Report: Everton to land Niasse

This lad is the real deal but the big question is can we get this done before Monday night?

My heart tells me to get excited but my heads telling me thinks our January "Yarmolenko" in other words a publicity stunt where we know there's little hope of it coming off.

I'd love it to happen though.

Where will he play, I wonder? Will it mean we'll just go with two up top?

He plays much better when Kone, is on the pitch, but the team suffer as a result.

Watching this space, but let's hope this Oumar becomes an Everton player.

Oh me of little faith, I'm afraid...

Will we be able to complete the deal without the usual "complications" though? That's the difficult bit. I will keep my fingers crossed.

ps: We still need to sort our bloody defence out!

Looks like a good all-around striker. Decent size and good speed, good ball handling and finishing. His assists show he's good at seeing the field and unselfish.

It's difficult to know how a player in the Russian league will do in England but I feel good about this guy. 25 years old and ready to start making his mark among the best players in the world.

The defences in the Premier League don't look too clever these days either!

1) Everyone looks great on YouTube;
2) He's probably 40 odd;
3) he's one footed;
4) Russian defenders are crap;
5) Russian goalkeepers are crap;
6) the paperwork won't go through on time;
7) he'll fail his medical;
8) the fax machine will break down;
9) the home office won't give him a visa (cos Everton aren't rich enough to bribe);
10) he won't get his international clearance;
11) a richer club (ie. Newcastle or Stoke) will offer more money;
12) BK will get cold feet and blame it on the 'takeover talks';
13) BK will forget his biro and the lad will go somewhere else;
14) his missus will ask for a divorce so he'll stay in Russia moping;
15) he will get a hammy in training (like Traore) and we'll never see him again;
16) his agent will ask for a 㾶m backhander;
17) Roberto will be sacked on Monday and this will fall through;
18) I just can't think of any other things that could, and probably will, go wrong.

Oh, Roberto will come out on Tuesday morning and say, "I don't know where these rumours started but we looked at the player and thought we weren't right for each other at this moment in time. We have a phenomenally good young player in Arouna Kone and we are looking forward to see him develop into a unique, and special, player by 2022".

Always goes wrong for us and we get shat on all the time.

One other thing: it's hell trying to explain this all to my 9-year-old grandson, he lives and breathes Everton, and can't understand why they aren't top of the Premier League, in the Champions League...

I keep telling him to be patient, it'll turn out all right.

I couldn't tell whether the kid would be any good in the Premier League because no defender tried to tackle him.

How can RM get sacked on Monday and still be there on the Tuesday to deny the rumours?

If we fuck up tomorrow, I hope your first prediction comes true.

I keep telling myself it'll turn out all right

I want that player!

Quick, good age, powerful, goal scorer... No-brainer for me.

What type of sauce you look in' for Colin? More of a homemade sauce man myself, but Lidl always seem to have a good selection.

In term terms of the striker. Well, he ain't Kone and imagine he's better than Naismith, hopefully he'll do a bit of charity work also.

Now for a goalkeeper.....yeah, I know, never gonna happen.

From Naisey to Niasse!

Mourinho supposedly wanted to buy him before he got the boot from Chelsea by the way,

Fingers crossed... coyb.

1. He spends more than ten minutes being bamboozled by Roberto's rhetoric of what a 'phenomenal' team he's joining and then looks at the league table.

2. He watches a few videos of our recent defending.

3. He's told he's being signed as back up to the fantastic world class Arouna Kone.

4. He reads the latest press reports on Everton's implosion of form under Martinez

5. Martinez asks him if he can do a shift in central defence.

6. He asks what part of London Liverpool's in.

I just have no faith whatsoever in Martinez being able to bring any decent, established players to Goodison, and even if he does land this guy, how long will Martinez keep him on the bench because 'he needs time to acclimatize to the Premier League'? So will we see him playing for the first team before May?

Been following Everton long mate?

Colin (28)... Brilliant!

https://youtu.be/Byrc-VNh90M

Young Bilyaletdinov looked a world beater on YouTube, as does James McFadden!

Have to be honest, I haven't seen him live and wasn't that overly impressed with his YouTube highlights. I think he looked rather clumsy at times which would be a real weakness at the premier league break neck pace – but if signed I'll be 100% behind him.

Compared to the summer, where we were allegedly sniffing around the likes of Mertens, I've been totally unimpressed with this window. Roberto told us we would finish it stronger and thus far all we've done is signed 3 kids who may never even get to sit on our bench.

Because if we had done it earlier he would...

A) already be out with a hamstring.
B) been sold again before the window closed.
C) been on the bench fuming because Kone was playing.
D) have found out earlier that we need a four goals lead to win a game.

His YouTube reel isn't that amazingly impressive, it seems a lot of the defending leaves a lot to be desired (EFC-esque) and 4 of those goals had an element of sheer luck about them.

He looks quick and fairly intelligent though and after watching it reminds me of Mane at Southampton, who paid a similar price from a weaker league to get him.

We need decent cover for Rom and a look-alike a totally different option, so fingers crossed.

A few posts above mentioned the defence needs sorting. That isn't down to personnel, just tactics/coaching. We have as a group possibly the second or third best defenders in the country behind Man City and Chelsea. But if you constantly tell them to nutmeg a centre forward, Cruyff turn him then wedgie him in the process then your likely to get yourself in trouble and concede goals.

I think your referring to Leandro Rodriguez, he came from Uruguay but I get your point, he's had just one subs bench cameo all season.

I realise that if a player wants to go to another club there is pretty much nothing we can do about it and if Lukaku wants out in the summer then so be it, but if he is happy to stay and we can show him and the likes of Stones and Barkley that as a club we mean business then we need to bring in more quality players to help prove this.

I guess it makes sense as I can't imagine Rom being here come August, same goes for Stones. However we could get north of £100M for the two, which would be a huge chunk of the cost of sorting out GP taken care of, plus a transfer kitty for the new manager.

Even if Rom does stay, we do need another striker, to give competition to the big man and to step in should the big man be out through injury or suspension.

Everton need at least a point a game in the last 15 matches, without a proven goalscorer that task as routine as it might appear will become quite difficult, so I'd rather have two forwards than none at all.

From the little I know of him, it seems he's considered something of an assist (fucking hate that term) specialist more than an ace marksman, with a lot of the goals he's created coming from him running at the full back at pace before cutting in from the left. So, maybe even less playing time for Mirallas is on the cards?

And yes, he probably has been bought (if he comes) as part of the Rom replacement. That is the inevitable price of this year's under-achievement (or 'over' if you are in the Roberto school of self-delusion).

Right, it won't be boring with this guy on and off the pitch. @LivEchoEFC should definitely talk to him. Good headlines are guaranteed.

...other forwards in Russia have to work hard to become as good as me". Niasse also stated his aim to be among top 10 world footballers.
...if nothing's going right, give Niasse the ball and he won't let you down. What other forwards can do, Niasse can do better..."

Niasse was recently interviewed and all of a sudden he started referring to himself in the third person: "Niasse is strong, Niasse is tall..

The good thing about him is his workrate, tireless pressing and his will to shoot at any opportunity. It often worked in Russia.

He's pretty unpredictable for defenders and maybe even for himself too. That actually often brings goals.

Niasse only started his professional career 7 years ago, at 18. That explains his sort of weird technics of dribbling and shooting.

㾻m for Niasse from Everton? Wow. Lokomotiv paid ٢.5m for him only 18 months before. And that seems like a fair price.

Hmmmmmm might be more of a gamble than we first thought but could be fun watching the lad at Goodison.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=yZhRGul4nPY

Ttt. That's nothing Patrick. Obviously a big fan of The Wire, I've heard that during 'intimate' moments he has a habit of hauntingly whistling 'The Farmer In The Dell' interspersed with shouts of "Oumar! Oumar coming y'all".

Most of that seems to fit our requirements. Not too sure about the pace, strength or high work rate though.

Not that I know anything about the player, never heard of him tbh, but this smells fishy to me.

Should Lukaku move on, then he needs to be replaced , like for like. Even bring in two proven goalscorers , using up the Lukaku transfer money. That would be two £20 million plus strikers. Like for like. Take a look at the quality that Leicester City are now looking at. Half a season at the top, and they are looking to strengthen. Two and a half seasons under Martinez , and Everton are looking weaker. Selling our better players. And not bringing in proper replacements. Add Naismith to all that. Where is his replacement?

FFS, we are all crying out for a top, top goalkeeper. A quality RB. A hard nose, canny, premiership hardened CB. A midfield general. A top class left winger. And proper options in attack. Sell Stones and Lukaku. And along with the antipicated Sky TV money, let's bring in those players. Why not? It is getting bloody galling seeing Everton bypassed by Stoke ..Leicester..West Ham..in fact almost every bloody team. Does Martinez not realise the teams weaknesses?

Or maybe it is time for a complete change at Everton. Getting fed up now with one marquee buy, every two seasons. Just be grateful for what you have. And our top players only hang around for a couple of seasons. Let's hope that this take over really happens. And that they have the good sense to sack Martinez. His vision has no legs. It is not working. Give some other manager the money and time to build a team.

Notice that Everton usually manage to scramble a few points when Martinez is forced to change. Note I said, Forced. Nothing really to do with his philosophy. He is forced into changes. And then he reverts to type, and Everton also revert to losing matches. Martinez has lost the plot. And I don't trust his judgement with this striker. Call me an old cynic . But two seasons of nonsense, rudderless, clueless and TBH baffling football, tends to do that to a person. Entertaining? Yes. But entertaining for who. Not Evertonians.

This striker is not for me....

Whoever comes in as manager in the summer (if anyone) they will be more than happy to adopt the squad Martinez has assembled.

If only he could organize a team, motivate and train players.

I've said it before RM is an over promoted scout. He can spot talent but he can't get the best out of it.

Traore was a loan – scored in his first appearance, injured hamstring before next game, done until last game of season No one's fault. Eto'o failed, was out the next window. Good corrective action. Alcaraz got injured, wasn't good. RM replaced him with Stones and got rid of him. Atsu – another loanee.

RM's transfer success clearly outweighs these minimal failures. Find something else to rip the gaffer for.

BT said, after the game, that the Niasse deal was all but done but I can't find anything.

Just saying .....!!

Tied for second in the league with 8 goals (13 starts and 2 subs - one player he's tied with is Hulk). He has scored 13 goals in 23 total appearances ( 4 in 6 Europa League games). According to the Guardian he has 10 assists (not sure if that's just the league or all appearances).

According to Wiki he can play forward or wing. The Russian Premiere League is on break so he may need a little time to get match fit.

We should have been looking to freshen things up as soon as the window opened which would have given us a fighting chance of getting closer to the top 4 and may well have helped in the League cup which was our most realistic chance of a trophy.

Alcaraz, injured or not, was awful, he single handedly knocked us out of Europe because Martinez is stubborn and a complete fool and played him instead of Distin.

McGeady was also a terrible signing.
Arouna Kone – £6million for a 30-year-old striker that had just been relegated and didn't score many goals.

I would then argue that whilst not terrible signings the next two raise question marks"

Gareth Barry – £2 million for a player out of contract?!?!?

James McCarthy – £14 million for a midfielder that doesn't score, doesn't get assists and whose team had just been relegated, he was a £5-8 million signing all day long!!

The best signing we can make in this window would be David Moyes until the end of the season. Then go all out, show some inspiration, show some ambition and try and get De Boer, Mourinho, Joachim Lowe, Dishier Deschamp – someone that might inspire our young talents to stay because they won't under Martinez because unfortunately for us he's a loser.

That was an incredibly misleading and incomplete history of Martinez' transfer business at Everton. He didn't replace Alcaraz with Stones, Stones was already here.

Martinez got Atsu on loan for a season and it was worthless.
He brought Kone over who has mostly been useless given he was injured for most of his time here.
He brought Robles over who he only plays in the cups. Why waste the money?
He brought Lennon over who has hardly played since signing.
He brought in McGeady who has now left making hardly an impact and never really seeing he pitch this season.
As mentioned before, Alcaraz was terrible.
Traore was a complete waste.
Eto'o a waste.

What are his successes? Lukaku, Deulofeu, Barry this season but was awful last season.
McCarthy I'm not much convinced on. Doesn't offer goals, not good passing, and we ship goals despite him playing alongside another DM.
Besic, I like but he doesn't play him much even when he is healthy if McCarthy and Barry are available.
Cleverly, hasn't done much.

So how does that math line up when it comes to successes vs failures?

In other words Peter, N-O.

Bournemouth away in the next round, got to win that!

As for the first paragraph, well only Kone, Lennon and McGeady cost us any money (㾶.5m?). The others were either freebies or loan deals which sometimes work out. Unfortunately, none of those you mentioned did.

He just needs a firm, decisive, experienced, no nonsense, pragmatic manager... like er..... Tony Pulis!

Nobody is free. They all cost wages and take up places in the squad. As for the likes of Besic, he may prove to be a good signing. But the fact is he's been here a couple of seasons and hardly plays. Cleverley hasn't proven to be a good signing, people are just hoping that he will be.

My point is, we can point to plenty of his signings that did not turn out to be useful for Everton. And of those players who you and me may like and hope are good, they hardly play. Besic has hardly played. Cleverly has hardly played and when he does is out on the left. Barry plays every match but was awful last season. This season better, but he's in his mid-30s. Lennon has hardly played.

McCarthy I did not classify as a bad signing. But I don't think he's a great player, I fee he is very limited. If he's sitting in the midfield with another DM in Barry, who sits back more, then McCarthy should be offering much more in attack. Like Toure, Fabregas, Lampard or Gerrard did. But he doesn't. He runs around a lot, commits a ton of fouls and picks up yellows. He's purely defensive in my view. Which for me, why sign two purely defensive midfielders to play in the team at the same time. That's why for me it's not a great signing.

So back to the original post. Would this guy be a good signing? I don't know, because I'm not at all confident in Martinez's ability to use players the way they should or set out a balanced side. He had Kone playing left winger most of this season while Mirallas sat on the bench. So it's not just about the manager's ability to spot a decent player. It's heavily about him being able to or even giving the opportunity to a player to prove a good signing.

We have had some hits (Arteta, Pienaar, Deulofeu to name a few) and some terrible misses e.g. Drenthe, Gardner, Atsu etc... I suppose that's why you loan them first – to see if they fit or don't.

I would love to see McCarthy playing behind both Besic and Barkley. Let him play deeper, with these two pushing right on. All three of them can run at pace, which would surely improve the intensity with which we currently play the game.

Panic Buy?

I'm still happy about the Swiss lad if that is all we do but for some reason pissed we didn't spot Alli when scouting Galloway at MK Dons.. How the hell did we miss that one!!

I jest – maybe he was settling in after getting crocked. I didn't watch as many games the following season but he improved so much from what I saw. He gained more confidence, probably from being loaned back. You win some; you lose some... such is football.

And so often these European players are very lethargic on the ball and think you get all day in the Premier League.

Lukaku is a brilliant signing, Funes Mori looks very able, Besic looks the real deal, Deulofeu is an assist machine, McCarthy is solid and has a superb engine, Robles isn't a bad young goal keeper, Lennon was a reasonable player for the fee paid, some of the young players gambled on may still pay off.

Kone was not worth £6m, McGeady is useless and Alcaraz was not worthy of a contract.

In my opinion, his signings weigh up as more than decent.

I want to know if this guy is coming to Everton, is already at Everton, has passed a medical, and is signing? The last thing I would want to know, although not a deal-breaker, is if he had to either quit football altogether or play for Liverpool, would he be asking where to send his resume tomorrow morning?

RM's faith in starting youngsters every week has made Stones and Barkley like new signings too. Transfers are the one department that this club can have no quarrels about in comparison to the millions wasted by other teams. I know our board have been a bit soft in comparison to people like Levy in terms of getting every player the manager targets but we have a great track record since Moyes of maximising profit from players we value (Lescott, Fellaini, Stones) and the signings we have made have a higher first team success rate than most other clubs.

I'm not happy about the results recently or the way the club is run, but people go WAY over the top on here just to stick the knife in to RM or Moyes. Credit where credit is due, guys, FFS.

That made no sense. How does Martinez go out of his way to play youngsters when Barry and Howard start every match? Coleman plays RB, established before RM. Baines plays LB, established before RM. Jags CB, established before RM. and let me remind you that he persisted with Alcaraz at CB until it became too obvious even for him that he was garbage.

Lukaku was a 28 million pound signing and rightfully plays. Barkley is the only one at his position and is an obvious selection. And Stones is playing but on form should be dropped.

And you can not say that Besic, Lennon, Cleverly and Robles have been excellent signings when they hardly ever play. They might be. I would prefer to see Robles in goal, but RM persists with old man Howard. I'd like to see Besic in CM when healthy, but Barry will always be picked ahead of him.

Of course other managers have poor signings. But the argument that RM had far more great signings than bad simply doesn't stand up when you go signing by signing, and judge the actual contribution to Everton of those signings. We may think Lennon or Besic or Cleverly could do a job, but up until now they've hardly been given a chance, in favor of older players like Barry and Wigan favorites McCarthy and Kone.

I'd argue that Deulofeu goes down as one of the best signings in the world for the money paid. He has 11 assists and 4 goals from 17 starts in all competitions, and the potential to be as good as he wants to be. It's so rare to find a tricky and fast winger with vision, and one who can cross a ball.

I trust Martinez with money, I trust him to develop players, but I do not trust his tactical approach. It is deeply flawed, and I expect that some of his signings would be more positively received in a more effective side.

Yaya Toure, Michael Essien, Drogba, Kalou, Yakubu, Pienaar, Ayew, Bolasie, Bakary Sako, Cheikhou Kouyate, Sakho, Alex Song, Odion Ighalo to name a few. I'd even rather have Kone than Shane Long.

Almost all of those players have had extensive experience in top European leagues before coming to the PL. Most of them were in Europe by the time they were 18.

Of course there's been lots of great African footballers in the Premier League. I just think that most of the ones that have come in, previously unknown to me, have been flops.

Every manager will have duds, like McGeady & Kone, but Martinez didn't waste too much money there. £8.5M for Naismith. McGeady and Kone got for little money. Besic a steal at his age, Barry a great buy and key player in the side at moment.

Now look at Moyes: Howard, Pienaar, negatives; Coleman, Baines positives... and Jagielka in-between.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/Everton-fc-transfer-deadline-day-10815938

I'm hoping, but not believing until I see him with a blue shirt on.

Mirallas and Garbutt were both signed by Moyes not Martinez.

I do agree with you that every manager will not always be successful in the transfer market 100%. I don't think anyone expects that. If you look at Martinez's major signings, Barry, McCarthy, Kone, Alcaraz, Gerard, Lukaku, Lennon, McGeady, Atsu, Mori are ones that spring to mind, I would say only 3 out of that lot are of the calibre of Moyes's best signings.

That all said I do like Niasse he is an excellent hard working player. Trouble is, I just don't really have any enthusiasm for our plight under Martinez anymore he needs to go.

One of Roberto's strategies is to look at players capable of playing in multiple positions / styles. His approach to the attacking positions reflects that. I was looking forward to seeing more of Mirallas playing in the remainder of the season. He may still do, but this new Niasse boy might cramp his style a bit, more so than Romelu's.