Fresh move for Robertson mooted

Excellent player with bags of potential. Also very eloquent and highly intelligent, he's studying for a law degree. Seen him play a few times and he is one of the best to come out of Scotland for a long time.

Agree 100 per cent with Colin - 850 - but he's a left-back and another left-back ought not to be a top priority; right back ought to be ahead of that. That said, dunno if either Leighton or Bryan are being groomed for the middle. The fee would't be outrageous and Colin is right so let's see.

Gotta trust Bobby but I’m wondering... how many left backs do we need??

Yes, he is young but so is Garbutt – plus we have Oviedo to come back... and the best in the business: Bainesy!!!

We are already overloaded with full backs, unless he plans on playing him left wing.

Bring him and let Hibbert move on. Like Hibbert but he does not fit the role of full back in Martinez' set up. They are really wing backs now and that does not play to Tony's strengths. Hopefully this Robertson lad can understudy Coleman.

Sounds like 'the right character' Colin. Is he a right or left back?

It does seem that in Baines, Oviedo and Garbutt on the left and Coleman, Stones and Hibbert on the right, we are pretty well sorted on both sides. Still, if he's that good, bring him in.

I'm starting to worry that he's grooming Baines for a centre mid role. He's had him studying Ribery with his transition to centre mid.

I prefer Baines at left back and Oviado in left midfield. I think they had a couple of games in those positions before Oviado got injured. We looked very dangerous. Maybe Robertson will be backup for Baines.

Probably means the end of the road for yet another graduate of our academy ,Luke Garbutt, who came of age in England U21s victory last night.

I suspect Bobby is no more enamoured of' 'the next generation'than was his predecessor. Sum total of playing time accorded to any of them last season was 2 mins.

PS. I do realise it's sacrilege to criticise a saint, by the way!

I think Paul has touched on a possible reformation on the left (sounds like the rise of the Labour Party!) I'm sure there was some debaye about Robbie looking to use Bainsey in Midfield. Makes a lot of sense as Ossie is past his best. If we then had oviedo at left midfield and Garbutt and Robertson for the left back spot, all of a sudden we have lowered the age of the team by years.

The end of the road? You mean the road the Ross and Stonesy are on?

I think there's every chance we might see Baines playing in the middle at some point next season and Oviedo on the left wing. Robertson does look a good prospect though like Garbutt (and Coleman a few years ago) he's better going forward than defensively. Won't be as cheap as 6 months ago having won young footballer if the year up north.

I know his family as they live nearby and know Andrew, plus being a Queen's Park supporter also have seen lots of him for the U19s and 1st team before his move to Tannadice last summer. He's a great player with so much potential and very down-to-earth character for somebody who has not long turned 20.

What he has done is phenomenal, going from playing amateur for QP in the 4th tier of Scottish football to a full Scottish cap in a year, as well as recently being named Scottish Young Player of the Year then playing in a Scottish Cup Final on Saturday.

If Robbie can get him signed up, he will have done a great piece of business as he is a class act and would be good backup to Baines, although he would be more than capable of handling the pressure now if needed... plus he can also play further up the left also.

Malcolm Joyner 926

I do not think you can say RM is not enamoured with academy players. I feel that the only way forward to Everton is to build a young players policy, that can be groomed for first team football. Evertons financial situation will only improve with success, and the spring board is young players. In fact, I can see at least four players, maybe more, being elevated to first team duties next season.

Bringing young players into the first team is in RMs, DNA balanced by a mixture of senior experienced pros to help bring them on. Personally I get a bigger kick out of seeing a youngster being brought in than spending a fortune on signings.

He would be good cover for Oviedo as I can see Baines being groomed into the DM role so we don't have to pay out to replace Barry. Although we would still need cover for that DM.

Wayne, I couldn't agree more. But I'm far from sure that Roberto is a fan of the academy to the extent that he will risk losing points by playing these kids as you suggest he will.

Of course, if he did so he knows he'll get panned if we lose matches in which they are involved.

I don't think we ever cut Rodwell and Ross much slack when they under performed, did we?

Does Ross Barkley not count as the 'next generation' then? That 2 mins stat is ridiculous! Barkley is 20, an academy product and played loads last season.

We're a good side, our academy players shouldn't be able to just walk into it. Most of them spent time on loan and played plenty of minutes in professional, competitive football. Martinez needed this season to get to know our first team squad properly, we can't expect him to have made his judgements on the academy guys already.

From what I've seen of Garbutt, he's the real deal, his crossing is outstanding. I really don't see why we'd sign a left-back when we're stacked up with them. There's even Ibou Touray in the academy who seems to be doing okay.

Like others have said, this signing would signal some strange moves elsewhere, either selling the current left-backs or re-positioning them, neither of which seems like a particularly good idea to me.

From another story:

"But I also have a few young players who will be given an opportunity in pre-season and depending on how they do they will fill some of those positions in the first-team squad. I think our young players next season will have a massive say in how good we are going to be."

Mike, the 2 minute stat relates to young players playing for the first time this season. Garbutt is the only one and he made a 2-minute substitute appearance against Southampton.

So even if Andrew Robertson is better than any of our current left-back options we should give him a miss?

I understand that people are looking at other areas of the squad and wanting the obvious deficiencies that are apparent there to be addressed, but if this rumour has any basis in reality then you have to assume that the manager has his reasons.

Maybe the lad is available at the right price and is actually better than Luke Garbutt, allowing Baines to switch to a central midfield role and Oviedo to cover the left wing position as well. Maybe he is versatile enough to provide cover across the back four.

Improvements can be made across the board as long as they don't actually prevent us from addressing the more essential areas as well, and these things do not have to be dealt with in a strict chronological order.

Also if he's a good player he maybe able to play another position. As a team that is obviously going to have to sell players at some point to have money for the kitty it makes sense to pick up good young players at any position and develop them.

As the song goes "You can't always get you want but if you try sometimes you get what you need".

You don't really take that 'midfield role for Baines's seriously, do you. He has just been announced as England's first choice full-back. Why on earth should he give that up to become 'just another midfield midget'?

Malcolm - perhaps Leighton thinks he could be an international class midfielder as well? It would be another string to his bow and would make him even more useful to Everton and England. It doesn't exclude him from playing full-back if that is where he is needed, it just gives him and his manager more options to do what is best for the team overall.

Bombing up and down the wing week after week will get more difficult for him and a move to a pivotal midfield role could greatly increase his footballing longevity. He may relish a fresh challenge even at this stage of his career.

To me it seems like potentially a very good move for the player and the club, though the proof will be in the eating.