Silva and Brands talk of “big project” at Everton

Slip of the tongue by Silva on Rooney too. It appears Rooney is “done”. But maybe it was just an error of translation.

Of course it is early days, and to assess what we have, and who we need to get rid of, will take some time. They both alluded to having an extremely large squad, which has to be trimmed, just hope that they do retain the right ones.

The problem being as well that, apart from paying over the odds for a lot of our squad, they are also on mid- to long-term contracts, with salaries that may deter any slightly interested parties.

While specific names were never really mentioned, I was a bit disappointed that, when Brands was asked about Lozano, he more or less said no. This hopefully is a smokescreen, because I have a gut feeling that he could be the missing piece up front we have craved for years.

The defence is also a priority with Jagielka, Funes Mori, and Williams all likely to be gone.

Silva used a central midfield triumvirate at Sporting, William Carvalho, Joao Mario, and adrien Silva. We are linked to Carvalho. João Màrio was at west ham on loan from inter last year, and so should be available, and Adrien Silva was a bit of a flop at Leicester and so should be available. Carvalho is the defensive player of the three and João Màrio is the playmaker. Adrien Silva was good that year but he struggled last year and is pushing 30 now.

Be interesting to see what the Portuguese have to say about these three.

Surely it makes more sense to stick with Lookman, Walcott and Bolasie and to give Vlasic some games. Sure in an ideal world we'd sell Bolasie and get our money back. But he's had a bad injury is getting close to 30 and was always erratic with his form. We won't find a buyer for him and whilst he's here he will need to be in and around the side. Preferably backing up Lookman for me.

They did acknowledge that we need players for certain positions and I expect that's left-back and a deep playmaker, perhaps a centre-half too.

They've made it very clear though that no-one is coming in without others leaving.

Talking is easy, and that's what impressed me about Silva, during that little talk. He looks like he's got a sense of humour, and it also looked like he could have said a lot more.

I got the sense that he's already thinking, that it doesn't really matter what you say at the start, because this is not really his job. He's come to coach the football team, and he will probably talk more in-depth at a later date, once the people know he's hopefully worth listening to.

Good luck to Silva and Brands, hopefully you can give us back our pride, FOREVER EVERTON!

I thought it was very interesting when they were asked about Rooney's situation they both seemed to want him moved on.

While I thought Silva was another weak and lazy appointment, I do feel more positive about his impact. Let's hope Steve Ferns is right about him.

Regarding Vlasic, it's a difficult one, he hasn't (in all fairness to him) been given a decent run. Having said that, sometimes he looks to have what it takes, and others he looks lost.

Hopefully over the next week or so, we will have a better idea of who's who, and what's what!

I'm calling us 'The Everton' from now on.

Tommy, Silva can't comment on Rooney's legendary status. This probably comes from the club (Mr Bill?) and they don't know enough to dispute that.

I really can't see Lozano arriving unless they believe him to be so good they can't miss out on him. I expect to see many players leave before we bring in players in positions where we have numbers (even if we don't have quality).

We can't just sell them to anyone we want for whatever price we want, nor does the player have to agree to the move. I'm optimistic with these two. We have to give them time though.

"I have big names. The list is not so big. We will do everything we can to improve. I like to see competition between players every day.”

So expect to say maybe three key signings... possibly up to five. At a guess, there will be a left-back (Shaw, Tierney or Sessegnon); a defender (???); a central midfielder (Carvalho or Torreira); a winger (Lozano); and a playmaker (Ziyech or Fekir).

Just my two penneth's worth!

Very excited though although I must confess I was excited when Koeman came in. But this feels better and more structured.

I think removing Schneiderlin, Bolasie, Besic, Rooney, and Mirallas will allow this.

Like our resident squad analysts, I suspect M&M must have already drawn up a list of The Expendables... and quietly slipped it out there into the agent-sphere to see what interest they can generate. Strange that things appear to be moving slowly considering the transfer window has already been open for a couple of weeks...

I'm just not convinced we actually have to move people out before we can bring in any new players they may want. Yes, there's a risk that we could still have unwanted players on the books when the window closes — but you could argue that bringing in fresh faces, who are therefore almost guaranteed selection preference, may actually help a few of the hangers-on to accept that their days at Finch Farm / Goodison Park are indeed numbered.

"There was a courtship that started and stopped, as was mandatory. Then Everton was without a coach and interest came again." (Diplomatic answer not to incriminate anyone, I'm guessing).

On the question of buying Portuguese players:

"I know them well, but we are not in a hurry, we have time. We do not want to mess with a lot of transfers, but there are a lot of decisions to make. "

Not much given away there either.

Oh! And some reports claim he is on a 'modest' ١ million pa. Two Silvas for the price of one Allardyce!

If the money really is there, we must spend it.

When Manchester City got their millions, they tried to shop at the very top but found that despite having the money to make the bids, Casillas, Kaka and Terry did not want to join. Over the course of the following transfer windows they looked at the next level of player:

The ones who were stars with big reputations but who were not guaranteed Champions League Football at one of the top sides. They were also players who the very top sides did not want to spend their money on.

In game Aguero, Tevez, Toure, Silva, Boateng and others who made that next step with city. They complimented that with solid English buys such as Milner and Barry.

That is where we now need to shop. Is Mauro Icardi going to do anything with Inter in the Champions League? No, pay the money and tempt him away.

Draxler is ready for a move.

Timo Werner – why not at least make an offer?

Berrardi is ready for a step into another league where he will become a top Number ten.

Götze needs his career reviving with a move.

If we cant sign genuine top players which is our normal mordus operandi, I fear it's more of the same this new season.

I'd love to be optimistic, but I don't see Silva being our saviour; my heart says Yes but my head is saying No.

Brands and Silva have a brief to sign the next big name and to develop their own. It's all about development now. Not buying older players. We've been there, done it and it failed badly. And we'll be paying the price of that for a few years now (if we are serious about the new stadium).

As for Goetze, doesn't he have a dehabilitating health condition?

Icardi is set for a big move to a massive club, such as Real Madrid and Bayern. There's also talk of Chelsea as well.

Werner is going to move to a bigger club as well.

We simply don't have the room in our wage budget. We're paying far too much as it is – 𧴺m per year.

Jay, ١m is a big reduction. He must have been desperate! I wonder if the ٤m a year was for team Allardyce rather than all to old gravy chops himself? If so, he had 17 staff didn't he, so it makes sense.

They also learnt as they went along and made some bad mistakes in the transfer market – Negredo, Jovetic, Sinclair, Mangala, Nolito, Bony, Nastasic, Rodwell, Javi Garcia – all signed in the last 6 years and definite fails. We made some big mistakes last year, but we all know Silva will be an improvement on Allardyce and hopefully Koeman. I don't think he will be the long-term answer (delighted to be wrong on that one), but he is a part of the evolution of the club.

Keep Vlasic, Lookman... and Klaassen! I just think he's worth more this season with an intelligent management team.

In what world do you live, where getting other clubs to both want and pay for those players, and for the players to accept contracts at those to be determined clubs that will no doubt be less than what they are currently making, is easy?

2-3 players in the 㿀-30 million category, and another one or two in the 㾶-15 million is more likely.

Hopefully they will be players ready to come in and prove to be bargains.

Of course, big wages need to be cut before we can do all this: Schneiderlin, Bolasie, Klaassen, Williams, Mirallas, Rooney, McCarthy, and Sandro all need moving on. (The average wage of these 8 is about 㿼k a week, if not more... bloody criminal!)

Both seemed unanimated when Rooney came up. It suggests that he is in the rear-view mirror now.

I thought Brands was nervous but only when he was asked about his involvement in Silva's appointment!

I, probably misread into it, thought he was very shifty about the whole thing. It fed my instinct that there much more to the story than we might ever know.

But the highlight was Mr Bill! 🤣

Mirallas, Bolasie, Rooney, McCarthy, Klaassen, Besic, Sandro, Williams, Funes Mori, Robles, Martina, Schneiderlin and Garbutt should all go but it will be hard to shift so many, especially the big earners.

Time to see what magic Marcel can do on that front.

A big squad to assess and then decide who stays, goes and who to bring in, then mould them into Marco's playing style.

I hope the faithful don't expect too much too soon, or miracles; it is going to take time and next season may be one of consolidation with an improved playing style, hopefully then putting us in with a chance of a trophy in the future.

Within the triumvirate which Silva prefers, who is the better option, Carvalho or Gana?

I've seen a lot of one but virtually nothing of the other. I know he'll be cheaper than advertised due to the Portuguese club being in meltdown but is he, at around 㿅m, worth sacrificing Gana for?

As for Adrien Silva, surely this is a role Gylfi could play?

Moving the dross out will not be easy, the money they are on at Everton will be substantially more than they can get elsewhere. So that limits who would purchase these players, and if there are any Premier League clubs willing to take them they will offer very little transfer money in order to meet their weekly salary.

I was encouraged to see it was David Unsworth who showed Brands around Finch Farm, he would be able to give him an update on our younger players, something him and Silva want to encourage.

Now with all managers, it's a gamble, and I accept it might not work but I am more excited about Silva's appointment than our previous 3 managers. I like his style of football; as Ryan Mason the Spurs player commented Marco is a workaholic and pays attention to detail. He compares him very favourably with Pochettino who he played under, and I don't think anybody would be disappointed if he achieves at Everton what Pochettino has done at Spurs.

Gueye is great at winning the ball but he can't pass it. Davies can't pass it either. Schneiderlin can but he's far too slow and more often than not goes sideways. João Màrio can pass but he played further forwards and is more of an attacking player who goes box to box. Carvalho will get the ball deep and move it from back to front quickly. That's the kind of player we need. Carvalho or not.

Like them if for no other reason they don't seem "past it" and part of the modern game (however much that is now just a rich man's plaything.)

Whilst I agree it won't be easy to sell them all to clubs willing to pay those salaries, the way to do it would be to do a deal with the players and pay a golden goodbye for them to accept a lower salary at a club where they are likely to get some game time. In that way, we save a proportion of the wages in year 1 (and all in subsequent years), recover some capital (transfer fees) and the players are encouraged to move to get game time. We can then recycle the savings into a smaller number of better quality players.

Simples! If only! But that what Brands is being paid for.

Guys, we cannot afford to just discard players. Our wage bill is 𧴺m a year. Give a listen to EBM. It's a great podcast this week. They're talking a rights issue to raise some cash.

Someone had a post about “Santa Moshiri”. That really is how some view him. Make no mistake, Everton will pay every penny of these failed transfers.

Moshiri isn't prepared to write them off. He's done what I hoped and got a coach and DoF in who want to build a dynasty by developing youth. That is a rollercoaster and takes time. But it means using what we have now and bringing youth through to fill the gaps.

So no, we're not going to just let Bolasie go on a free. We'll keep him and make some use of him. Silva might fancy him. He does have pace and some skill. Maybe Silva can unlock some consistency from somewhere.

Things might have moved slowly since we had no recognized manager in place until now...

I know I've gleefully read and then ignored any speculation about who we really want to sign this summer, since there were no one there yet to express any specific wishes, or make decisions...

50 years of age, and I can finally see the silly season for what it truly is. Well, better late than never! :D

I wouldn't say Davies cannot pass. Granted he isn't a Platini type making 40-yard passes but he is good in and around the box, making clever through-balls and flicks to create openings. He wasn't able to do that much this season due to the fact he was deployed as a box-to-box tackler, à la McCarthy. Likewise, Calvert-Lewin is very good at the same thing... hence his 11 assists.

The problem comes when you have different types of players signed by four different managers being shoved together. Bolasie would work best in an old-fashioned 4-4-2 with a wide man barreling down the wing, whipping in crosses to Mick Quinn. Schneiderlin would work best if he had a free hand to make sweeping passes over the top to a quickfire forward like Michael Owen. Besic, McCarthy, Gueye are dogs of war.

Walcott needs a right-back and centre-forward who will cover his position when he cuts in. Tosun is a fox in the box needing service. Niasse is a wildcard who would work great in a long-ball, hit-and-hope set-up.

At the back, we have lump it forward from last-ditch tacklers like Jagielka and Williams. We also have, guys who want to play it on the ground and maraud up-field, like Holgate, Funes Mori and Coleman. Sigurdsson is like a harder working LeTissier who needs others to compensate for his lack of pace.

So, all-in-all, we have a mish-mash of disparate players who are ill-suited to forming a coherent team. I suspect Silva will build around the strengths of Lookman, Walcott, Davies, Tosun, Coleman, Holgate... and dispense with the dogs of war, and long-ball merchants. Sigurdsson may or may not fit in depending on the guys around him.

I like Gueye, he does what he does very well. If a big offer came in, say from Arsenal, and I mean over 㿔m. I'd take it. I think Davies can learn his role and has much more of an all-round game, which is what Silva prefers.

A left-back, the best we can get. I'd like Ryan Sessegnon, but he wants Liverpool or Man Utd. The lad is a fantastic player. Van Aanholt is solid; Tierney would be better.

The other will be William Carvalho. Marco wants him to orchestrate the football he wants us to play.

As for developing our own players, we have always attempted to do that, haven't we!

Martinez brought through Stones and Barkley and developed Lukaku.

Koeman played a few but it was clear he wasn't interested in the long term and wanted here and now, so I'd say it was needs must for him. Then there was his use of Davies which counters what I just said. Allardyce finished the season with some of our oldest ever sides.

We need a manager not afraid to pick 3 or 4 players under 23 on a consistent basis. If you look at Calvert-Lewin vs Solanke then Solanke was meant to be better as a kid, Calvert-Lewin was better last season, but Solanke caught up by the end of the season. It shows how much they need games.

Look at Alexander-Arnold vs Kenny. Who'd have thought the Liverpool player would be ahead of Kenny now and going to the World Cup? That's down to faith and games. A smaller squad allows the youngesters a chance.

As for what's changed, you'll find out by September.

We don't do that to feed the Championship and below, we do it because we think we'll now have even better players to feed into our first team than the old "local" recruitment did!

So I have much more faith in our upcoming talents than I did 5-10 years ago!

It will take time, as long as we are improving in our style of play and gradually increasing the number of players that fit in with that style, can we be patient.?

Just for a little while.

While game time is important in the progress of young talent, I just feel the 2 examples you use is that both Liverpool's youngsters are better than our 2.

Calvert-Lewin is a willing runner and because of his height will win his fair share of headers but, as an all-round striker, Solanke is far better, and with all due respect, if Calvert-Lewin had been at Liverpool, I doubt he would have made any appearances. I mean Solanke had to try and displace Mane, Firmino and Salah, were Calvert-Lewin just had to get in front of Niasse.

I also think the same applies to Kenny – he was in because Seamus was injured and there wasn't any competition seeing as the only other full-back, Martina, was covering for Baines.

I would guess that Silva and Brands may be looking for another striker with Tosun as back-up. So I don't see Calvert-Lewin getting much game time next season; same goes for Kenny with Seamus back. Davies also struggled last season but I think Silva coming in will benefit him although I think he will be used a lot as sub next season.

We need to get rid of:
Williams.
Martina.
Besic.
Schneiderlin
Bolasie.
Niasse.
Mirallas.

Then, if we really do have greater ambition than finishing 6th we also need a 㿲m + striker to add something special.

Team:
Pickford
Coleman. ?. ?. ?.
Gueye. ?.
Walcott. Sigurdsson. ?
?

Bench:
Keeper?
Baines.
Keane.
McCarthy.
Lookman.
Tosun.

Squad:
The rest...
Obviously the rest come in to help out the first team and supplement the bench for their development.

Also, maybe we should be sending more U23 players abroad, ideally Germany for a year's experience, rather than the Championship. This increases the player's desire to play in Europe (ideally with us). The players can experience different training regimes and give feedback to our staff.

It will raise our profile with the other European teams and players and it gives us an outlet if the players are not felt to be good enough to eventually play for us.

Maybe the season after, we can go for some bigger names but, at the moment, we ain't in a position to attract any big transfers. Settle the current lot and see what a few additions can add.

Koeman tried to bring in too many players at once and look at how that turned out. Slow and steady progress seems to be the way, even if us fans want it all now!

Carvalho might not be such a snap now that Schneiderlin – whose market value must be half of what we paid – seems to have recovered his confidence and form.

We would have to shell out a massive fee to make a small improvement at defensive midfielder. Surely the areas that need immediate attention, based on what we witnessed last season, are central defense where we are just too old, midfield where we are much too slow, and forwards who can actually score goals.

I don't think the optimism with which we started last season was in anyway misplaced – we acquired some really good players. With a tweak here and there, perhaps some speed on the pitch instead of on the bench, one decent old-fashioned center-half, and input from a positive-thinking coaching staff and we are at least top six.

Time to start again with pacy full-backs for a start. Marcel's scouting network will be vital if Moshiri doesn't fancy another cash boost.

That's the logic we seem to be using! Good luck, Marco, with people like that to please

In this century, we've only had Rooney, Hibbert, Osman, Barkley and – err, that's it – make any sort of serious claim to achieving a successful career in the Premier League from our youth system after all, sadly.

They laughed at Man City when they tried to sign Kaka and Casillas – people thought it was absurd.

Next minute, they actually did sign Robinho who, at that point, was a huge star. Sure, Robinho thought he was signing for Manchester United, but when he he realised he seemed not to care too much when he saw his proposed weekly wage.

Look at it this way. We signed Rooney, Bolasie and Sigurdsson for approximately 䀁m and likely 𧸖k per week wage. Had we offered Leipzig 㿲m last season and 𧶲k per week for Timo Werner he'd now be an Everton player.

It's not as simple as throwing money at players. Some players actually want a chance to win trophies. Other clubs would offer similar wage packages to us, and if they can offer top 4 football in a top European league, then players will most likely choose them over us.

Why would Werner, who could walk into most champions league teams in Europe, choose to come to us with our current squad and battle out for mid-table? Because we may offer 㾶k more per week than someone else? You think any modern footballer at that level is fussed over a few extra peanuts a week?

Oh, and there's the small matter of FFP which most on here seem to have forgotten about. When Man City initially threw money at everything that moved, they didn't have the same restraints as there are now.

And I think a lot would say it is exactly your overly unrealistic ambitious attitude that hurts the club. Not the realists. We are happy to accept incremental development, with a planned approach and stability. Not the gung-ho throw money around and hope for the best approach like you, and then scream and boo at the manager and players a few weeks later when we aren't in the top 4 already.

But I think the BBC have now joined in: last week they were that desperate to show Liverpool fans in Ukraine the only ones they could find on the Wednesday before the game was a group from America. They hadn't seen any matches but got tickets from one of the sponsors. Then the other night on the main BBC news was the story of Karius and his concussion, nothing about Marco Silva.

Then, to add insult to injury, on the local BBC news they lead with the Karius story then in the sport section they had an interview with Joey Barton who weeks ago became Fleetwoods manager, then after that they showed the Marco Silva and Marcel Brands press conference.

Just going back to Karius, certainly football needs to treat head injuries as they do in rugby, any head clash the player is immediately removed from the pitch for medical inspection. Then they are only allowed back if the doctor says so. My only thing about Karius is how come he ended up in a hospital in Boston that the trustee is their owner J J Henry. This couldn't be a ploy to say to the football world, "Look, he only made those mistakes because of concussion, so feel free to make us an offer for him."

A meeting is scheduled for tomorrow where the 'elite' clubs will once again try and persuade those clubs outside of the select few to give up their share to further solidify the closed shop at the top of the league.

Liverpool owner Henry believes that it is fundamentally unfair that his club and the other five subsidise the rest of the Premier League. I wish the so-called elite would carry out their threats and piss off to form an elitist league and leave the rest of us to concentrate on the game itself and not have to endure the sordid soap opera that modern day football has become.

With regard to bringing young players through into the first team, the club has quite a good record in that respect over the last few seasons. Unless the young player is exceptional, eg, Rooney as a kid, the managers are under that much pressure to produce the right results that they are naturally reluctant to chance an inexperienced player unless they have to.

Following on from James's post, Silva needs to be given plenty of time to produce results. As I have said previously in the thread, he wouldn't be my choice, but us fans need to show more patience this time round. If we don't, the situation will be bordering on the farcical.