Blues set to land young Belgian striker

Well, is this to happen ? All other attempts to sign anyone,------------- even players in this country, have seen to fallen flat !

If so, I suppose it’s good news for the future.

By the way, can’t think who the other young Belgian striker could be, doesn’t seem to be getting much publicity ! :)

Dermot @ 844 and Steve @ 846 - ha-ha! Like it.

Sorry but weÂ’re too far into another transfer window full of media bollocks and false dawns to get too excited by this kind of story at the moment.

I mean, does anyone think the rather long ESPN-sponsored jolly to the World Cup is coming back to bite us here? Compare and contrast with BrendaÂ’s approach - no five-week long distractions post season, and look how much business is being done up Â’the hill of p@ssÂ’. Ditto for the Skunks.

Anyone agree, or am I just scape-goating?

We will NOT be getting the players Roberto wanted initially and we will be left grabbing whoever is still available at the close of the window. All this rubbish about only signing players who will fit into the squad is a damn smoke screen. It took weeks for our established first eleven to buy into RobertoÂ’s way of playing so how long will it take new signings to become the Â’correct fitÂ’?

United also refused to pay ٣m for James Rodriguez, deciding to go for Bebe instead.

That James boy must me rubbish as well...

Also, do people not realise that if Arsenal, City, United, Chelsea wanted to sign a player, our only chance of seeing them in Royal Blue would be if we begged for them on loan?

I donÂ’t know about this guy in particular, but we employ scouts for a reason, and IÂ’m confident that Roberto is very involved in the scouting process.

I like the look of Delial Brewster, a first year Everton scholar since June, born up the road in Southport with 4 goals in 3 games for the U18s. He says his assets are pace and finishing and he is working hard on his weak foot and heading. His favourite player is Ross Barkley.

Now I havenÂ’t seen this lad play. All IÂ’ve watched is a scholar interview video on the official site. I liked the look of him straight away. Real cocky hardcase type with a great build and a scouse accent. By the time he finishes growing this lad will be something to behold and if heÂ’s as fast as he says he is then the skyÂ’s the limit."Move over Lukaku. IÂ’m on my way."

Seems like Joe Royle has arrived at the right time.

Who knows, but IÂ’m entirely with Chris on this. The reasoning which uses the absence of assumed interest, or the willingness of a club to sell a player, to negate his ability is beyond stupid in my opinion. It constantly appears over and over again: Someone argued that Lukaku cannot be that good, because Mourinho did not want him. Here it is again: This youth cannot be that good, because top teams do not want him. With that logic every great youngster would only ever be brought by the biggest teams.

ItÂ’s even more funny when we consider that Everton have persistently demonstrated how flawed that type of logic is. Coleman must be shit, he cost under a 𧶀,000 and no one else wanted him. Why didnÂ’t someone outbid us for Stones? or Oviedo? Or Arteta, Cahill, Baines, Jagielka, Mirallas etc.

The world is a big place, and if Arsenal or Borussia or other big clubs were interested, then that is certainly a plus in my book, not a negative. The purchase of youths for low amounts from Â’lesserÂ’ European leagues is a great way to success. Chelski have been doing it extensively for the last seasons, among others, and they will reap the rewards. IÂ’d be more than happy if Everton do the same, because for 1mil, you can buy 10 young potential stars and only one of them needs to come big. ItÂ’s far better buying from Belgium or the Netherlands, than Spain or England, where the big youths will cost far far more. LiverpoolÂ’s mistakes illustrate as much (IÂ’m thinking primarily of their young Spanish buys who have got nowhere..Alberto and Llori for 14mil combined last season). The changing style of this league makes foreign buys a more attractive proposition than ever before. This is especially true given the massively inflated players of English players, even those from lower divisions, and the dropping standards of English youths.

Link

http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2014/07/22/belgian-wonder-kid-reportedly-completes-everton-medical-ahead-of/

This lad is the equivalent of a vellios or Gueye. A longshot on a youngster with potential. He will battle with the likes of Chris long and George Green to make the fringes of the first team in the next year or two. Good luck to him if it happens but not much to be excited bout at present.

Last year the New Recruitment Officer explained how he and his team would attend all youth tournaments worldwide and earmark youngsters to keep an eye on. Not looking for the polished diamond, but for the slightly rough stone with the gem inside. We wish them well.

At least it helps to understand where the annual 㿃M attributed to Â’other operating costsÂ’ is being spent.

As for Henan, I hear that the ٟ.5M is to be paid in stages as and when he moves up the pecking order.

How much excitement do you want?

"The reasoning which uses the absence of assumed interest, or the willingness of a club to sell a player, to negate his ability, is beyond stupid in my opinion. It constantly appears over and over again: Someone argued that Lukaku cannot be that good, because Mourinho did not want him. Here it is again: This youth cannot be that good, because top teams do not want him. With that logic every great youngster would only ever be brought by the biggest teams,"

Spot fucking on!

Barry Silkman tried to do a deal to sell Zidane to Newcastle for ٟ.2M in 1996 but they reckoned he Â’wasnÂ’t good enough for the PLÂ’ – was he shit? (Newcastle also gave Shearer a trial, they put him in goal then fucked him off after.)

Sheffield Utd could have had Maradona for 𧶀 grand but their minge-baggery got the better of them and they paid 𧵘 grand for Alex Sabella – was he better? West Ham and Liverpool passed on the 16-year-old Dalglish so he went to Celtic.

The famous line from veteran screenwriter William Goldman that Â’nobody knows anythingÂ’ (about success or failure in the movie business) could equally apply to football, specially re some of the screechy panicky posts from Â’expertsÂ’ on TW.

Oh and remember, Decca Records rejected the Beatles, saying Â’guitar groups are on the way outÂ’ and (even better) Â’The Beatles have no future in show-business.Â’

We can all look at a mature, 40-goals-a-season Messi and say Â’fucking great player!Â’ but with lads under 20, itÂ’s always a bit of a lottery and can go either way.

All we can do is put our faith in Mr Martinez and hope for the best. Anything else is just chasing your tail.

Henen, Besic and Barry all signed for about ٣ million?? Looks like thatÂ’s the budget gone or are we "keeping our powder dry" again....?

Christ, Everton, give us fans even a glimmer of signing someone we have heard of??

News from the SSN, this morning. My sports desk think its more likely as Morata just injured himself at Juve so they are likely to come back into the market for Lukaku.

What a phrase!!

Immediately thought of the original version sitting in his ranch in Maida Vale stroking a white Persian cat

Sky Bet have seen a fresh run of bets on Ross Barkley to join Manchester City, seeing their odds cut from 2/1 to 13/8. Chelsea are 9/2 second favourites for the England international.

The Sky bet thing even says that they are changing the odds after a raft of bets. This makes me think that they are only doing it because money is going that way, not because they know anything. File under rumour, nothing more.

If it transpires and the Blues start the season off badly, the knives which some have itchy fingers to wield will well and truly be out and it wonÂ’t be at all pretty. Would we or could we sell Barkley to Chelsea in order to purchase Lukaku and then loan Barkley back???

WhatÂ’s happened to that?

Sadly BK has never had the money to move Everton on. His friends who are with him are only in it for the money, so they are happy to sit on it until someone comes along willing to pay the asking price. As Lerner is discovering, it’s not a given to recover your investment – at least Bill’s never put any in!

The increased revenues clubs get will see transfer fee inflation, and wage inflation. Possibly even clubs that are for sale will see inflation – too much money already goes out of the game into people’s pockets as it is. This will only get worse.

An old trick if you are familiar with a bookies bag of tricks.

Create a run on something you know wonÂ’t happen by reducing the odds....sit back,light cigar and watch all the mug punters jump on.

Have a look at Oddschecker,they have a section of "most backed horses"
Then have a look at how many win.

"The group is OK, but theyÂ’ll never get anywhere with that singer."

Which turned out to be written by Keef ;-)

I haven’t really been to the Doc’s – you can put those flower orders down already.

I was going to suggest a consultation with the TW Agony Aunt. But at this juncture, it is not apparent who that is!

If I can prescribe (on a laymanÂ’s basis) a good dose of quality signings, followed by a plethora of goals for, (preseason, without conceding any) I think that may do the trick!

Get well soon mate! :)

WeÂ’ve more chance of Billy Liar stumping up some rented money for it.

Oh, and btw, forget all this garbage about Stones and Barkley; they ainÂ’t going anywhere.

Chelsea just announced the squad for their pre-season tour and apparently Lukaku is not included. DonÂ’t shoot me if itÂ’s BS but hopefully fingers crossed.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/romelu-lukaku-set-for-second-chance-at-chelsea-after-two-seasons-on-loan-9617031.html

"WeÂ’ve buying!!" - Link

"WeÂ’re selling!!" - Link

ThatÂ’s got to be clutching at straws !( mechanically speaking )

Mansfield have snapped up former Stevenage midfielder Simon Heslop.

Thankfully....

Another eventless summer supporting the Blues, wonÂ’t be long before Gibson is injured in a friendly and out till Xmas either.

The kid Henen was deffo at Finch Farm yesterday putting it through its paces but it got sent back because the motor had a fault ! Apparently he went with it.

Anyone of a nervous disposition should refrain from using social media when it comes to transfer rumours.

Made me chuckle that !

Apparently the mower was from Freecycle but we couldn't find enough money for the gallon on petrol so it was bined.

Last season was a breath of fresh air after all the doubt about the signing of RM and then the lack of activity in the transfer market at this time.

Why would we not expect the same this time around? I believe RM has the matter in hand and when the moves are finalized they will be made known to us all.

They may be only a handful and not even household names but I am sure they will do a good job to keep Everton up there were they belong.

We all know the problem is money so RM & Co. have to be very selective.

Almost everyone who is coming out of Belgium at the minute is looking full of ability so why not this lad? He may have chosen us over other as his fellow countrymen have done really really well over recent times at Everton (Lukaku, Fellaini, Mirallas) so why not him and why not us?

We are notoriously slow at sorting out deals no one can deny that but there is no concrete evidence that we have bid or spoken to most players we are linked with. On this occasion, this boy was at Finch Farm on Monday, spoken about by Bobby on Wednesday, and will hopefully be in place by the weekend. That seems pretty smooth sailing to me.

Come on, lads, where's ya optimism? Have a little faith. I'm not the world's biggest optimistic but I have a sneaky feeling we will be glad we signed this kid.

So we lost Deulofeu, Gueye and Vellios — big deal!! We will get better players to replace them, well maybe not Deulofeu, and we will be stronger for it IMO.

We have Barry and McCarthy in central midfield vs the outgoing Fellaini. No contest there (Fellaini did have some talents but was always a square peg in whatever round hole he was placed in). Defence is the same – Stones has come on a lot of course.

For attacking midfielders, we now have McGeady and have lost no-one. For attack, we have lost Jelavic, Vellios and Anichebe, but Naismith has been re-born and we have injured Kone vs a fit but soon to be seriously injured Kone.

So, although we obviously can't end the transfer window with our current squad, in particular the striking options look poor, if the season started tomorrow we would still have a stronger starting XI than we had at the beginning of last season.

(But of course we do need the oft-mentioned 3 or 4 additions to run a Europa League campaign and avoid the end-of-season legginess that did us for Champions League football last season.)

I wonder if there'd be a different reaction if we were paying 㾶m instead of ٟm? "This lads going to be amazing! The new Messi etc etc......" Sounds like a great bit of business to me.

I assume Billy Boys-pen has informed Roberto to add the injury list to the "just like news signings" list to free up some cash for Operation Goodison, upgrading the fucking piss-trays in the Main Stand, and the Other Operating costs?

"When you get 㿼M a season from Sky, thereÂ’s a temptation to get your feet on the table and puff on a cigar but thatÂ’s just not the Everton way."

Fucking right itÂ’s not.

Try re-reading the article from the 18th July where he says he wants three more attackingplayers and a midfielder. That seems pretty clear to me.

To speculate a little based on what we do know, the midfielder is Besic, one of the attackers is intended to be Lukaku, but we have to wait until after July 30th at the very earliest to know about it. I suspect the other two will be loans, one of them Lacina Traore and the other a young winger from a richer club.

We’ve had links with Christian Atsu from Chelsea and Adama Traore from Barcelona. You should expect these signings, but not necessarily soon. Of course they may not happen, of course we may feel let down on September 2nd, but there’s no particular reason for feeling sure that this will happen (or in some cases, claiming to ’know’ this will happen based on nothing but pessimistic cynicism).

The young players we’re signing, including Sam Byrne, and probably David Henen and Brendan Galloway, will not start the season anywhere near the first team; they don’t count in terms of what Martinez is talking about. They’ll be behind new signings, and established Under-21 players like McAleny and Hope up front, and Lundstram in midfield.

if you add this latest one, thatÂ’s one down. Excluding him, thatÂ’s still two or three less than AprilÂ’s murmurings.

Mike – do you really honestly think Evertonians don’t have a right to be cynical/worried (or just enjoy taking the piss) after all the fucking lies we’ve been fed for years and years?

Ross seems happy to be back at Finch Farm. Not worried about him leaving any time soon.

Terrifying lack of options up front. Almost worth getting Frazier Campbell for 900k in case the Lukaku deal falls through!

I read the first dozen posts and was close to slashing my wrists. It would be a good idea to have a moan-meter; fail and your deleted.

Far too much negativity on here, supporters of at least 10 teams in the Prem. would love to swop places with us!

Now it's clear that those loans and McCarthy had a considerable impact on our fortunes last season as well as putting us in pole position to get Barry this season, making us favourites to sign Lukaku if he moves from Chelsea and cementing our reputation with the likes of Barcelona as a top destination for their players who perhaps can't quite make their first team. Some people can't see the big picture, unfortunately.

Again this season, we've got the same moaning and negativity about our lack of transfer activity so far and incredible cross analysis of Roberto's comments, but not very accurate analysis as far as I can see.

For example, As far as I recall he's said we need 6 or 7 new faces this season and that he wanted to see which younger players from our academy could fill those voids before he decides exactly where he needs to buy. This has been jumped on by some to say Roberto promised 6 or 7 first team signings plus some younger players.

More recently he's said that he's looking at 3 new attacking players, one midfielder (Besic) and Barry having already signed. Add in a couple of academy players and there's your 7 players.

At every opportunity, the manager has come out and asked for patience and told us that he knows who he wants. We could yet end up with Lukaku at a very decent 㾾M 3 weeks before kick off and 7 weeks before the window shuts precisely because we held our nerve.

It's a risk that Lukaku won't end up here, but I'm sure Martinez has other targets... we know he's after 2 other attackers as well as Lukaku regardless.