Everton sign Stekelenburg

If Joel goes then best of luck to him. I thought he was an excellent team / squad player, patient and with a great attitude. He was clearly a Martinez man, and you can't really blame him for that as his relationship went back several years.

If he were to stay then that would suggest a lack of ambition? Reverse of Lukaku?)

If he stays and achieves top spot then good for him too, he deserves it. Has he the talent? Questionable.

I must admit, Stekelenburg doesn't exactly inspire me, but I trust our new boss knows better than me!

Not really sure that we need a 3rd keeper. Surely its the new GK in (Butland, Forster, Leno, Perrin, Mandanda etc) then Robles challenging for that 1st spot with a youngster able to take the 3rd spot? That new lad in from Oldham perhaps?

Anyway I think its good that Koeman has a good look at and think about what we already have before we spend. I'd say (assuming no-one leaves) 3 players to go straight into the first team. A GK, creative DMC and then a LM/LW.

In an ideal world something like Butland, Witsel and Perisic.

Mandanda has signed for Palace on a free.

There are an awful lot of 'grass is greener' posts going on about other players at the moment, but this Icelandic goalkeeper one has to be the ultimate.

Lets get on with it Everton

So that's Stekelenburg, Robles and a new number 1 to come. Good news.

Apparently 'worshipped' at Marseilles.

Anyone seen him?

We usually let players leave either sold or on loan before we strengthen. We have already been open by releasing Osman, Hibbert and Pienaar all of whom were a part of our first team squad. So our squad is down 3 before we sign anyone.

Still annoyed the Rs got Mane, we should have been in for him.

Reminds me of Roberto's arrival when he immediately signed 2-3 players he already knew.

Good news in my book. Tough, steady, experienced keeper... ideal #2. Won't make any miracle saves but won't make any Hart Howlers either.

Kevin #34, please tell me you're kidding on Krul. Except for being a genius on penalties, he's not an upgrade on anybody. Bad hands, gives up rebounds (ask any barcodes fan), bad knee, poor distribution, panicky under pressure. Search his howler against ManU last year. Ugly. No thanks.

I've not seen much of Mandana but I wasn't entirely convinced, he seems a little small at 6ft 1" so I'm not that bothered that he's gone to Palace.

Let's make a statement and buy Forster or nab Joe Hart on the cheap as a makeweight in the Stones deal which does look like it will be happening. £30M and Hart for Stones. I'm basing that on a £50m valuation of Stones. Maybe optimistic but he's at that level IMO and the £40m fee mooted is selling him cheap as far as I'm concerned.

If we don't buy a marquee GK and we are left with Stekelenburg, Joel and another GK of similar status duking it out, then get Wayne Hennessey. He's finally becoming the GK he was meant be after a career blighted by injuries. Big Nev also really rates him and he would be available for reasonable money with 12 months left on his contract.

Voted Brexit possibly?

To make the point more emphatically, if EFC were to sell Stones & Lukaku then the wiser move would to be negiotate exchanges for established players, having 100m in the bank is all well and good but its no guarantee of filling the squad places with decent replacements

Hart I think is a definite possiblity, absolutely not Bony or Toure. It does look a definite possiblity Ter Stagen is Etihad bound.....

Nigel Martyn was out of favour at Leeds before he came to us in his mid thirties as a back up for Richard Wright.

Koeman has brought the whole squad back on Monday for preseason. the First team were meant to get an extra week.

I think he wants to have a look at the whole squad and get rid of the players he doesn't fancy.

We have been linked with a few Left footed wingers which is good, Like I have posted before I can not remember the last time Everton had one. At the moment it is silly season and teams are bidding silly money for player trying to steak the march on other teams. Teams like Palace/West Ham etc bidding £30 million for a player is all well and good but they will have budgets of around £60/70 Million this season due to the TV money. We too have that money plus the £100 Million off our Man Mr Moshri and Player sales. I am for one very very excited. We have a couple of exciting Kids and with maybe 3-4 World class players our team looks very very strong.

With Ronald identifying our centre midfield as a weakness does this mean he doesn't fancy Barry , McCarthy , Gibson and Besic and Cleverly? we could see at least 3 of that 5 leave.

For me I would sell McCarthy and Cleverly in a heartbeat along with Niasse, Kone ( very strong rumours of china) and McGeady and Ovideo.

Not overly impressed by a 3 year contract for a 33 year old though....even if he's a GK. Hopefully we're not paying him too high a wage to sit on the bench.

Better than Howard and Robles at least.

There's only three options there.

1. Young keeper. Not ideal as you need them to perform every so often and they're also not developing while they're not playing.
2. Shit keeper. Plenty of them around for a good reason.
3. Experienced/Old keeper. That will do for me.

Any £100 million we may have will be from telly money, not in addition to it.

I'm expecting more departures and more 'unspectacular' signings. And I'm looking forward to watching them gel with the odd quality signing he'll bring in.

Let's just cool down and wait to see.

This is a good signing and if he is half as good as Nigel Martyn we have some player.

People forget but Nigel kept us up in 2003-04 and played a big part in finishing 4th in 2004-05.

If only we had got him sooner.... Mr Finch.

Give Ronny K a chance, can we not all be a bit more POSITIVE this season???? RM has GONE, forget him, he is history!!! Get behind the manager and the team this season eh?? NSNO COYB

Giving a 2nd (possibly 3rd) choice keeper a three-year contract, when he's already 33, doesn't sound like value for money if you ask me. He'll actually be 34 in September so will be pushing 37 by the time his contract is up. I know he's a keeper but that's still old.

Also, looking at his stats, he's played only 37 times in the last 3 seasons, so I'm not expecting him to contribute on the pitch anytime soon, if at all. Can only hope he provides some input off the pitch and behind the scenes.

Neutral on this one, I guess RK would also like to have some familiar faces around GP.

Some of the so-called top guns at the Euros are making mistakes and some make lucky saves that are then called world class. However, you do need experienced back-up and this lad fits that category.

Whether Joel Robles is the permanent Number One, we can only wait and see... but the lad has done well so far.

Better than Howard and Robles? You do realize Howard isn't with the team anymore right? So is he better than Robles should be the question? Keep getting your digs in at Howard though or you could grow up and move on, maybe, hopefully, doubtfully?

Fear not, Jim. Stekelenburg is merely a stop-gap. Word is your man Tim has (very graciously) been cooped up at Goodison assisting a cadre of top scientists to create his own cybernetic replacement. It's the only way of ensuring his 'legacy' will be in 'safe' hands. Admittedly, there's still a few kinks to iron out, but it seems RoboT'How has almost got his diving style down pat already:

Link

Another thing to remember is that we have to give Barnsley 15% of the John Stones fee, so getting money and a player will reduce the money owed to them. 15% from £30m is a lot more desirable than 15% from £50m

I appreciate both are going to be very much squad players but surely the 'new money' would be better spent on younger/fitter reserves.

These signings look very much 'old Everton'and not indicative of a'brave new world'.

Would anyone seriously prefer Carlo Nash, the German and Slovak GK's who's names I can't even remember and can't be arsed to look up. Plus the bald Yank keeper from Reading who didn't even play a game.

I'm very happy with Stekelenburg as a back up keeper. It's a total no-brainer as far as I'm concerned.

Just to be bold (apart from the silly money!) and unpredictable, a bit like Eric Clapton, when he formed Cream! The rest is history!

(Should maybe get over him or support the Colorado thingamyjigs....)

That was the point, A player can't be an upgrade over a player that isn't there? He would be a replacement for a past player and a possible upgrade over the current player. Duh.

Browning, Galloway, Pennington, Davies, Dowell all got a sniff of the big time last season and Garbutt can be added to that list if Fulham didn't take him in exchange for their reserve goalkeeper.

Most of us laid the blame for last season's failure firmly at the door of the manager and many of us opined that we could have been top six if he had got the team playing to their full potential.

But with the demand/expectation of a another goalie, central defender, midfielder, winger and striker we are almost looking for a new team.

Spending for spending's sake or impatience for honours? Personally, I'd just like to see replacements for those leaving and a Mata style player and thus the chance for last year's squad – including the youngsters to show us what they can really do!

However, if Koeman "buys us a bunch of mercenaries" (my choice of term, no-one elses) who bring home silver and severed heads...... then will that really bother the 31K season ticket holders who don't get to see the "exciting next generation" ?

I think there is still place for the youngsters who are good enough - hope so anyway. Only time will tell and it's still early days so let's stay positive.

@JimHardin - I've heard of pedants but your post 95 is taking the piss. Just to make you happy, the new GK is an upgrade on the one who left us in May. Happy now?

My old mate Roberto was kicked from pillar to post on here last season.
Surprise, surprise, it now appears that many of us are now saying that there are too many moderate players on our books.
Of course it can be argued that Martinez signed a number of them, so he's still to blame in that respect.

Koeman is going to be given the opportunity to sign a better quality of player which should undoubtedly help, but so will plenty of other managers.
We are joint 8th with West Ham in the betting for the League title!
Ok, that's only opinion, which is proved to be wrong on plenty of occasions, none more so than Leicester at 5,000/1 last season.
But time is ticking on, and we need to start signing some real top quality players if we are serious about aiming for the top 6.

Why would Koeman not put any of our young players in the team next season? Pre-season starts tomorrow and he has not seen anyone in action.

Paul(#93); Facetiously, you've got to start somewhere, Derek(?) and the Dominoes.

Always provided they are replaced by better quality players, of course, although not necessarily marquee signings.

Having said that, I continue to worry about the wisdom of that contract for Gibson and the recruitment of a Fulham's reserve !