Deulofeu off the mark with winner for Milan

Flatters to deceive – always has done, always will do.

1 min; gives it away, 1 min; scores the winner, 88mins; of total meh, with some arm flapping and whinging thrown in.

He 'might' mature in 6 or 7 years into a decent No 10, because there is a player in there. Somebody down the track might take a chance, get lucky and 'find' a little gem... or not.

I don't count U21 games, but how many managers is this now?

Interesting one with Deulofeu. Would I like to see him back at Everton? Yes! Would I be perplexed and frustrated if he was sold? No! There in-lies the enigma that is Deulofeu.

He can be amazing, have good runs of form, remember all the assists for Lukaku? But, can be equally as frustrating in not chasing back when he has lost the ball, going to ground too easily, gesticulating at officials when he should be busting a gut to get the ball back etc. It is not a want of talent or a football brain, but the problem lies in his application of that talent me thinks!

As mentioned, he is young, but a number of managers have already let him go. I think, and I may be wrong, that he just isn't a Koeman type player. I would have also liked to have seen him in the Barkley role when Barkley was off form (it might have done both players good, for different reasons, it might not of) as he has played quite extensively as a central player. Time will tell.

If he plays well at Milan, he may not want to come back, we sell for a good price. If he does come back, we have a player that has something to prove, never a bad thing. If he turns out to be inconsistent, well many thought that anyway. Either way, win win Everton.

He could have proven useful for Everton coming off the bench but, in the current system, does he have what Koeman requires of his attacking players given the roles Lookman, Mirallas and Barkley have taken up? Also, he may have not bought into the Koeman philosophy like the rest of the team appears to have!

I am basing this on just memory, so I might be very wide of the mark, in fact totally incorrect, but I seem to recall that the option to buy him back was only in the first season of his contract. Again, hands up, I may be totally wrong!

I think there are a lot of players like this including our own Lennon and maybe Pienaar at Spurs where they look good at the start when they move to a new club and then they lose their eagerness to impress. Geri looked great when he first came to us and then again when we signed him the 2nd time but his temperament and attitude normally means he gives up to easy when defenders know how to handle him.

I would like to have him as a luxury player on the bench to use sparingly to change a game but I don't think he wants that role any more and I'd say he would much prefer to stay in the warmer climate of Milan with his girlfriend about to have a baby I think.

That in place, with a tight schedule next season with cup games included, we're gonna need that kind of caliber on the bench... and still there is a whole summer transfer window for the likes of Walsh and Koeman.

To survive in the Premier League, your whole squad has to be able to play for 90 minutes and wide players must be able to defend reasonably well, which Delboy couldn't do. Lennon does defend well but lacks the offensive prowess he used to have in his early Spurs days.

Good luck to Delboy in Serie A and I for one would like to see him do well but cannot see him back at Goodison.

Timmie used to punch the corner flag and we loved it. Beagrie used to do the somersaults and we loved that too.

As for a return at the end of the season, well he may be a useful squad member if we're in Europe next season.

Loan deals to clubs like AC Milan can only be a good thing, if he had said in January he'd be gone until May 2018, we could bring back an absolute world beater.

Yes Nicholas, I guessed that, otherwise he may need to undergo some serious psychological tests! I am a grumpy miserable git who hates to see footballers do stupid dances or be overly overt in their affectations. Yes, a traditionalist I am, a fist pumped in the air to the home crowd, 2 fingers to the away crowd à la Kevin Sheedy, a shirt whizzed around ones bonce à la Duncan Ferguson, a post outboxed by a Cahill etc etc.

A thumb sucked! nah!

Thanks for enlightening us all on that, I didn't place a lot of faith in what my memory was recalling about it.

I guess £12 million seemed a lot at the time, before all the fees went wildly inflated!

Andy (#6) well said. Koeman had a good look at him all through pre-season, trying him in different positions, giving him every chance. I still think he likes him and wants to give him a run in a top side.

We can't carry passengers at the moment, and I'm afraid Geri was a luxury player we couldn't afford. But I don't think his Everton career is over, and more importantly, I don't think Koeman does.

Look at the facts, he's our player on loan getting game time at a top club (the speed of the game is less), by the time his loan spell ends Barca will no longer have any hold (be it cut of a transfer or by him back) and hopefully he'll be a better player.

Two options then; he's good enough to deserve a place in our squad, or, we sell him and get a good fee. Either way I wish him all the best and we will all be winners if he plays well.

The thumb-sucking celebration always looks stupid to me, but doing it with a glove on is truly ridiculous.

I trust Koeman knows what he is doing.

Alan Bodell @32, do you think he's trying harder for Milan? Willing to run more and work harder to impress the new manager to get his move? It will be interesting to see what Koeman thinks about him when his loan period is over.

I think Barca loaned him to us hoping he would develop into the player he could be and when they saw he wasn't they sold him to us but with buy back clauses. Here we are, loaning him out now hoping he will improve.

For us the fans, it's important we don't just look at his highlights of goals and assists and forget about all the other stuff he doesn't do in the years ahead.

I will always frown upon such shenanigans.