Williams reportedly in talks to join Stoke on loan

Having said that, a loan for a 33-year-old, presumably in the twilight of his career is a mystery, or is it just another way of dealing with, or delaying a problem till next season?

William, not sure about Cheryshev, okay he had a good World Cup, scoring quite a few goals, so did Enner Valencia four years ago, and we all know too well what happened there!

You mentioned "delaying a problem till next season".

His contract ends at the end of next season (June 2019).

If this rumour is true, and he goes, count that as problem solved.

Ashley has to go. Back to Swansea is a good fit for all I'd think.

I was discussing the Pickford and Maguire rumours with a mate, who just happens to be a Man Utd fan, on Sunday night.

Basically, I asked him why are Chelsea and United rumoured to be after Pickford and Maguire now, and not 12 months ago when they both were available? His reply was what you've said because they had a good World Cup. Us and Leicester were prepared to stump up the cash 12 months ago, and now all of a sudden, certainly in Maguire's case, other teams just think they can come along and take these players off you.

I suppose if Pickford and Maguire had had absolute stinkers, or not even played in Russia, then these other teams wouldn't be interested at all in them.

Plenty of natural ability but he looks like someone who lacks the physique and pace for the Premier League, much like Bilyaletdinov did.

Er, bit of an understatement. Never mind recapturing, there were times I was left wondering if Ashley Williams ever had anything to recapture. Maybe Swansea had pulled a Scooby Doo on us and Alfie Mawson was, in fact, the real Ashley Williams and Ashley Williams was, in fact, Ali Dia of Southampton fame.

If he signed a permanent deal with Stoke now he'd get half of what he'll earn this season for going on loan. Makes absolute sense from his point of view and very little we can do about it. At least he'll be gone and we free up some of his wages.

Hopefully Ndiaye coming to us will be part of the deal.

Denis Cheryshev currently plays for Villarreal and has spent most of his career, life, in Spain though he is Russian. Family went there with dad who was a footballer with a Spanish side. A Real Madrid youth player but has played out on loan quite frequently till Villarreal signed him. Aged 27 has played around 80 la Liga games and scored 9 goals.

Then of course World cup Russia where he set the comp alite in the first game with some great play and goals. And turned it on throughout and got the Russian fans thinking he could win the cup for them on his own.

Favours the left side it seems from the games I watched in Russia and has a lot of close control and skill.

A players website gave his current value at £7.8 million but I fancy that was before the World cup. Certainly worth a look at.

I still think Schneiderlin, Sandro, Pennington and Martina need to be moved on to do a good culling job. I just hope Silva/Brands identify and bring in the right players, to get us moving in the right direction as a club.

Whatever we save is positive I guess and thankfully he only has one year left on his contract, unlike Klaassen. Just hope they are paying a good chunk of it.

Would have preferred a prem club take him as they could have paid more. Beggars / choosers...

Also means we'd have gotten rid of two centre-backs and are down to bare bones. New centre-back getting critical.

That is not Ndiaye. He may or may not be better than Davies, but we don't need him.

It's a step in the right direction though I would like to see us go out and get a fast centre-back or at least give Holgate a good run in the team.

Re Denis wasn't he linked with us under Moyes but picked Spain instead. An industrious up and down midfielder?

We do need midfielders who can help out at either end of the pitch.

Is this the final year of his contract? We get some of his wages paid for the year or maybe a little loan fee? And then we can say goodbye.

That's two centre-backs more than likely gone. We must be very, very confident of getting at least one in and we go with Player X, Jagielka, Holgate and Keane.

Thank you!

Based upon what most are saying, his more "journeyman" status, a good World Cup but not translating to his overall Club career, and his age I'd pass.

Thanks for the info.

I think we'll see 3 more coming in before next Thursday.

https://www.givemesport.com/1364683-yerry-mina-why-jose-mourinho-has-to-steer-clear-of-barcelonas-unwanted-defender

This certainly isn't the description of the rampaging Mina we saw in the World Cup, but it's worth noting. The Levante disaster was one of the few Barca games I didn't see last season. The YouTube highlights don't show Mina directly culpable for any of the goals, but he certainly looks hesitant – perhaps unsurprising for a youngster who hasn't played in months. But they also show one cracking through ball to Suarez.

I think the only stumbling block with Mina is that he is holding out for a Champions League club.

Barcelona cannot play him as they have Malcolm, Coutinho & Arthur & can only register 3 non EU players. Barcelona do not want to loan him out or sell him to another Spanish club or another Champions League club. There lies the problem but they do want their pound of flesh.

Cheryshev's moment of fame was when he turned out for Real Madrid against 2nd Division Cadiz in the Copa del Rey, having already been named on the bench when on loan to Villarreal, & got Madrid thrown out of the competition. Quite an impact player from the bench though.

Unsurprisingly, there was never a word of confirmation from any reputable source.

Also unsurprisingly, there hasn't been a word published about it since.

I think Ndiaye would be a very good addition. He is powerful, fast, athletic, and scores more goals than our current midfielders. He is also a decent passer of the ball. He was very good for Stoke and would give us a physical presence in midfield that Schneiderlin and Davies don't.

I realise we need a deep-lying midfielder who can do a better job than Schneiderlin but Ndiaye could do a good job in front of him and provide competition for the other midfield spots.

Certainly hope that's the case.

He is a Russian left winger playing for Villarreal in Spain. Not sure he is good enough though, lacks consistency.

Clearly a decent bloke and hope the next move works out for him. He was never a long-term option but seemed a good deal at the time on the back of the John Stones sale.

Seems a nice enough guy who always cared even if his ability was limited.

Good move for all, I'd say.

㿀m, and about 5 decent performances. Not a road map to be repeated (see Klaassen).

Whether Drinkwater still has it in him, well I don't know, but the fact that Chelsea are so willing to offload him and others have passed on him (and supposedly clubs below us in the hierarchy) makes me concerned.

What about Max Meyer? Couldn't we hijack that deal? We've got more to offer than Palace.

As for Ndiaye, what good is having him, Gueye, Davies, McCarthy and Besic all competing for the same position?

Davies is only 20, can get a hell of a lot better, is a brilliant and I do think brilliant prospect (and his most recent award nomination confirms others think so too), and he's very, very cheap. So why would we need Ndiaye who was dreadful in midfield in a dreadful stoke side, and cannot offer anything that we actually need.

Davies has regressed dreadfully in the past 2 seasons and anyone who has watched him in the pre-season games where he has given the ball away time after time (not alone in doing that, I know) would be hard pressed to support him to have a place in the starting XI at Wolves.

I think Davies has been okay in training. He needs work though, and Silva will provide it. He won't play so far forward under Silva and instead will play in Gueye's position when Gueye can't play.

Davies is still a prospect. Who knows if he'll improve to the level we hope. Either way, I don't think he'll be a regular starter next season.

If you think of Everton as a car, then I think we're worrying about a paint job with Ndiaye when we've still got a wheel missing and lack an engine.

Once we have a centre back and deep playmaking midfielder, then we can take our time and get the finishing touches to a team to challenge the top 6.

Maybe he'll be a flashy new paint job, and we have our eye on an engine and wheel as well.

Steve, if we are already talking to Stoke about getting rid of Williams then why not negotiate about Ndiaye while we are at it?

Sad really, but we need a United squad if we are to really improve, so if Mirallas, Bolasie, and the last remaining fixtures from the Moyes era, are moved on, it would give me a lot more hope for the coming season.

I've just heard a story today that both Brands and Silva, both start talking Portugese when Duncan Ferguson is around, but again it's probably just a rumour because that's what most stories are.

Do the dreamers in the boardroom still believe we can challenge for the Champions League? They'll be doing well if they're not in a relegation scrap with that lot.

Marega and Brahimi next seemingly and two other players as well.

They'll have bought about eight or nine by the time the window closes.

There are a lot of disappointments still on the books and some of them have shown very little in pre-season so I can see some moving out soon.

Not sure how much relevance a car analogy has to a football team. But, this fella looks like a pretty impressive 'engine' to me. A much more powerful and imposing version of Idrissa.

I think he'd add plenty of steel and ground coverage in the middle of pitch. He'd offer a much more effective shield to the defence than we currently have.

It was scary watching how easily we were ripped apart by a pretty ordinary Rennes team last weekend. If the rumour turns out to be true, it seems that Silva felt that way too.

Williams better than Keane? Whoever just said that, it isn't so.

At the moment I don't think he should be in the starting eleven and Ndiaye is a better option as things stand. Hopefully a loan would take some pressure off young Tom and he would return a much better player — a similar situation in some ways to when Osman was loaned out to Derby County.

I have played at a decent level myself and played with and against better CMs who never had a chance to earn anything like this thug!

Good servant, but moving a 34-year-old (?) on is good business.

The clock ticks on everyone.

Whether Ndiaye is an upgrade or not, he's not the passer we need. What's the point in signing this fella and then playing him alongside Schneiderlin and sitting gueye on the bench with Davies and Besic. It's madness.

Got to sell anyone that age and get what we can.

That's another 㾸m write down to match the one for Klaassen. Expensive business this fucking up transfers, isn't it, and we're not finished yet!

If someone wants to pick up his contract without paying any loan fee I would take it without any second thought.

Our Tom will come good, he's a blue through and through... Silva has had 6 months off to assess other players from other clubs and he should have known the ones he needed to off load before he got here.

With only a week to go it will be a miracle if we can get anyone else worth having, but that makes it all the more exciting.

Another long hard frustrating season beckons and I really hope that Silva is not looking over his shoulder come January...

Hang on – I am talking about all the attributes we normally get in a player!!!

Anyway...Williams was never as bad as people make out. Who could look good playing in a four with a hit and miss Kenny, Martina and Keane... and with a badly out of form and confidence Schneiderlin just in front of you.

Devils advocate; would a pairing of Williams and Funes Mori be much worse than what we will see come opening match of the season. I was hoping for a back three personally... maybe Holgate, Mina, and Rojo. Who knows... I don't. Hopping Brands does. We need TWO top class and ready to go centre backs right now. Easy.

How Schneiderlin has evaded being sent into internal exile just baffles me - pea-heart, never tackles, slow, lateral 5 yard passes, zero assists, zero goals. He has stunk the place out for long enough.

"Ashley Williams, Kevin Mirallas, Cuco Martina and Nikola Vlasic have been told to train away from Everton's first team squad by Marco Silva."

Please please be true

Is this an incentive to sign for Stoke or just media BS

Presumably it is to make it crystal clear to him and the others that they need to find a club in the next week or so or they will not be playing much football.

Silva clearly wants these four out of the way and it strikes me as good firm management, especially if they'll be leaving us.

I thought Williams would be a good signing, but I wasn't thinking laterally enough. He looked good in Swansea and Wales teams fighting a rearguard action, poor in an Everton team 'designed' to press and go forward

He's certainly not fucking about is he.

Expect an announcement in about a week.

A pity it didn't work out for him here. When we signed him we needed a no-nonsense CB. That was what we got, but we also got lots of no others as well. No pace, awareness etc.

I am not a fan of slating our own palyers, but if he can either get Morgan Sideways to leave or preferably to play I will be ecstatic. That guy has been stealing a wage for too long. I tried calling the fraud squad, didn't want to know :)

For me I would give Keane a shot, he was woeful last season but so was Williams. He did well at Burnley the year before and younger, Silva maybe able to get more out of him and if he doesn't improve enough, there is more sale value down the line.

I can't really pick between them on last season alone but Williams has been awful ever since he signed.

Like every other player who has pulled on the blue shirt in those two years, he has had some bad games, some bad moments. His good games and good moments far outweigh the bad.

The most curious aspect of Sam Allardyce's short stint as Everton manager was he quickly identified and went with the best pairing of centre backs available to him: Williams and Holgate. They were together and contributed to our most miserly stretch defensively last season.

With the cluster of Christmas and New Year fixtures, as all teams do, Allardyce shuffled the pack to give players a break. He never reverted to his best centre back pairing after that.

Williams time has past. Jags is also very much on borrowed time, although he has not had a dramatic loss of pace as some claim. Keane, who on arrival last season initially looked liked a steady-Eddy 7-8 out of 10 player, now seldom hits a 5 or 6, but is more a 3-4 out of 10 player. Funes Mori has gone.

The claim above that Holgate is a Twiggy in football gear is nonsense. This lad is well hard. He has excellent technique. Great timing in the tackle. Both a cool and fiery head, when necessary. He doesn't back down or blink in the face of any opponent, regardless of their reputation.

He still has a tendency to get blindsided and lose his man, but I am backing Holgate to become a big player, hopefully for us.

All that's left on the books after that at centre back is Pennington, Feeney and now possibly Digne.

It remains a position in much need of quality, ready-to-go, reinforcement(s).

The continued presence of Schneiderlin worries me. One because he sinply does not deserve to be here after last year, and two because if he does not play well in the first few games the crowd will get restless and Silva could find himself losing some faith if he continues to play him, causing a bad atmosphere that has plagued Everton for 12 months.

I guess these are the players being told, go or rot. I imagine (hope) players like Bolasie and Besic are still available for transfer, but if the club doesn't shift them, they will still have a role in the squad.

Who on earth is going to pass the ball? That is why Schneiderlin always plays despite the change in manager and despite Unsworth and Allardyce not liking him. He's the only one we have.

Also, a bit of intensity wouldn't go amiss when running around. If we are to be a pressing team, sometimes you need to press in 4th and 5th gear- i've never seen Schneiderlin go above 3rd gear.

This was why we needed a Carvalho type. It seems Silva is happy enough with Schneiderlin and that he's been given the 18 shirt shows foresight for the coming season.

I doubt Schneiderlin would still be here if we could offload him, but that's impossible because of his wages and his transfer fee.

Dont believe that NewsNow shite, mate!!

Fran #122, who knows, a Vlasic loan could still be on.

Steve #125, Besic has no harsher critic on TW than me, but I'll admit I was shocked to see him in two preseason appearances spraying passes around with complete composure, even under pressure. Maybe he successfully grew his game at Boro. Obviously Silva wants to see more.

I said a while ago, being a Besic fanboy, I hoped he got a new life under Silva.

Seems he may be on his way to doing just that.

He probably would have got some game time this year. Depressing isn't it?

Ignoring the fact the signing never really made sense at his age, and he generally wasn't good enough, best of luck to him. A hard character to really like but certainly isn't the worst we've seen.

However, I was worried about him early on, from the moment I read an interview with him at his gaff that the club had placed him in somewhere in South Liverpool. It basically hinted at him being over here on his own, missing home, missing his family, didn't like the weather etc.

He's a young kid and he's not playing regular football, which is probably all he wants to do. I think getting him out on loan may be the best thing to do. If we look like we can deal get most of our money back then the club would probably be tempted to sell. But there's definitely a player there.

I want a big, strong, fast commanding centre back. Williams was none of them, Roja no and Keane is a long way off.
Mijna no idea if he's any good but he's at Barca so can't be crap and can obviously score and be a threat at set pieces.
I think Silva prefers a back 4 so Holgate and Jags would be my starting central pair.
I'd personally play 3-4-3 at the back add in any from Galloway, Martina, Keane, Rodwell or Digne alongside Holgate and Jags.

Ndiaye has comparable passing statistics to Morgan Schneiderlin.

They both make 80% of their passes forwards. Their average pass is again the same at 17 metres. MS edges the completion stats 84% to 83%.

Gueye is actually the 'best' passer in our midfield with 85% completion. Only 69% are forward and the average length is 15 metres.

Ndiaye has the most accurate shot out of the three and scores and creates the most goals and chances per game too.

He has a shot accuracy of 46% and managed 2 goals in 13 games and created 7 chances. IG has a shot accuracy of 44% and scored 2 goals and created 11 chances in 32 games. MS has a shot accuracy of 0%, unsurprisingly didn't score any goals last season and created 7 chances in 29 games.

Ndiaye also made no errors defensively compared to 1 each for IG and MS. Although he did play a lot fewer games.

I think he is more than a 'scurrier' myself.

That is why I think a central midfielder must be brought in. João Mario on loan with Schneiderlin being loaned out would suit me. Maybe even make a move for Grealish or Cook from Bournmouth, then of course there is Loftus-Cheek, although expect Chelsea to see if he can make an impact with Sarri. Drinkwater would also be an improvement.

There are options out there.

And will be intereeting to see if Williams is trusted. And let's hope davies second-season syndrome is put behind him and he remembers how to pass a ball.

Interviewer asked if he had a message for Everton supporters who would miss him and I thought he was going to vomit!!!

More hope than expectation though.