Seasons2016-17Everton News

Lamine Kone ‘disappointed’ to miss out on ‘golden opportunity’ to join Everton

Lyndon Lloyd Friday 14 October 2016  25 Comments  [Jump to last]
The Ivorian was very close to joining the Blues over the summer and even visited Finch Farm with a view to signing for around £14m but the deal eventually fell through when Sunderland refused to sell him.

I am not holding a grudge. At the time, to tell you the truth I was disappointed because it was a very good opportunity for me.

Everton, they are not a small club. There were other clubs interested too. But it was not concrete like Everton. “It was a very good opportunity for me. A golden opportunity. They are playing for the top positions. They could be in Europe.

» Read the full article at Sunderand Echo

Reader Comments (25)

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Jack Convery
1 Posted 14/10/2016 at 21:45:35
If he keeps playing well, EFC will be back, I'm sure. A swap deal with McCarthy or Gibbo may be on the cards.
Ian McDowell
2 Posted 14/10/2016 at 21:49:02
I'm disappointed we didn't sign him. He would've given us some much needed height at the back, we are far too vulnerable to crosses at the moment.
Paul Montgomery
3 Posted 14/10/2016 at 22:30:09
Who would he replace? We've conceded 5 goals and have the second best record in the division. Long may we remain this vulnerable.
Mike Gaynes
4 Posted 15/10/2016 at 00:04:36
Jack #1... "If he keeps playing well..."??

He's been awful in the games I've seen this season. I think we got lucky missing out on him.

Craig Fletcher
5 Posted 15/10/2016 at 00:21:10
I was thinking the same, Mike. I've seen Sunderland play a couple of times this season, including against us, and Kone was defensively decidedly average, though he did provide a set-piece threat.
Peter Murray
7 Posted 15/10/2016 at 01:29:35
Would it have meant Holgate being sent out on loan as well?
Paul Kossoff
8 Posted 15/10/2016 at 03:29:25
Ian (#2), Kone is an inch taller than Ashley Williams at 6ft-1in. Scott Dan is 6ft-5in if you want height.

Believe it or not, apparently Kone is on 䀆k a week at Sunderland, no wonder he didn't sign for us. Football has definitely gone bonkers.

Liam Reilly
9 Posted 15/10/2016 at 08:08:12
A bullet dodged there with this mercenary.
Pete Edwards
10 Posted 15/10/2016 at 08:13:38
I'm with Liam, dodged a bullet. For two reasons in my opinion:

1. He was just after more money;

2. He's not good enough and certainly no better than we already have playing or on the bench.

I'd leave well alone.

Eddie Dunn
11 Posted 15/10/2016 at 17:18:21
Kone is ordinary, if we want height then get a behemoth like Dann or Van Dijk.
Steve Cotton
12 Posted 16/10/2016 at 10:00:41
Scott Dann is 6ft-2in – not 6ft-5in. He is related and we see him every few months... He is tall but not a behemoth... stop exaggerating.
Paul Thompson
13 Posted 16/10/2016 at 10:45:53
Unless we sell Funes Mori, we don't need him or another centre-back. We've conceded 6 goals and have Holgate too.
Chris Leyland
14 Posted 16/10/2016 at 11:07:23
Steve Cotton – just goes to show how inaccurate the media can be.
Accordingly to the official Crystal Palace website he is 6ft-5in. ESPN have him as 6ft-4in. Skysports have him as 6ft-2in. Soccerbase has him as 6ft-1in.
Joel Jones
15 Posted 17/10/2016 at 09:58:01
Just sign Shawcross in January and be done with this non-story now.

My Scott Dann is bigger than your Scott Dann!!! Really lads?

Ray Roche
16 Posted 17/10/2016 at 11:08:15
Mike (#4), Craig (#5),

I agree, Kone has been rank when I've watched him and, worse of all, either he wasn't trying or is quite pedestrian. Give him a swerve.

Shane Corcoran
17 Posted 17/10/2016 at 11:12:35
Imagine if an Everton player came out and said this. Lukaku got abuse for saying he wasn't going to rock the boat.
Eugene Ruane
18 Posted 17/10/2016 at 11:56:08
Not bothered who it is (Kone, Huth or any other 6' 4"+ big muscular pot-herb) but personally, I'd love to see a hulking great ball-butting machine in our defence.

Yes, we are greatly improved at the back this season, compared to last (be hard to be worse) but I still feel we lack height and physicality and I still sweat bullets when the opposition's attack includes a Benteke or a Carroll.

I would love Walsh to unearth some huge grock with a CV that reads like the first frame synopsis from a 'Score n roar' character.

"6'-8" Russian lemonade thief Nokka Kraytopopoff is sent to the salt mines in Siberia for his crimes. While there, he keeps boredom at bay by heading stalactites from cave ceilings. On his release, he is thought to have the toughest forehead in the world – a fact that doesn't escape scouts at Premier League giants Everton..."

Etc blah.

Dave Abrahams
19 Posted 17/10/2016 at 12:25:57
What you are after, Eugene, is a six-foot six-inch Dave Watson.
Eugene Ruane
20 Posted 17/10/2016 at 12:38:02
Dave (#19) – Exactly, although a Dave Watson-sized Dave Watson would do.
David Hallwood
21 Posted 17/10/2016 at 12:53:12
I must admit, for an elegant football playing centre-back that Koeman was, he certainly likes big burly fuckers at the back.
John Daley
22 Posted 17/10/2016 at 13:12:18
""6'-8" Russian lemonade thief Nokka Kraytopopoff is sent to the salt mines in Siberia for his crimes. While there, he keeps boredom at bay by heading stalactites from cave ceilings. On his release, he is thought to have the toughest forehead in the world – a fact that doesn't escape scouts at Premier League giants Everton..."

...who promptly slap in a 㿂m bid and apply for a work permit, only for it to be later revealed that he's actually a character from a 1992 platform game on the Super Nintendo and the 'scouting footage' they'd been so impressed by was actually a retro gaming review some sad 40-year-old had uploaded to YouTube. 

Straight-talking boss Ronald Koeman promptly strips the Siberian of a squad number and informs him he should start looking for another club, as his chances of getting a game are only 62% greater than Oumar Niasse ever having his name announced at Goodison again.

Sunderland and wherever Harry  Redknapp happens to show his face next rumoured to be 'well interested' in taking him on loan until the end of the season. 

Eugene Ruane
23 Posted 17/10/2016 at 13:43:58
Oh come on, John, now you're getting into the realms of fantasy, 62% indeed – it'd be much more like 64%.

(And have a care, for some on TW, 'rumoured to be interested' means 'absofuckingdefinitely are'!)

Paul Doyle
24 Posted 17/10/2016 at 19:42:19
Eugene, I am pretty sure butting stone stalactites off the ceiling was one of Moyes's favoured training ground "techniques".

As for whether Scott Dann is 6'-5" or 6'-2", I can safely say that, as a kid growing up in the Billogs in Kirkdale, his ral fellah Richie (6'-3") could swing off the second landing and butt a burst Wembley trophy straight through the wash house window from twenty foot in the air, so the kid is from real centre-half grock stock, as for being tough.

He was cock of English martyrs From first year onwards were he studied woodwork (writing not being his forte) reaching CSE Grade E level, In fact, he was 6ft when he made his holy communion in matching red velvet trousers and waistcoat made by wonder Taylor John Doyle. Hair by Denis Kerrigan.

Oh and, for what it's worth, his lad is 6''-5".

Aidy Dews
25 Posted 20/10/2016 at 12:30:07
Kone is a very good CB and isn't having the best of times in a struggling Sunderland side this season but last season he was one of the main reasons they stayed up. He was solid and a towering presence in both boxes and he would of been a great signing.

I hope we go back in for him, he'll add some healthy competition at the back.

Drew O'Neall
26 Posted 27/10/2016 at 06:39:19
Got an international centre half warming the bench, I'll take a striker or a playmaker for my £18m thanks.

He, and his colleague were appalling against us.

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