We are where we always are, trying to make do and mend on the cheap, and therefore ultimately falling well short of CL qualification.

I'm sure nobody cares, but I'm bored so here goes:

Iain Turner to Barnsley till the end of the season!

Mark (384), it looks like Holtby is going on loan to Fulham with an option to buy for around 8 million. Bit hefty for cover don't you think? Esp considering we're skint (despite the club constantly telling us they're in the money).

I would have rather we made a small offer for Barry to make his move permanent, then loan Ince instead... but alas he's gone to Palace.

Peter. I look forward to checking it out.

Vijay. He's far too good for cover. I'd have him tomorrow.

Harold (396), agree on Holtby.. he's far too good for midfield cover. However, I think the need for another defender and striker is more pressing at this time given our injuries in those positions.

Vijay, I don't mean cover as in a Velios, Gueye, Heitinga or even Jelavic type of cover. In other words, to be hanging around the squad picking up a wage when clearly having zero chance of playing.

I don't even mean cover in a Naismith or even Osman kind of cover; one not close to premiership quality, the other really only good for certain types of games and/or for limited periods. Or Straq or Hitz kind of cover- there just for the numbers.

I mean proper cover. As in, we won't cack ourselves if he plays. In fact, he might even get to be first choice periodically because he's that good. And given injuries, he will probably end up playing as much as anybody. That kind of cover. The kind we don't have now and in truth, haven't had for a long time.

I think we are skint and can't afford what Fulham offer. It's the club trying to bullshit us otherwise that hacks me off.

Vijay. Agreed.