Oxford seeking Garbutt return

Has it only been 10 years?

Looked good in Europe but it just hasn't worked out, mind you Koeman leaving him out of the squad with no other recognised left-back after Baines will forever be a mystery.

We really need to start looking at this loaning of players and find something at the end that’s going to be permanent.

Sadly, letting him go on a free to Oxford won't be an option. I think he's on something like £25k pw, cannot see them getting anywhere near that so we're stuck with loaning him out and getting a small amount of his wages paid.

I mean, he's now a 26-year-old League 2 level player, highly unlikely to play even at Championship level in the future. We're paying him the wage of a backup EPL player for another 12 months.

To go on a free he'd have to agree to tear up his existing contract and get paid by Oxford. He'd be a buffoon to do that. This is the last year to earn very good money for a player of his calibre.

The man is 26 and should be at his peak but is still scratching around. The only thing he has been consistently good at is, well not playing like a top player.

I hope he has been saving his wages as I think he is about to get a major dose of real life. I wish him luck.

All this paper talk regarding Tierney now, Rose earlier... is there something going on with Digne?

Just like Mirallas, Martina, Williams and many others, they are not worth to the club what we offered, but we offered it to get or keep them here and they signed.

Fact is, if we move Garbutt on permanently this season, we will owe him a big chunk of money to make up the difference in wages.

You can't blame the lad for taking all that he could from his deal.

Garbutt is never going to get this money again. Let's be fair to the lad, he's got the contract fair and square. With hindsight, it was an appalling decision, but it was one taken by the Everton management. There's no reason why he should forgo the contract.

Instead, we should give him to Oxford for free and agree to pay his wages for the duration of the contract. We should agree that we receive 50% of any future transfer fee. We should also try to secure as big a contribution to his wages for the final season as Oxford can realistically afford.

If I recall most fans were pleased when he was secured long term. He then got a really bad injury on loan at Fulham.

Every offer of a new contract is a gamble of sorts and this one didn't come off.

Decent player but, like so many promising teens, he never developed or improved from his teenage years. Sometimes it's attitude, sometimes confidence... or simply not good enough — but all the best to him.

On a Rhodes Scholarship.

It would be cheaper.

I wish him well.

It's a fine line between success and not so much. Brands wants to buy young and then have the possibility to improve and double the values. He's done well so far but it's not always going to work.

This Neves kid, might go on to be a world beater... or might turn out to be a flash in the pan. Sessegnon and Wan-Bissaka are big risks too. It's a weird time for football fees. And a potentially very dangerous one if a club makes a few wrong moves.

His last year on his contract will earn him more than he'll earn for the rest of his life. So if you were him, would you accept not receiving what is owed?

People can say "he should think of his career". But you reckon his wife and kids (if he has) would agree to having their living standards wrecked? There is a difference to players who take pay cuts from £150k a week to £80k a week to play football, between earning a millionaire salary or basic League Two wage

We are stuck with Garbutt's wages for another year.

My idea is that, if Everton offer to pay his wages for the rest of his contract (1 year?) if he will sign for Oxford at no transfer fee (a free), and then ask Oxford to pay us his first years wages thus getting something however small, what do they pay at that level 1 to 2,000 p week. It just raises the possibility of a win-win if his contract at Oxford is more than a year. Small it may be but how many have we in this situation.