Zouma: Decision over my future will come in the summer

My hunch is that if Chelsea want him back and see him as a replacement/upgrade for David Luiz, he'll return there.

Of course a few things have changed at Chelsea since then, the Abramovich situation, the Sarri situation, and of course the Transfer ban for two windows, which incidentally they are appealing against. Because the ban is effectively for signing underage players, it may be reduced to that area alone, who knows?

He has certainly fitted in well to our set-up, and his performances overall have been pretty consistent, he has regained his inclusion in the French National squad, and of course he's got the odd goal or two, I do hope he stays, but ultimately Chelsea will obviously have the final say.

Their current centre backs:

David Luiz, brilliant in a back 3, but a liability in a back 4 and getting older.

Rudigier, error prone, not lived up to exdpections.

Cahill, aging and going on a bosman in the summer.

Christensen, nothing more than back up.

So Zouma has every chance of forcing himself into their plans, so much depends on him. He has got better and better as the season has gone on, and would be a real coup if we could get him permanently.

PS. Chelsea, I believe, are either in the process of, or intend to, appeal the ban.

"Thank you for giving us some proper football, definitely player of the season."

Assuming the surgery went well this week, I'm betting he gets a final chance to impress Silva this summer. So I think we'll spend in other areas, not CB.

Unfortunately Jags isn't going to be a regular because he's 38ish and there isn't a great deal between Zouma and Kean but Zouma is my first choice in that position.

I haven't seen enough of Mina to judge if he's a footballer, never mind any good.

I'd say he's a must buy £25M?

I fear you are right here! We'd love to keep Zouma, but let's face it, we borrowed him from a club who couldn't promise him a place as they saw him by then.

He may still be too costly for us if we have the proper young players to step into the breech. I'm hoping Feeney, or maybe even Pennington, can at last have a chance to prove their worth!

Zouma will cost some serious dough. I think Mina and Keane will be first choice pairing, and Holgate and Jags backups. Jags has another 2 years left in him, particularly managing his appearances on the lighter side.

The one thing that gives me pause is Zouma's words. Normally you here, "We will see what my future is this summer. As of now I'm a Chelsea player, but we shall see."

He did not say that which is in bold. No mention of the parent Club at all, which makes me believe he may want to stay?

But with Brands at the helm, I believe we are going to see a lot of younger kids step up and fill holes.

In fact, I think Tom Davies will be filling the hole left by Gana as I believe Gueye will be off to France. Under Brands we'll begin to see a lot more kids step up, coupled with exceedingly prudent spending in acquiring new players.

Time will tell. Over to you, Marcel.

Interesting thought about Davies stepping in for Gana. He certainly has the tackling skills and the search-and-destroy mindset. Not much at reading the game, however. Yet.

Jesus. . . I think I'll reverse my stance then. If Jags is out of contract, it's not an intelligent signing as he's aging. For some reason I thought he has 2-3 years left with us??

Regarding Davies -

We're seeing the fruits of patience with DCL. We need to be patient with Davies and give him a chance, just as we've done with Calvert-Lewin. I've said this for a long, long time now, and there's been a host of dissenters. Tom Davies is a very good young player, and if we are patient with him, and we need to be, he's going to develop into one hell of a midfielder.

The kid has all the tools. All of them. He simply needs to mature - hence your comment about reading the game.

Afford young Tom the same patience you've afforded Seamus Coleman, Mike. You won't regret it.

Him saying that it will be considered in the Summer is a change, But there will be a lot of factors involved, both at Chelsea and Everton, in such a consideration.

I hope that Davies and other youngsters can benefit from Brands' philosophy. I think the fans are starting to buy into it too, which is crucial for our development.

I’d offer Jags a player coach role. He’s only 36, not 38. He can go for another season. I doubt he’d want to be in a relegation fight, or drop a division. If we make EL, he needs to stay and I believe he would. Brands could find another Zouma. Mina and Keane could be a good partnership. I have big hopes for Feeney. Holgate could impress in the summer and get himself back in the side. Only thing on Holgate is that maybe he’s not a silva full back (not attacking enough) and he’s not a silva centre back (too small) and so he could be moved on. Cahill might be worth a short term deal as he would bring a lot of experience. He’s 6’4” so fits the bill. That said he’s been poor for a few seasons now and maybe he’d be like Ashley Williams last season. I’d trust Brands on this one.

As for Gomes, well that technique and passing is something that’s rare and harder to develop. We need to sign him. I agree Davies can replace Gueye, we’ve also got McCarthy. I wouldn’t write McCarthy off, I just think that we’ve been very cautious with the lad and we will see what happens with him in the summer. Who knows a good pre-season and he might be back to the first team. So no need to replace Gueye, even if the quality might not be as good. However, whilst not replacing Gueye, I would replace Schneiderlin, even if he doesn’t actually leave. Get an upgrade in on him. A holding midfielder who can sit in and protect the back four and can pass. Someone who can move the ball quickly up the pitch in transition. I would have one No10, two No8s, and one No6 competing for a the starting line up to give me options for each game so I can shift from 4231 to 433. Eg Sigurdsson, Gomes, Davies, and Fred (Man Utd).

Mike Gaynes, you asked about Henry Onyekuru on another thread. Mike, the work permit system will be ripped up and redesigned in the summer. Henry will be at Everton next season. The work permit system is out of date. The rules are unique to football and can be changed easily. With Brexit, the Premier League must move to ensure that they don’t get knocked off their perch as the most watched league. This means retaining the world stars. This means a change. You wait and see, we will implement a more continental system, sign any foreigner you want, but up to a quota in your squad. So perhaps that would mean 3 British players in the XI or the match day squad. And the British players would be those that satisfy the current Home Grown rules.

I think that we should concentrate our money on top quality players. I’d bring in Gomes, Fred, and a striker. Yep, just three players, even if Gueye and Zouma leave.

Jags is definitely on the way out, as a player.
Silva has mentioned before that he may play with a back three from time to time. If so, you want that sufficient competition to keep everyone on their toes.

If there is an opportunity to buy, him especially when it seems that he has the makings of being a mainstay, why pass up at the opportunity? Especially when we are trying to build, so let's build the momentum. At this moment, without considering what Holgate or Pennington can bring (I like Holgate and I hope he can establish himself soon), it's hard say that our strongest 11, individually and as a team, is one without Zouma.

Between the centre backs all season, Zouma has been most dominant and made the fewest errors, in my opinion.

I agree with Jamie the fans need to back our younger players help them frow and nature into better players..

Lets face it we will not be challanging for the top 4 next season or anytime soon... Top 6 maybe I feel next season maybe a repeat of this season...

It has took Klopp 4 seasons and millions to get the shite into a hairs breath of glory... the pressure is on and who ever holds there nerve will be crowned champions...

City on paper should win... but I just have a gut wrenching feeling that the shite will pip them at the post...

They wont retain it next season as no one can have that much good fortune twice...

Maybe this is the start of a new Merseyside eara

Everton beating Liverpool next season woukd be a start...

Zoma or not Silva needs to show tge fans progress and the good form shiwn tge last month needs to be continued till the end of the season and carry on into next season...

Heres hoping as usual...

Tony #20, Pennington ain't slow. He's probably the fastest CB we have -- two years ago I saw him gain ground on Vardy over a 40-yard sprint, which few can do, and beat him to the ball. What made him seem a half-step slow was indecisiveness -- he was a timid player. From what the press have written about his season at Ipswich, he's over that. If he can recover from the surgery by midsummer, we'll find out.

Jamie, a hearty amen on Davies. The kid definitely has it. He just needs time to figure out how to use it.

But Sheffield Utd may look attractive to him if they make it back into the Prem.

The good will generated from playing for us for a season would likely count for little if the chance to move to a higher profile club became available.

Problem is, he is not going to get any better. Great servant and all that, but his time is pretty much up. Same for Baines. Our back up players should be young, hungry professionals.
Kenny at right back is good example. He is ready to go, but Coleman is still ahead of him. Should Coleman get injured Kenny can step in, but we still have an experienced head to help him.

Players like Holgate, Foulds from the youth set up should be coming towards the first team squad as the reserve players now. If they are not making the grade they should be assisted in finding employment better suited to their abilities.

Jags put in a great performance, and maybe is good for one more season in that role, but he is the past if the club now

Q: Who will you be playing for next season?
A: That will be settled in the summer after season's end, at the moment we are playing better and I'm enjoying it.

I don’t think we have another CB with his quality, his pace and acceleration sets him apart from the likes of Keane, Mina and Feeney and his power and stature set him apart from Holgate and Pennington. I think it would be a mistake not to replace him for next season.

I’m a fan of Tom Davies but I think he’ll struggle to replace Gueye as he lacks that burst of pace to get to the ball and get a foot in. Gueye makes over twice as many tackles and interceptions per match as Davies. Tom Davies definitely has his qualities and is better on the ball than Gueye but it depends on what type of blend Silva wants in his midfield. The current 3 are working very well. I also think a 3 of Gomes, Davies and Siggy would be lacking in pace; currently Gueye’s mobility is crucial; I hope he’ll give us another season.

If Gomes stays but Gueye and Zouma leave then I’d be looking at 4 new players. Replacements for Gueye and Zouma another striker and a right winger (assuming/hoping that Walcott leaves) though maybe we can find a forward player able to work either on the right or centrally.

He has improved immensely during his time with Everton, especially this year, I assume under Silva's tutelage, and is a fine example for Tom to watch and learn from. I'm hoping he can give us at least one more year and see what evolves next season.

In which case, part 2 of my statement becomes relevant

Zouma is absolutely vital to us and our best defender. We should do everything we can to sign him. Just a shame we blew 30m on Mina instead of him because if is was Mina on loan he would be getting returned to sender!

Foulds is out of contract in the summer, Feeney has a year left. The Ipswich fans can say what they like about Pennington... They're 13 points off safety in the EFL and at 24, the same age as Zouma, he's nowhere near good enough.

I hope we sell him along with Galloway in the summer.

For me the focus must be on Gomes and Zouma and a quicker striker than Tosun, if Gana does leave ( I wonder if he's been given the same assurances as Stones?) I wouldn't mind going in for Barrios who was rumoured to be interesting us.

We've struggled ever since Martinez and Koeman insisted on over rotation and statistical borne substitutions we now have a settled 11, the continuity is beginning to breed consistency and confidence.
Less changes for changes sake I say.

If and it's obviously a big if, we manage to qualify for the Europa league then it'll be worth holding onto Jags and Baines for another season and there should be enough extra games for the youngsters and fringe players to get enough game time and development. There's then also enough room in the squad for the inclusion of Vlasic and Onyekuru to see what they can do and along with 3 or 4 extra signings then we're perfectly capable of balancing the extra games with enough quality in my humble opinion.

Your last paragraph is spot on. The big if with some of these players and their "usefulness" to Everton is whether or not we are in Europa.

Regarding Tom Davies and him replacing Gana, which I think will happen, I think something should be stated.

You don't replace Gana Gueye. Ever. He is a freak of nature and a unique player you don't see but a few times in a lifetime.

Tom Davies will replace him and mark his own stamp on the position. But come in and do what Gana does?

Ha. Never. And that's taking absolutely nothing away from Tom Davies. It's simply a compliment to Gueye. He's that good in my opinion.

God almighty, a truly ordinary footballer who is not cut out for any Premier League side — let alone one that wants to be challenging at the right end of the table next season!!!

Slow, indecisive... and looks totally out of his depth at this level. There's not a side in the top flight who would take him off us and he'll be lucky to get a mid-table Championship club. Poor player who, in my opinion, just hasn't got it.

Further, as Chelsea don't look likely to be letting anyone much at all go, considering their transfer ban, to me thats pointiing increasingly towards a 'no' from both Chelsea AND the player, then.

Even Lukaku only ended up here on a 'permanent' deal as Jose still wasnt particularly 'enthused' by the player, despite his goal-scoring exploits for us when on loan!!!

Could be he's really happy at the club and hopefully have a change of heart about leaving?

Hopefully we sign both. Zouma brings size, strength, pace and good basic defensive qualities. No one else has that sadly. Could we get away without it, possibly. Would we challenge the top 6 without it, probably not.

I watched Holgate for West Brom tonight. Verdict.. ok. I like the lad but he switches off. He reacts too late to attacks that are developing around him instead of getting back in position or closing players down. He looks lazy by reacting too late to runners.

I don't see him as a RB where he started, (HT 3-0 down), and then right wing back 2nd half, (3-2 FT). But the basic defensive lapses are to often.
I would only trust him in a back 3 which we don't play. We would be better off signing Craig Dawson as a defender.

Pennington is a fairly solid defender but he's not good enough for the PL yet. At 24 he's best playing a few more years at Champ or Lg1 level to gain experience. He could be a Duffy. Good but not good enough.

Davies is a mix of both. The work ethic of Gana just not the athleticism. The vision of Gomes just not the ability. He's a box to box player and has a few more years of development before being a first team regular in a top 6 team. I do believe he will be a very good player.

Passing and decision making can be improved. But people don't become Pirlo or Arteta just by training. Likewise athleticism such as Gana and Kante isn't found on the training pitch.

If our 2 midfielders were to leave (G & G) that would be a massive blow. We can refuse Gana permission but Gomes isn't ours. I hope he's our first signing, £30M no problem.

I don't believe we can sign other PL teams players unless they don't play, making huge offers or have just been relegated.

So forget Fred and Ndidi but we could look at Mooy who's an excellent passer, especially if Gomes deal is doubtful. Drinkwater another?

Another thing that is on the horizon is the proposed FA/Premier League new rules on loans/squad size that would stop Chelsea's habit of stockpiling. This means they'll have to get rid of close to 35 odd players to meet the new requirements. Chelsea have 3-4 other international central defenders on their books who are out on loan at the moment. If you ever get bored, go to Chelsea's Wikipedia page and look at all their players out on loan, it's ridiculous.

On top of all this, they have an owner who basically can't come into the country anymore due to his nationality and has pretty much stopped bankrolling them as in previous years. Their talisman (Hazard) also looks like a cert to be going to Real Madrid too.

I think while he was being diplomatic about waiting to the summer, Zouma knows that Chelsea are in a complete mess right now and no one can foresee what his future holds until things get figured out about the club's future.

In my opinion, if Chelsea decide not to offer new deals to 32-year-old out-of-contract David Luiz and 33-year-old out-of-contract Gary Cahill, there is no way in hell they are going to accept any buyout offer from Everton for Kurt Zouma. And despite all the issues you correctly point out, they are a stronger club than we are right now. They're CL contenders and we're not.

BTW the much-discussed transfer ban is irrelevant. Assuming Chelsea appeals, it almost certainly will not take effect until after the summer window, because it'll take months for a ruling on the appeal. But where Zouma is concerned, I think it's irrelevant anyway, because Chelsea will want him back and he'll be happy to return there. My read on the situation.

Sport Bury chose him as Ipswich's player of the season, the sole bright light in a disastrous season, so their opinion is that he was more than "half-decent". They watched him play 30 games. I saw him zero. I assume the same for you, right? So your last impressions of him, like mine, are from the THREE games in April 2017 when he last appeared for Everton? Yep, that's what I thought. And if you thought he was "slow", you must have been watching through bad spectacles or a garbage can lid or something. Vardy would say otherwise. He was subbed out after Pennington ran him down.

Anyway, Pennington has already "returned to us", but he is out of contract next month, and Silva and Brands don't even have to wait to find out how the ankle surgery went before they make a decision on him. If they liked the reports from Ipswich, I think he will be given one more opportunity to prove himself this summer. If not, we'll never see him again. Simple.

Signed, "a certain person".

I doubt Everton would let his contract run down, I think there is some monetary value in the lad, not sure if he will make it at premier league level but he will have a good and long career, a good honest performer who always gives 100%, I wish him well.

Personally think he's decent enough for Championship level, but I don't see him being a part of our squad, in the future, hope his injury doesn't hamper him too much, and he makes a full recovery.

As a matter of interest Pennington did something neither
Bob Latchford or Alex Young never did, scored a goal against Liverpool, at Anfield as well.That’s one of the reasons I take no notice of stats.

I seem to remember a figure of £23M being mentioned, but can't find any confirmation of that anywhere. Maybe it was a Blue Dream that I had, quite often dreams are so vivid that in the subconscious you are convinced that the event actually occurred, I hope it wasn't a dream, and it did actually happen, and that all will be revealed in due course!

Zouma is a slightly different case he is under contract to Chelsea, who will look to offload Gary Cahill who cant get a game at present, and they may also offload Luiz. So Zouma may think he could quite easily start next season in their first team if he goes back to Chelsea. This is the downside when you take players on loan and they play well, it alerts other clubs to that players potential. Also they see the player is comfortable in the Premier League, so takes away the doubt of signing someone who hasnt played in this league.

The last thing we need is to have to replace 2 or 3 first team regulars, as they are just settling into a side playing well and with confidence. I think if PSG come back in for Gana we really cant stand in his way and of the3 possible players who might leave for me he is the most important. I don't see anyone presently at the club who could fill the job he does. For me he has been our best player over the whole season, and even though denied his dream move in Jan still caried on giving MOM performances.

Because the rest of the Premier League has seen him in action for us, and I have seen rumours that Tottenham, for one, and others are showing interest in prising him away.

Where that is worrying, is that the price could rocket, if other parties are interested, and Barca can get a better deal for a player they wanted to offload anyway. Obviously Barca want the best they can get for any player, we would be the same, but if they have 'agreed' already with us, then it's happy days.

I doubt it very much, in Andre Gomes's situation, but I remember back in the early eighties we signed a player on loan from Sheffield Wednesday called Terry Curran.
He played really well for us, and forged a good link with Adrian Heath and Sharpy. So much so, that we pursued him to make the move a permanent one, I recall a figure of £800K which was quite a lot then.

Once he became a permanent member of the playing staff, his performances sank to new depths, and were on par with that of Brett Angell, and other ne'er do wells that have worn the Blue Shirt over the years, it wasn't long after that, we were thinking that £800 would have been too much!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pktwBpGuYcw

Regarding the Gomes deal, it was a Spanish media outlet that first reported Brands was planning to travel to Barcelona to work out the transfer. That was back in February. There was a similar article in March. But I haven't found any media reports confirming that he actually made the trip, or whether a deal was agreed to.

What if a new manager comes in for Chelsea [it happens every 12 months or so] and wants to bring some of his own players and he ends up on the bench for all the big games.

We are a team on the up I want Kurt to be a part of that, so come big man, make it happen.

If Mina had been fit we’d need to play him to both bed him in and figure out our own recruitment.

That being said, Mina's injury history is a bit of a concern.

He has been absolutely shocking!

Of those only Gana is a great bit of business so far.

Sigurdsson over priced and the 4th no. 10 of that window.
Keane’s form has been up and down.
Pickford has only been consistent in an England shirt.
DCL and Lookman, too early to tell.

Now I give you...

Wayne Rooney
Sandro Ramirez
Davy Klaassen
Ashley Williams
Yannick Bolasie
Morgan Schneiderlin

Because you have put so much effort into the event, the least I could do was to make things easier on the day, and if it proves to be as successful as I envisage, it could be used on future occasions.

I know its a long time ago, but we paid £800k for Lineker in that era, TC cost a lot less and in view of his subsequent contribution that was just as well!

The recruitment by Koeman and Walsh must have had some logic (progression to a one touch team able to move the ball quickly?) but it failed badly and left us with an overpaid, unbalanced squad that I think Brands and Silva have done very well to try and rectify. In my opinion it (will) cost us 2 or 3 seasons.

my initial post was also intended to be an attempt at biting satire. oh well!

Mina's still rough around the edges, but injuries and Keane/Zouma's generally good form have conspired against him receiving regular playing time. He's still a big talent and a big personality and, like Bobby said, I think a consistent run of matches will go a long way.

I know Unsworth had an U23 budget at one point and Donkor was signed out of this, but not sure about the rest.

I think if you are giving someone a contract worth £7and a half million a year, at least, then you should put a lot more thought into than Kenwright did.

I am pretty sure Matty Foulds was signed in the Martinez era

Pretty sure Bowler is Walsh, but I think Unsworth was very aware of him and was also pushing for him.

Gibson won’t be Unsworth as he’s too young. He wasn’t playing against Unsworth unlike DCL and Bowler.

I believe Foulds was Martinez, but suspect Unsworth made the recommendation.

The way we have been playing you wouldn't want to change to much would you. Even that zonal marking is making us all happy just lately. Wink Wink.

Mina duck’s out of aerial challenges instead of going and winning it.

He was rubbish at Barca were there isn’t half as many ball’s in the box and alway’s an option to play to and he looked dodgy in the world cup game saving header’s apart. Spurs’ Sanchez looked a much more complete centre half than he did saved his bacon plenty of times.

I don’t rate him at all and I really hope we get Zouma this summer.

Id still like to sign Zouma though. Him Keane, Mina and Holgate should have us well stocked at CB next year. Though I suspect Zouma will return to Chelsea.