Amalfitano 'aware' of interest from Everton

I think we should be in the market for younger players. Tom Ince is a free agent this summer and would be a much smarter choice.

Amalfitano shows some nice touches but I don’t think he’s the type were looking for. Like Mark said, Tom Ince is available on a free. The only downside is that his gobshite of a dad comes with him. I wouldn’t touch that dirt bag with a barge pole.

To old maybe cheap but Tom Ince does look better prospect,

RM likes tricky dwarf touch players.
It reminds me of Kendles midgets. Johnsson, Beardsley, Ward, Thomas.................or maybe Thomas doesnt fit all catergries.

I don't think Amaltifano is on the radar but I am sure RM already has a few on his mind.

The question of who will still be here out of Lukaku, Kone. Traore and Vellios will certainly be an intriguing problem as much as the midfielders like Barry, Pienaar and Osman.

Okay we know Osman will still be here even if he is just a sub. but I don't think Tom Ince is a quality player. I would sooner have McGeady.

If we need 6 or 7 players, to quote Martinez, then this is exactly the type of acquisition we will be getting - relatively cheap and little risk that they won't 'fit in'.

I'll be very surprised if we can afford a Lukaku (or similarly priced player) as one of those 6 or 7.

Decent experienced player who can tackle, pass and get forward. Other clubs will be interested and I'm not sure he'd enjoy sitting on the bench with the occasional 20 minute sub role. Or course, I could be wrong. Age 29, maybe he would prefer to rotate.

Talented rotation people with the character of Hibbert, Osman, McGeady, Oviedo and Naismith are hard to find. No moaning, no groaning, and always ready to come on and do a job for the team.

Don't know much about young Ince but he appears to be a nippy Martinez type. As does Ben Arfa, the dribbling French geordie. There again, do we need wingers when our priorities lie elsewhere?

Tom Ince is hardly starring for Crystal Palace at the moment, is he? What have, are people seeing that makes his name appear on all these rumour threads? He doesn't appear to be on anyone else's radar given what happened in January.

Mark Frere. Have you seen Liam Moore, defender with Leicester only 20. What I've seen of him he looks good. And Liam Bridcutt, Midfielder, Brighton, looks really good. And there's a striker I've liked for a couple of seasons Peterborough United. Britt Assambalonga Scored 21 goals in 36 starts. Only about 22. I think I know what your going to say they all come from lower divisions except Moore, in Premier next season. I think they would all fit in and I don't think they would break the bank. See there's talk of Roberto showing interest in the Nott's Forrest Central defender Jamaal Lascelles. Didn't we get fined for approaching him £45,000 Last season?

Si #309, it's because Ince fits our transfer requirements.

He's free.

Jack. You bring up a good point I myself have touched on previously. Scouting the lower leagues. Often, whilst watching some of these games, I'm thinking. Hey, we could do with him or hey, he's better than what we've got etc...Look at Cahill, Jags and Lescott. Look at Bolasie of Palace. An ex-Conference lad who came through via Rushden and Diamonds, Plymouth and Bristol City. They're out there. Many of them. Talented lads in the wrong place, hungry for a chance in the right place. It's up to us to find them. Unpolished gems waiting to be discovered.

The new Head of Recruitment scouts the various youth tournaments. Does he scout the lower leagues? This I would like to know. Word of mouth won't work. From agents or from managers. These lads, many of whom are operating in unsuitable positions, need to be secretly monitored. If Martinez thinks they have something to offer, we should bring them in.

Si. Ince is on the radar because not only is he cheap as hell, but he's just 22 and scored 31 goals in 100 championship games with Blackpool. Zaha and Ince were the two most highly rated wingers in the championship last year so I don't see why 1 disappointing year (albeit for very different reasons) would change the general perception all that much. At worst, you'd be picking up a promising young player for a McGeady size fee due to the compensation Blackpool are owed because he's English and under 23 running down a contract.

Jack Cross @310 and Harold,

It's fine looking at these players but the lad from Leicester? I can't see him wanting to move having just gained promotion with a club that is miles ahead of us financially. They could well be the surprise package next season while we are scraping about for cash again. As usual.

I see that Diame is being touted in the papers as well today. If Martinez is serious about bringing in 6-7 players this summer then you'd imagine at least two-thirds will have to be free or bargains. That includes the likes of Barry, Ince, Colbeck and maybe even Diame. The odd loan or two (Del-boy?) and a substantial outlay for a striker (Rom? Remy?) wouldn't be a bad summer for the Blues. After the business he did this season I'm quite excited for next season despite the fact we've shot ourselves in the foot with CL this year. I'm also confident that RM can unearth a couple of unknown gems like he did with Wigan. Yep, it's going to be a very interesting summer (I hope!).

Diame is a decent option. Ince can't even get into the Palace team. We have better options than him already.

Scraping the barrel comes to mind. Why do fans think that players who are not doing it in the Premier League and in some cases cannot gain a place in relegation-threatened teams can do something different on our payroll.

I am heartedly sick of us giving jobs to the 'yozzer Hughes' types just to warm the bench or, even worse, do nowt. I want to see a few decent players who can IMPROVE the squad and excite the fans.

After the profits made over the past few transfer windows, we should be able to give Roberto £30 million at least and that is without this miserly board coughing up a bit of investment themselves. The fans are our only investors and it is a shame!

Ray Roche. Your telling me that if Liam Moore was given the opportunity to move to us from Leicester he wouldn't jump at it? Come off it. You seem to be forgetting QPR had quite a lot of dosh but were did they end up? The Championship. And Leicester will probably follow them. They've been trying to get up for about 3 seasons remember when Sven was there and they had the dosh then.

Harold Matthews. What you think of goalie Alex McCarthy, Reading? Superb what I've seen. I would go as far as to say he's better than Howard. Harold, Have you heard of a youth player at Everton called Daniel Murphy, forward? heard he very good.

Harold Matthews. I was in Rigbys Pub last night and the Sky Sports reporters were interviewing the manageress Fiona and some staff about the Everton v City game. The filming is on Sky Sports News 1st May. Thursday. Not sure why they picked there. You would think it would have been somewhere closer to ground.

Peter Z Jones. Jordan Rhoads, Blackburn, is better than that Ince. in my opinion. I think Ince was sold more by his dad Paul. Remember when they were going around 5 clubs seeing which suited him. Putting him in the window and look were he ended up. Liverpool seemed to loose interest quickly. But I suppose if he's free that's a plus for us. And that Ross McCormick, Leeds as done really well 28 goals and he 27. There's that many around in the lower divisions, surely some of them have got to be worth a punt?

Sure Jack. I'm not saying that there aren't other prospects out there that could be quite good if given a chance. I'm just not understanding how 6 appearances at Palace gives anyone a clear picture of Ince's ability. Didn't he score the first game he ever played for them? It's like us writing off Aiden McGeady as an Everton player because he's only gotten a couple starts and substitute appearances. If the kid stunk it up for an entire season, I'd get the skepticism.

Harold Matthews. Do you ever remember a player called O'Keefe at Everton trying to find out were we got him from? Any idea? Think it was the same season we bought Megson. He had a tremendous shop. Midfielder. Have feeling it was the Conference and he was getting on age wise so got picked up late.

O'Keefe was born and raised in Blackley, in the city of Manchester. He went to school with Mike Pickering, who later found fame as a musician. As a youth he was a ball boy at Old Trafford, and was on course to join the Manchester United youth team when he broke his leg in a collision with David Allison, son of Malcolm Allison, in a regional schoolboy game. Upon his recovery he joined Stalybridge Celtic of the Cheshire County League, and playing as a right-back he won the club's Player of the Year award. This won him a chance in the Football League, and he turned down Crystal Palace to instead sign with Third Division club Plymouth Argyle in February 1974. He was told by manager Tony Waiters that he would never be anything more than a fringe player in the professional game, who then allowed him to leave Home Park on a free transfer. He returned to Manchester and signed with Hyde United for the 1974–75 Cheshire County League season.

In November 1975 he flew out to Saudi Arabia for a trial at top-flight Al-Hilal, as manager George Smith, the man who had signed him at Stalybridge, offered him the chance to earn a tax-free contract in the oil-rich nation. He impressed on the trial and was offered a contract, this made him the first European to play professionally in Saudi Arabia. Club president Prince Abdullah bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz Al Saud bought O'Keefe a Pontiac Ventura, before taking the young player on a luxurious tour of Europe, visiting five star hotels in London, Paris, Cannes, and Rome, before returning to Riyadh for the start of the new Saudi season of football. However on the trip he asked an O'Keefe to give up his football career to become his lover, and was refused.[13] As Prince Abdullah was such as a wealthy and powerful man in Saudi Arabia (a member of the House of Saud), O'Keefe fled the country, fearing for his safety. The Prince was an uncle to Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al Saud, who coincidentally was sentenced to twenty years in prison in October 2010 for killing his gay lover. As he needed Prince Abdullah's permission to leave the country, O'Keefe had to convince him that he was only going to stay in England for one week so as to visit his ill father (who was in fact in good health). Upon his return he informed The Football Association, who gave him advice after forming an emergency meeting.

As the Saudi affair was being resolved, Mossley manager Bob Murphy offered O'Keefe a contract at the Northern Premier League club. In December 1976, he duly signed for Mossley after the Saudi club eventually agreed to release him from his contract. Howard Wilkinson was appointed as Mossley's manager in 1976, only for Murphy to return the following year. Wilkindon used O'Keefe as a left-back, though Murphy decided to play him an attacking midfielder due to his 'pace, power and eye for goal'. Under Murphy, the club won the Northern Premier League and Premier League Cup double in 1978–79 – this was the club's first significant success in seventy years. A part-time player, he also worked as a van driver for the Manchester Evening News.

O'Keefe was snapped up by Gordon Lee at First Division Everton for a £25,000 fee. He received a red card in the Merseyside derby, after a late challenge on Liverpool's Ronnie Whelan. He played in the derby again on 24 January 1981, in an FA Cup Third Round clash, and unwittingly set up Imre Varadi for the "Toffees" second goal of a 2–1 win. He went on to score the only goal of the Fourth Round Replay against Southampton at Goodison Park. However Manchester City knocked Everton out at the quarter-final stage, whilst O'Keefe broke his leg in a game against Manchester United.

Jack Cross @588

Yes, Jack, that is exactly what I'm saying. Leicester City are now a financially secure outfit and can almost certainly pay more than we can and who are planning to increase their stadium capacity to 42,000. We are scrabbling about for money to build a second rate stadium, looking for loan players and hoping to keep what we've got. Sadly, players these days put their trust in agents whose sole occupation is to get the player, and themselves, a big pay packet and MOST players will look at that first and the impact on their career second. If Moore IS a good prospect he would have to be sufficiently grounded to see the bigger picture, but many see only the £ sign. I'll wager that Leicester City do NOT get relegated next season.

And I think you'll find that Sven was the reason they didn't get promoted, it's a different game now with Pearson in charge.

Jack, do you mean Eamonn O'keefe? Wikipedia have some info on him.

Patrick (699) - I don't know where you got your information from, but, from my memory, there was nothing "unwitting" about him skinning Phil Neal down the left and putting the ball across the 6-yard box for Varadi to bundle in (and get a meat pie in the face for his trouble).

I remember well the FA Cup winner against Southampton (including Keegan), in extra time as Goodison bounced.

I also seem to remember him scoring a 30-yard screamer against Arsenal in (I think) a 1-0 win.

Sorry Paul #715 I didn't write any of that I meant to reference it but I was in a rush as Ray Roche says above Wiki's information. I too was at that Southampton game what a mad night that was. I also went to the first game at the Dell.

Ray Roche (331)

There's no doubt Leicester are an ambitious club with owners that are willing to splash the cash, but I don't think they are miles ahead of us financially. Leicester's wage bill at present won't be anyway near as high as ours. The benefit they have is that they'l be starting from scratch with all the extra TV revenue..... their money won't already have been eaten up by high wages like us. My guess is, Leicester's annual turnover next season wont exceed ours - and neither will their wage bill.

We are an established PL outfit, and able to offer players European football. I can't think for the life in me why any player would rather play for Leicester.

Mark, you do make some good points; however, a 20-year-old, Moore, may well be more willing to continue in an environment that he knows and trusts, with a manager who has trust in HIM, and where he may also be on the verge of something special i.e: his first Premier League experience with a club possibly going places. I have no love for Leicester but they do seem to be a well set up club who I feel will adapt to the Prem quite quickly. More so than QPR.

Ray Roche. I do mean him thanks mate.

Patrick Murphy. Thanks, wasn't that interesting. The reason I asked, someone told me that he had a book out. But I've had no look finding it. But Thanks for that Patrick.