Mirallas has eyes on the Champions League

Loads of players have left Everton and gone onto much better things. Rooney... Erm.. Erm. Erm..

IÂ’d be gutted to lose him but thatÂ’s the risk we run at this stage - we canÂ’t hold on to top-class players if weÂ’re not going to be in Europe every season.

As Patrick rightly says, itÂ’s definitely up to him and his teammates (rather than the club, as Kev implies) whether we are in with a chance of the Champions League or not.

DonÂ’t blame him as he has the ability to play in the CL. Up to the manager and other players to step up. Nothing wrong in say he would like to play at the highest level - whatelse do you expect him to say.

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In this case Mirallas will probably move on at the end of the season, Everton will not be offering him CL football next season.

If I was the manager, they wouldnÂ’t be getting their wages in full right now. Pay cut comes to mind. That also goes for the manager.

Cut their big wages down to a third of what they are earning and then see how much it means to them wanting to go out onto that pitch and win games. You should only get paid in full for winning.

This is the problem: as far as the players are concerned, I donÂ’t think that they really give a shit if they lose because they get paid their full wage anyway. Personally I donÂ’t think they really give a shit what or how the Everton fans think or feel.

RM and Bill Kenwright need to start getting ruthless with them and start putting their foot down and stop pussy-footing around with them.

If youÂ’re going to take the Â’fuck Â’em allÂ’ approach because youÂ’re being romantic about the club, how long do they need to stay in a 10-12 year career before enough is enough?

It is literally a league above. Mirallas came for game time in the Prem and if he leaves for game time in the CL then so be it. I donÂ’t see us qualifying anytime soon either.

A Champions League player – like him – would have scored one of our two chances he chose to loft into the sky when put through recently. His chip against Hull was a stupid waste. Lukuka gave him the look yesterday and rightly so.

In my opinion, heÂ’s not as good as he thinks. If he wants to go, and we can get real money, Everton wouldnÂ’t miss him or his dodgy hamstring.

If Mirallas wants to leave to better his career, then good luck to him; he has been a good servant. As long as Kenwright stays in control here, we will never do fuck all. Last season shouldÂ’ve been built upon but wasnÂ’t. We brought in Besic and EtoÂ’o???

I canÂ’t blame any player for wanting to play in the top leagues or cups. If we canÂ’t give it to them, then itÂ’s Adios Amigo.

Heitinga thought the same then ended up going to the massive club that is Fulham.

HeÂ’s not a Champions League player. WasnÂ’t when he came here and isnÂ’t one now.

Seriously ,his injury problems are his biggest let-down. Would wish him the best of luck and thanks very much for being part of Our Club.

Personally I do not see Mirallas playing for a top side with real Champions League winning chances. But in other countries lesser sides get to play in that competition so that is where he might get a game.

I will be disappointed if he leaves but he has played well for us. Maybe he wants to see if our club have ambitions and the January transfer window might be the chance to show it.

Once the better players start playing international football they will be affected by touts and other players urging them to go to their clubs. I truly believe that is what happened with Rooney, he left us to win things and he has succeeded.

We had a great season last time around and showed lots of progress. But we did not increase the squad numbers because we lost as many as joined us. I said this months before this season began and I already could see us struggling with the extra fixtures.

If we begin to improve before the coming transfer window then we will not be very active. If we remain around mid table then our activity will illustrate our ambition.

Realistically I can see us losing our best players as unfortunately the big money clubs in the league are taking away the competition outside five or six clubs. The media promote these clubs unashamedly and we are standing outside in the rain with our noses up against the window panes wishfully hoping.

By the end of this season, the top four will include both Manchester clubs and Chelsea plus perhaps Arsenal or one other. Our aim is to remain in the Premier League and if we finish anywhere in the 5th to 8th position we will have done well.

Well he did when speaking to my lad when he was signing his autograph outside the ground a few weeks ago.

One of our most skilful and direct players, will be gutted if he leaves but you canÂ’t blame him if he wants to play at the highest level.

It took a while to hit home but we actually had it in our grasp, it was in our hands yet we allowed it to slip.

To be honest I donÂ’t know where our midfield would be If we didnÂ’t have Mirallas, he is the only goal threat, the only goal maker and the only player with any real pace.

Who would create anything if Mirallas wasnÂ’t there?

McGeady? Ha!
Osman?
Atsu?
McCarthy??
Barry??
Besic??

Barkley?..hmmm when he actually gets his head up which isnÂ’t very often to be honest, itÂ’s ok running past three men but whatÂ’s at the end of his runs?

As far as IÂ’m concerned losing Mirallas would just be a typical step backwards.

Our best players and most difficult to replace. Barkley is still just potential to me and doesnÂ’t warrant starting any more than Osman.

BainesÂ’s best years are not ahead of him and if Mirallas leaves and weÂ’re nowhere near Europe, why are players going to come to Everton? And when that happens, why are players going to want to stay?

Our three most high profile signings ever are still Gazza and Ginola and add to the list EtoÂ’o. Martinez is still to prove himself in the transfer market.

He has no real affinity with the club, being Belgian, and heÂ’s given good service. The club would benefit in securing a large fee for a player at his peak. ItÂ’s up to him and the rest of the squad to treat it like a kick up the arse!

No way we are getting near the Champions League so cash in and get someone that wants to play for us... maybe even one of the young lads.

He wonÂ’t be the last one to say this during this shitty season.

IÂ’m with you regarding Mirallas but Bolasie and Routledge are both very useful players, you only need to watch the football highlights.

IÂ’d rather have Bolasie and Routledge on our flanks than McGeady and Atsu, and IÂ’m pretty sure the vast majority of Everton fans would too.

We donÂ’t need squad fillers, we have Pienaar and McGeady as subs so we need a player of some repute to play opposite Kevin. Dellboy would be perfect but, failing getting him in January, we should go back in for the Spanish winger who scored a hat-trick against us pre-season. He is a goal and assist machine.

I know McGeady has a heck of a CV but watching him this last 11 months has made me question quite how he has that CV.

We canÂ’t go on what McGeady did at Celtic or in Russia, we can only judge what weÂ’ve seen at Everton and frankly itÂ’s been pretty underwhelming.

On his day, he is a match-winner and while the jury is still out I think he can be effective in helping to change a game. I agree we wouldnÂ’t want to be reliant on him and thatÂ’s why we need Delboy back.

The highest level is La Liga, The Premier League, and The Bundesliga. Over the course of an entire season the cream always rises to the top, unlike in the cup tournaments. Lukaku would be playing at "the highest level" now if heÂ’d have stayed with Anderlecht, and he would be paid less and have suffered for the lower quality of opposition in the Belgian league. Leave the X-factor hyperbole to Sky and ITV. The ChampionsÂ’ League is a an overrated corporate pay day.

Anyway, Mirallas couldnÂ’t handle the number of games with his elastic band hamstrings.

PienaarÂ’s Spurs cock-up gone right over your head, has it?

Just sign the new contract with a 㿀M+ buy out trigger and EARN your move, you money grabbing twat... If you and all the other slack-arsed under-performers pull finger in the Europa, we WILL be in the Champions League!!!

So away you go, Mirallas, and good luck because there is no way Everton will be playing in the Champions League as long as Boys Pen Billy has a hole in his ass. The way we are playing we are destined for mid-table mediocrity this season and our only chance of glory would seem to be in the Europa League or the FA Cup.

Mirallas is not indespensible, Del-boy is and we need him back.

Old school fans need to wake the fuck up about International football on the highest level. ItÂ’s about money and competition and winning. Nothing else. The badge doesnÂ’t mean nearly as much to them as it does to you. The only thing we can affect is our playing. We must do that better to retain our top talent. End of. Get it thru your heads and do it quickly.

All the top teams have pretty deep pockets, so they could undoubtedly afford to buy him and pay him a hefty wage, but because of the deep pockets, theyÂ’re already have the majority of the worldÂ’s best players already under contract.

As itÂ’s been stated above, quite a few times, KevÂ’s a good player, not a great one. If he were to sign with a major team, I donÂ’t think he would actually play all that much. I hope he’s not just talking out of his ear, because his timing sucks.

He didn't settle on Merseyside and was not always in line with curfew, shall we say?

Hope he does sign as he's one of our only midfielders actually able to create and score goals.

I have to lump him in with Heitinga, as he and Fellaini are the only nuggets recently to come out and say they want Champions League footy.

One went on his bicycle to London instead of Barcelona and the other nearly had his career destroyed by Man Utd / Moyes.

Kev is a very good player that will not receive any offers from "big" clubs, simply because he isn't a consistent, match winning player.

He has tried more of late, but he is the type of player who would gladly sit it out on the wing and wait for the game to come to him. Not one of these Gerrard (spit) players (in his younger guise) who would take the game by the scruff of the neck and buttfuck the opposition.

A side may have a gamble on him because he will be able to go on the cheap, that's the only way a "big" side will be interested in him.

I would be surprised if he left us for a team from a "lesser" league so not sure there are many clubs better than us that would be in for him to be honest – something that Lukaku found out and the reason is the Martinez effect and our stronger financial position than previously – and the continued increase the relative financial strength of the Premier League vs other leagues.

Most of all, he is a talented and ambitious footballer who is clearly frustrated that the club haven't fulfilled what was promised to him when he first signed.

Before anyone else replies, picture yourself in the scenario he is in: — at the peak of your ability, playing for Fulham (or another club you don't support) and let's say Lyon, Juve, or Atletico make an approach for you and offer you the opportunity to win trophies and play in the pinnacle competition of your profession.

I'd be disappointed in him if he didn't want to go.

But let's get one thing straight: he isn't holding the club to ransom or trying to force a move. I pride myself on my skill as a judge of character and I can assure you he will give his all for us while he still pulls on that blue jersey.

If only Kenwright had his ambition!

Basically if the club shows that they are as ambitious as he is, he'll stay; if we do the usual and buy nobody, he'll go.

Maybe all of our star names should say the same thing and put pressure on the board to spend some money.

Yeah! because it's worked so well in the past, hasn't it?

On Mirallas, if it turns out to be true that he wants to play in the Champions League, then so be it! In todayÂ’s game of seven subs, no player in midfield or up front needs to give much more than an hour and Mirallas would command a large fee. Many clubs would be interested in signing him.

All of the better players are mercenaries and many workmen in different jobs are exactly the same. I worked abroad on contract for almost 30 years and always had my CV on the tables of different oil and gas companies.

The clubs count the players as assets and if the player wants to stay, it does not mean that the club cannot move him on if they see fit. In the past, players were not protected by agents and many had no say in where they were transferred to. Now things have changed and it is the players who call the tune in many instances. But the clubs still have the right to hold back on new contracts if they see a chance to move a player on. A contractor is a mercenary by the nature of his job. If it is a short term contract that can be renewed or not, that is all the player can count on.

A player is old once he hits 35 years so he will always try to make as much money as possible while he stays fit. Foreign players especially have no real reason for playing their football in England other than to make money. The top clubs pay the best wages and win the trophies. Â’Nuff said!

Kev is ambitious and nobody should fault him for that. I think he has done well for the club (when healthy) and they have done well by him. I don't consider his comments to be especially disrespectful towards the Club or fans. Just stating what should be a natural desire of any player with aspirations. The question is whether our owners truly share the same desire! And more importantly, willing to invest to make it happen. That might be a rhetorical question, I'll admit.

I agree with most of your views. As for the question of whether the owners are willing to invest to take us to higher up the level where most of us think we should be, I think they have already answered this poser over the last few years...

I think it is patently obvious that they will do no more financially to help the club go further.

Of course he will, and it is up to Everton to make him see that he can do it here.

Cos they sure as hell are not putting enough effort in to achieve it.

Now that may be down to other factors such as lack of fitness, team selection etc but it would still be nice to see more effort and purpose on the pitch.

Our squad still includes the likes of Howard, Hibbert, Distin, Alcaraz, Osman, Kone, Barry, McGeady et al. None of which are or ever will be good enough to play at that level.

Have we done anything of note since ’95? No.

Aside from a qualification round exit in the CL, I would say we all could’ve pulled a Rip Van Winkle since the FA cup and been much the same for it, sadly.

None whatsoever – that was my point. As long as this Board is in place we will not move forward decisively, on or off the pitch.

If we finish outside the European places this season we will be ripe for the picking in the summer.

These romantic ideas of loyalty are misguided. I'm not saying that all players are a bunch of mercenaries, but it is their job and they only have a short career in which to make it to the top. I hope we can give him what he wants, as he's a cracking player, but if that doesn't happen, we sell for top dollar and get someone else in!

You wonder why he left Olympiakos, who seem to regularly be in the Champions League. I couldn't really see him in a Champions League team that had a real chance of winning it.

As others have said, it's unlikely a CL perennial in the top leagues would go for him, unless one of the Spanish or German contenders outside of their top 2 were after him, but he'd likely have to take a pay cut. I'm not sure he's consistent enough to attract a "bigger" team.

If we are still struggling then so be it but as mentioned above not sure if a top European side will have seen enough to part with the cash we would want for him.

By the way, Colin... f/b? I can bug you all the more for any insider gossip!

I like Kevin but he is injury prone, like so many are in today's game, but apparently Brenda is interested in him! In that case, Kevin will never get CL football. I truly think apart from maybe Chelsea and Man City no EPL team will win the CL any time soon.