Everton close to throwing in the towel over Mina

Surely in letting Williams go they have at least one Centre half in the bag. Who that is remains to be seen?.If they haven't we are in deep shit

Would have been nice, but if ya can't, ya can't. Move on, Mr. Brands.

Do this deal.

I don’t want to hear ‘well he doesn’t love us’ ‘he’s not a proper Blue’

It’s nonsense and there can be no room for sentiment in Football.

Kanchelsksis came for the money. He was world class and we loved him.

Lukaku came for the money and the stepping stone move. He was world class and we loved him.

Bottom line is, forget if the player truly has his heart on being an Evertonian. Let’s get him in and enjoy his best years.

You never know, the failing with the other 2 players is that we never created a team good enough to keep them.

Do this with Mina and he stays with us for ten years

We did this with Giroud, who would have been great, last term. Set a deadline, which is nowish, and if fee or personal terms not settled move on. Not rocket science.

Surprised the sale of Funes Mori has been ignored, once fit that guy was a decent option already on the books to be the steel to Holgate’s silk.

Keane and Jagielka are putrid, let’s be frank.

Actually. Let me correct my post.

Lukaku: is world class and ‘we’ should’ve loved him. I did.

In modern terms he is world class. He’s got
40 international goals at the age of 25.

He gurantees goals.

Blues derided him for his apparent lack of effort and chasing lost causes. Not for me, Jeff. Give me one Lukaku over 20 Denis Stracquilursis or Andy Johnson’s any day of the week.

Put him one on one against a defender and he is simply devastating and one of the best I’ve ever seen. He’s like Jona Lomu with football boots on and a superb finisher

Just pull the plug this guy seriously isn’t worth the money or the hassle! Error prone and doesn’t have any pace, not what we need. The fact that this guy and rojo are so high on our hitlist is truly the most disturbing thing. What has brands even done since he arrived? Richarlison is a Silva signing.

This desperation for a centre back reminds me of when we needed a striker last year. We sold Lukaku and didn't replace him and suffered massively effectively playing Calvert Lewin as his replacement. This year we needed to improve the quality of our centre backs and we've let two go without replacement with less than a week left in the window.

We should have learnt lessons from last year that we can't hold off for our number 1 target Giroud/ Mina and risk getting no-one. Our centre backs are that bad that nearly any of the centre backs being banded about would improve us so we should sign one/ two even to do a job for a couple of years to improve us until we can find a top replacement in one of the next windows. Jonny Evans for 3 mill or Mawson or Gibson for 15 mill would have been a cheapish good solid option in my opinion. Instead we are possibly holding out to pay 30+ on a South American like Mina or Rojo who will cost a fortune on wages and don't sound like they want to come with other teams interested..

I know it's complicated but are we to believe that £27M is too much for a 23 year old, when we are allegedly willing to pay £30M for a 28 year old, with a suspect propensity for injury ?

We would effectively be creating a slot at Manure for him, and paying them to get him for nothing.

Derek. We were willing to pay £30m for Sissoko only he chose spurs. Our recruitment policy is an absolute joke.

Meanwhile Fulham have done a 2 year deal for Schurrle for sweet FA and Max Meyer has gone to Palace for the same amount

Spot on Derek. We simply can't sign decent players - despite the cash, we still can't land players that will launch us into the top 6.

Signing rejects from the top 6 is not going to take this club forward.

Offer £30 million, if that doesn’t do it then walk away but do it by no later than Sunday night.

We should have a shortlist including Mina, Lascelles, Zouma and Rojo and Gibson, ones we could get and are realistic.

His agent whispers into the ears of media dying for a "scoop". Everton responds by whispering into the Echo's ear.

Reads to me like negotiations are moving right along and we're getting close.

Especially considering a simple given; ManU haven't moved out anyone important plays the same position. They don't need him.

Mina, his agent, and Everton all are looking for the right deal.

Fair enough.

I wonder whether Burnley are signing Gibson to replace Ben Mee who only has 12 months left on his deal and has not signed a new contract..

Where does all this we need a Williams replacement come from? Williams was fourth choice. His replacement is a youth team player being promoted. It’s jags and Keane who need replacing.

As for Mina. We need a good signing. I can wait 12 months for a great signing. We just need to fill some gaps now and reclaim 7th. Next season we can make a serious attempt to get to 6th.

The sad thing is, it sounds like the United fans are dead-set against signing him.

I don't really blame him for holding out for the best offer... but maybe he should take some inspiration from his old teammate Digne, who seems to have embraced the idea that sometimes it's better to be an integral part of a club that's trying to build something, as opposed to toiling away on the bench for a Champion's League side b/c it stokes your ego.

I would put a bid for smalling and hijack the Gibson deal.

Man Utd drop out because they sign Alderweireld, Mina doesn’t fancy the poor French league. It’s us then ! Or is it ? Another club with European football appears on the scene, Tottenham ? Arsenal? AC or Inter .

It would be foolish in the extreme if we didn’t shift our focus and get the best achievable centre back in now, time is running out and this is the most important signing this window. Jags is 37? Williams and Funes have departed.

We need a top class CB in and it cannot be left to chance.

No more deadline day gambling on critical signings.

Forget about Mina, if he still available at 9pm on Thursday take him on loan.

Where are Evertons scouts? I guess it's meant to be done in secret. Few days left, here's a wish for no panic signings.

Ben Gibson is not good enough. Can people stop going on about him. No top club would take him. Didn’t he only get a game for boro because his uncle owns the side? I remember boro fans saying so and that he was gash. We can and must do better. I fail to see anything decent about this lad. He’s slow. He’s small. He’s not strong. He can’t pass. What on Earth can he offer us?

It seems that the player is waiting for the last day of the transfer window hoping for a bidding war. Forget him and go for the Newcastle player, as their owner has constantly shown he is only in it for the money and may sell for a good offer.

Lets not be waiting at the last minute for someone to make a decision, they either want to come or they don't. We have a long rebuilding process that may take a couple more transfer windows, so lets go for players who want to come to Everton.

Steve #19

Agree, Gibson is not good enough for us and is not the player we need. We can and must do better.

Anthony Milligan #13, good post. Sort of planning. I have read today that they are looking at buying Joe Hart for £4m too. With 2 excellent goalies are they looking to capitalise and work the market?

There seems to be interest in Pickford, who I am not sure about, so should we work the market and sell Jordan, to Chelsea who look like losing Cortouis and pick one of the displaced Burnley keepers, raising a few quid on the way??

Some reports from Spain suggest that it is Barcelona holding out for offers from elite clubs such as Utd. They haven't accepted our offer because they believe Utd will pay more. That's very different from Mina waiting for other offers.
There was a quote from his Uncle/agent today stating that they want Barcelona to enter into discussions with us.
This one may go to the wire. No way will Mourinho be seriously interested. It's all a bluff to get Levy to lower his value of Alderweireld.
I still think we should be seriously looking elsewhere as Barcelona are taking the piss with their valuation. One good World Cup does not turn an £11 million misfit in January into a £35 million player in August.

Ian, you suggest cashing in on Pickford and what, replacing him with the Burnley backup? Are you mad?

Ian @22,

Burnley are looking to buy Hart due to the fact that they have lost their top 2 keepers to injury and were about to start the season with only their 3rd choice available.

They even asked for special dispensation to loan a keeper the other week due to only having an inexperienced keeper left.

Don't know what all the flap is about.

We've got 4 central defenders. Holgate, Jags, Keane and Digne.

"Digne is a fullback"

So too were Holgate and Stones.

Good. Let's not repeat the Giround debacle. Plus reports from Spain says he ain't that good, and most of the time couldn't get on the bench. He was CB when Barca leaked 5 goals, which apparently did for him cos he had a mare.

I've always been against signing a player because they had a good World Cup or Euro; move along nothing to see here.

Bayern bought this bloke for €25m from Hoffenheim last year:

Niklas Sule

Perhaps if the Mina deal does fall through we should be looking in Germany - they grow them big and tough there.

If the rumours are true then we're better off without him. Disagree with you Tommy 3. They were false dawns. They increased expectations for a brief glimpse. But none of them lead to anything but heartache for the Goodison faithful. Good riddance to lukaku, barkley and anyone else who feels too good to be here. Like Mina who is using this club. I'm not saying he isn't good. But the price is not worth paying. If he turned out to be up to the hype it wouldn't be long before other clubs would come sniffing and he'd be off like a shot. No thanks. He's not the only one. And part of having a big club mentality is having pride. I'm sure we can all name players who are gifted and put on the shirt with pride and are not purely driven by money. I've supported Everton for over 50 years and I can think of many of them. So please don't piss me off by suggesting we have to make do with the mercenaries because of who we are. Everton is a great club A big club. And the least we can expect as fans is that players want to play for us. So Mr Mina, kindly sign or fu## o##.

Knock hit on the head and go all in on the Newcastle lad.

How sure are we that Mina is such a good player? He scored 3 in the World Cup and he is tall but what else makes him worth 30M? Buying players who are only known because of WC performances has not always worked out.

As Silva put it: 'You don't get bought by Barcelona, by accident'.

Perhaps naive but I don’t want us to be signing players that are holding out for offers from other clubs. The commitment will never be fully there. It doesn’t sound like Manure is a particularly player friendly place at the moment aside from the $

Forget it. Mina is waiting for Utd. Has started following Utd last week on Instagram allegedly and uncle mina his agent has pretty much said the same. He is at Barcelona and does not need to move until he is ready even if it's January or next year. For now I would like Chris smalling. Big strong and loads of experience. You know what you are getting with him. Best of the rest and not so much a gamble on potential like Gibson or lascelles. We need now players not 2 years time players.

Quietly happy about this.

Mina flatters to deceive. He's very good going forward and scores goals but is this all we want from a central defender?

He defends like a baby giraffe, going in for dangerous tackles and for a big man, falls to the floor way to easily. The sheer speed of the Premiership will expose him.

We need to stabilize our defence. A Jaap Stam or Nemanja Vidic type defender may not get you many goals but he will give Pickford an easier shift.

If a goalscoring defender who takes unnecessary risks and loses the ball is what we are after, why let Funes Mori go?

8 days left. I hope we sign a solid bastard!

Interestingly, Lascelles came to blows with Mo Diame a couple of years ago in training - because Diame was being ‘lazy’. He isn’t afraid to berate senior players, hence why Rafa gave him the armband at 23 years old. He negotiated bonuses with Ashley for cup games. My Geordie mates are devastated we are being linked with him. I know very little, if anything about Mina, so must trust the judgement of the M&M!

Interest in this guy should have been dropped weeks ago. While we have been wasting too much time and energy on one player, others are being removed from the shop window.

We did this last year, hanging on for weeks to see if Giroud's Mrs could be persuaded to move to the area; we ended up with nobody.

Alfie Mawson and Johnny Evans are both better than this guy and would have been a massive improvement on Jagielka and Williams. You could have picked both of them up for little over £20M.

Michael#36

I didn’t know that. Lascelles is a good defender who can chip in with a few goals from set pieces and sounds like a natural leader. Something we are desperate for. I think he would be a great addition to the team and possibly achievable.

The sticking point will be the fee, he will be ridiculously overpriced. Newcastle won’t want to be left high and dry on the deadline day so it will have to happen soon.

Love the story about Lascelles squaring up to a non-trier.

In truth, he has gone largely under my radar (except for a few highlights) but this is the sort of character we are screaming out for.

Nic’ @ @32, tell that to their fans about Hleb, Song, Dugarry and many others.

Not convinced on Mina, not at all. We can get better, I hope.

Gibson looks very average to me. Mawson was poor last season and may be no better than Keane, though at that price might have been worth a shot.

Lascelles looks the best of the options to me. Christopher Jullien from Toulouse is an interesting pick too, very strong in air and no slouch. I’d have a good crack at Lindelof too. Upemecano at Leipzig looks a cracking young defender. Wallace at Lazio is quick and strong. Jack O’Connell was one of the best CB in the Championship last season and would be a cheaper option.

There are a few decent CBs out there we could go for but will be tricky at this junction.

Having said that I think we’ll get Mina. Alderweireld is Uniteds top target and likely they’ll get him in the end which means Mina will come to us as we are best remaining offer in PL. Not sure if that’s a good thing.

@Nicholas (32)

That may be the case, that you don't get bought by Barcelona by accident.

Does that extend as far as Mina playing 6 games for them (4 starts) after they signed him this January, and his price tripling?

Seriously, 10M in January, 6 appearances, and now it's 30M?

Some behind the scenes stuff here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=360&v=M87thp3keF4

Young players who do well in the championship, are usually ready to move up a level, so although I don’t know anything about him, I’d sooner give someone like this Jack O’Connell a try? (Going off Sam’s judgement)

Lescott, came from the Championship, as did the fella Burnley bought to replace Keane. Same with most peoples first choice Lascelles, and if it’s true that Brands, has got extensive knowledge of South Americans, I also hope he’s got somebody who is good at his job, looking at England’s second tier?

Mina is a risk at 25-30m, based on a small World Cup run. The premier league can expose players and he has it all to prove. What’s more he is showing some reluctance to come to us, in the depths of winter could falter and moan. A gamble. Alternatives need to now be pursued.

It is starting to look like we are waiting for Man Utd to act, if they sign Alderweireld, we may get Mina that’s if he doesn’t then choose Lyonnaise . Alternatively,one of Man Utd’s (overpaid deadwood, unwanted, quality backup players) you choose the adjectives. Can you believe we are doing that again !

It’s a dangerous game we are playing with 5 days left, I just hope all our eggs are not in the one basket. Remember, teams will not want to sell their important defenders without having time to replace them.

Time is of the essence.

Amongst all the rumours and speculation we may just have to face it and accept that we have probably left it far too late in the day to get a centre half.

With less than a week to go of the transfer window does anyone really think Newcastle are going to sell us Lascelles?

Does anyone think that clubs (unless they receive an astronomical offer) are going to sell their defender this late in the window?

That’s why the likes of Mina is being pursued, because he’s not a Barcelona first choice.

Zouma on loan might be a realistic option but again why are we waiting so long?

Because of the debacle and under-achievement of the last 20 years, and Board acceptance of it, there are only a limited number of players that want to play for Everton. The excuse used to be limited funds, but that has been laid bare. So what we are left with is the same underachieving footballers who switch off on comfortable contracts, and young players that see their careers reaching the potential at higher achieving clubs.

Man Utd are on the same rocky road, helped by Jose the obnoxious. The main component of this is the defence, which under Moyes was given an importance that was stifling on any ultimate achievement. It still dominates today, though it is two yards shorter in pace.

There are a few honest players at Everton who try their best, but every time they walk into the dressing room, they are able to look round knowingly at the cheats on good contracts who are just seeing them out. It is written that there is no chance of Everton being a top 4 side. Eaman Dunphy at the end of his career played for a Fourth Division Club and described such a dressing room. Hopfully Brands and Silva can sort the dressing room out. Mina would not be a good addition to the dressing room.

For many ToffeeWeb contributors this is hard to believe, but in reality Football Clubs also conform to the norms of life,

Rob @ 42, ah, your right, nail, head and all that. They bought him knowing he’s the best of a bad bunch, and luckily for them he had a decent World Cup, now he’s wanted.

They paid a small fee, took a gamble and well, now they’ll reap the rewards.

Leave him there and get the barcode fella.

Plus Sam Hoare said so, and if it’s good enough for Sam, it’s good enough for me!

Ps, Sam, just how much togger do you watch lad???????

Onto the Grassy knoll for me!

Its looks as though Mina is holding out for a supposedly "bigger" club ?
Always risky bringing a player at centre back who is new to the prem as there is no hiding place, and they will be in for a shock.
I still think that Gibson is worth a punt having played in the prem.
Boro's defence was mean but they could not score enough to survive. So his experience should not be under estimated
Of course Lascelles is quality but it could come at an alarming transfer fee.

Some good points Jerome, but how can you be honest, if you try your best, but just accept the cheating bastards? If you know someone is taking the piss, out of the team and the fans, then surely you should let them know about it?

This is what has been wrong with Everton for years, remember Jagielka, telling everyone what Twatkinson said to him after we had just conceded because of really poor officiating, in the semi-final at the ethiad?

Just a really poor acceptance, because I’m sure someone like Andy Grey, or Peter Reid, would have strangled the ref, and then kicked down Martinez office door the next morning to ask why he had just made such a ridiculous substitution, which probably cost us a trip to Wembley?

Everyone is saying Mina is holding out for another club hoping it will be Man U, we haven’t had an offer accepted so how do we know this? It’s like you are all “In the Know” and the club haven’t spoke to him.

Should have walked away a while ago, Everton need to learn from their mistakes, this doesn't seem to be in this case. Ideally, as we need two central defenders to get a competent one in first, the back up, then go for the star signing. If it all goes wrong then you still have the back up. For the back up better off at this late stage going for a foreign league player as those leagues have more of a window to find a replacement and more willing to sell.

Everton have made an offer for Mina which, if stories are to be believed, hasn't been accepted by Barcelona so there 's nothing Mina or Everton can do at the moment.

In the short time Brands and Silva have been with us it appears that they know what they're doing so this is one of those situations where we're going to give them a chance and hold off on the histrionics just for now.
No matter how good M&M are though they can only buy players who clubs are willing to sell!

If only we could Lascelles and Mina.

Excellent last point Brian (53) and one that many on here seem to forget.

Sam Hoare, Lindelöf is a decent player. He's had a year to adapt to the league and showed at the World Cup alongside the evergreen Andreas Granqvist that he is a decent defender. He's fallen down the pecking order at United so I would be going for him.

Then again, I'm half-Swedish so have some national bias. But Everton and Swedish players have done OK (Limpar springs to mind immediately, Linderoth was also badly underrated while he was here)

Geoff#55 - I agree that Brian's final point is a good one but perhaps not one that should be linked to a comment about Mina who Barca are clearly willing (perhaps even desperate!) to sell! Their willingness to sell to us, or Mina's willingess to sign for us are different matters!
Like everyone else on here, I have no idea what the situation is with Mina but if it is as it seems, I personally would move on and urgently test Brian's point in relation to Zouma and Lascelles.

Tony (#50).

Oh for a Peter Reid or an Andy Gray type in the Everton Squad, but they would have had difficulty in this Everton Squad such is the depth of apathy amongst certain players and their backroom chums. Mr Bill doesn't help either.

The closest we got to the attitude of Reid and a Gray was Lennon and Niasse. Moyes's 11-year reign should have ended after three years at most. They all have been on a nice little earner for years and are still in the Premier League and are over this past 3 years had their ranks bolstered by the worse transfer policy in the Premier League. Anyone good we got was by luck.

The sickening thing is that we are 6 days before the end of the transfer window with a hole in the centre of the defence that has been as wide as the Mersey for this past five years and was inconsistent before that. The problem must be deeply ingrained to have such a negative influence on such a glaringly obvious need for change over so many seasons.

You would think that players transferred in, are done so on the bases of not competing with those already in place. Mina and Rojo are similar non-competitive additions, with suspect attitudes.

All the media hype surrounding transfers is close to meaningless. They just use it to fill column inches and keep people reading their papers/websites.

Lucas Digne made the point about Everton being interested in him for 2 months before it happened and the likelihood of us only looking at Mina are very slim in my view.

Yes Brands went over there which shows we were interested, but remember he also went to sign Digne and that happened - they know they need a centre half as much as we do, and the fact that Williams has been allowed to leave further fuels the belief that we will sign a central defender.

Clearly we made a bid for Mina but you can't force any move even if the clubs agree a fee, it's still up to the player to make his choice of club and Mina is doing what anyone would do in holding out to see if Utd et al make actual bids for his services.

We'll sign someone, even if it takes until deadline day and again that isn't Everton's fault, it's just the way the market works.

Zouma been made to hand over his No 5 shirt at Chelsea to incoming CB Jorginho. Might be something in this for us, if true.

I shall have a taxi on standby in case my agent calls me at four o clock on Thursday and tells me to get my arse to USM Finch Farm quick now that Mirrallas has gone.

I do actually have an appointment to have my haircut then but I suppose I could rearrange it if I'm in Marco's plans.

It's not the same hairdresser as young Tom uses as there's a waiting list of four months to get in there btw.

Martin (#57). I'd test my point too with Lascelles.

Mike@60 I like Zouma as a cheaper alternative to Lascelles. He did well at Stoke last year and has the power and pace we lack. Not great technically but a very solid defender I reckon which is what we need most. Surely he won’t want to be third fiddle at Chelsea or another years loan at this point. £20m?

If we are looking at Mina because of his physical attributes but cant get him then I don't know why we would then be looking at Rojo who has different attributes? Surely we would be looking for a Mina -a like? Zouma would do for me although I would like us to make a solid bid for Lascalles as well as I think we need two CB's with different attributes.

Sam#60

My sentiments too, he is 24, 6ft3, experience in the Premier League. He could actually be a better bet than Mina. He is the type of player who could improve with us and he needs stability for his talent to flourish.

He could be a very decent alternative to Mina or Lascelles. Along with, he may actually want to come and not carry a too prohibitive fee.

I can’t get the debarcle against Rennes out of my head. We simply cannot go into the new season with jag and Keane as the pairing. I wonder if stones is available? We surely need 2 quick centre backs if silva is telling them to push high up the pitch (which I like) I thought the Newcastle lad looked good and as others have said looks a solid character which we also need. I’d still get Tierney from Celtic as Digne May be an option at centre back.

Love to see a world class striker aswell.. we still haven’t replaced lukaku

I see Burnley have had a £15 million bid excepted for Gibson, a good buy for that price in my opinion.

I see no point in chasing after a player who clearly wants to go to a club with a higher profile than Everton. Even if he did sign if he had a good season, scored a few goals he'd be gone next season. His agent would no doubt see to that. The only way he would stay was if we made it into the CL + a big salary. Just another Stones.
Some mention of Zouma. A much better bet. Wants first team football and doesn't have pretentions. A solid defender. A decent bid would test Chelsea resolve.

I don’t expect too foreign players to come running towards us with open arms and a smile on their face. We’re just not a big enough name for that.

In Mina’s case, however, we’ve had an offer on the table for a number of weeks and it’s clear he’s holding out for a better offer so screw him. We’ve been burned before by players that didn’t really fancy playing for us. It’s a buyer’s market and there are other options out there so let’s go and secure one of them instead.

I would give Holdgate a run alongside jags .
One of our many problems is that the midfield don't protect the defence enough.
I would prioritise an up and down midfielder like a Drinkwater and another hardworking wide player.
I certainly wouldn't be panicked into buying a CB who is unproven in the prem.

All we can do is make bids and sell the club, the project. Players will go for what they consider the best offer and if that means they wait till deadline day, so be it. If we're the best offer they get, they'll come.

Jim 46 - we haven’t been “waiting “ at all. It just hasn’t happened but that’s just the way it often is. It looks like there are several irons in the fire, deadline day will force people like Mina to make a decision.

Is Zouma the guy who had twins and wanted his number changed to 29 - the day the twin kids were born?

There's a story going round about some player being "denied" his number when in actual fact the player requested the change to commemorate the birth of his twin children.

I think it's Zouma? I'd not get my hopes up to sign him. We'll either sign Mina - and we should cut the cord - or this kid from Newcastle.

Or some third CB none of us thought of who'd been talked to behind the scenes.

Either way, as James "Deputy" Marshall points out, M&M know we need a CB.

@ Tommy, you lost me at "Lukaku and world class"

Fuck off is Mina worth this hassle, hurry up and buy someone, I remember when Kalidou Koulibaly was linked, that's the sort of CB we need.

Murph -

I thought we all agreed during the World Cup, Lukaku is the best striker in the world, no?

Jamie - that's Morata. Zouma had his number 5 taken off him and given to Jorginho.

I'd take Zouma over Keane, but we still need a left sided centre half. I guess it's Gibson or Rojo - and I ain't keen on either.

Koulibaly is valued at £80m by his club........next!

Hahaa JC, I certainly didn't bro. Hell no, hell never.

Brian he's a fucking beast but yeah the dollars have gone up since we and the chavs first inquired. Great player man.

Defoe and Crouchy scored goals JC...just saying brother ;}

Darren Murphy @73

Totally forgot about Kalidou Koulibaly. at £80 Million though... it may be to much

.

@ Jase, we should totally invest in this lad, he's got everything we need moving forward, nobody beats this boy in the air, he's quick, both footed, can play either side, has an engine, not shy of getting stuck in, i'd love us to sign him and use Holgate along side him to mentor him and Keane if he wants to know what old school defending is about.

I hear you Darren. I didn't realise the price tag though. If we are serious about top 4 qualification we may need to show some out there ambition.

'Invest 80 million in this lad... '

What to say?

Gary,

Maybe a 5 year lay away plan, haha.

Seriously though, Darren is right. We need to be looking for this type of defender. There's got to be another beast out there somewhere. Mina for me is over-priced, over-hyped and over-rated.

Barcelona are just waiting for a mug of a club to pay for a player they deem surplus to requirements.

Maybe for 20 minutes Jamie@74! I believe Hazard was screaming at him at half-time during one game, telling him that it was no good Belgium playing with ten men?

Everyone has their own favourites Jamie, but I thought Uruguay lost their chance when Carvarni got injured, and always wonder how good Lukaku could become if he had a quarter of Edson’s Desire?

@73 that player was salif sane, absolute beast of a player, also Koulibaly’s partner for Senegal. Sadly just gone for 18m.

Known for months we badly needed a good CB or two and now 5 days before the window shuts we’re gearing up for the usual Everton panic buying session. No doubt we’ll end up with someone on inflated wages cos we’re now desperate.

Make no mistakes we’re currently up the creek when it comes to CBS. Jags, Keane and Holgate! The smallest CB line up in the league, one 36, one too inexperienced and one who’s confidence is shot and has the turning circle of a tanker.

Getting concerned to say the least.

What's Hegazy at WBA like - had a big money move to PSG a couple of years ago.

@ Darren 73

You’re an idiot. And exactly the kind of supporter that settles for the constant mediocrity our board dishes up.

I sat amongst blue who booed Lukaku and Barkley.

Idiots

If you want to judge whether Lukaku is a world class striker. Think of this. Lukaku plays for 1 of the top 5 clubs that arguably, have ever existed in association football. He is their starting striker. He has scored 25 or more goals for each of his last 3 seasons.

He has scored 40 the international yoals at the age of 25. For one of the top 5 nations in the world.

He didn’t run his guts out for the shirt. He didn’t sweat blood. He didn’t put everything into a performance. But he was a world class striker for us and continues to be. But you’re a ‘proper blue’ and you only like players who just love playing for da bluez. Just a top scouser. Well you’re living in the past mate.

Graeme Sharp was a bog standard 15 goals a season kind of striker. Scotland wouldn’t even give him a game. And he’s a hero to us. Yes he’s our post war all time top goal scorer but he wasn’t even that good. But he threw his guts into every performance.

I’m sick of it. The RS were equal to us in about 2010. They really where. And now they’re light years away from us because they had a big club mentality but you get Darren and the likes bringing us down constantly. Lukaku is the best striker we’ve had since Lineker. Fact. Prior to that it was Latchford. Proper to that it was Dean. It’s simple. Remove sentiment you idiot

Everton have only had Lukaku, Yakubu, Beardsley and Lineker get 20+ goals in the last 32 years.

This coming week will shape the season's outcome. Not much good business is done in January. We need at least three more in, CB, Mid and Striker. Anything short of this and we'll struggle to make top half. Even at that we've very little quality cover.

If any movement is imminent in the Transfer Market, you can safely surmise that nothing, barring perhaps a few phone calls, will happen till Monday.

As has been mentioned, unless possible target negotiations are at an advanced stage, there is very little time left, to get any over the line.

Having watched the match live this afternoon it is obvious that Jagielka is totally finished. He has to be replaced now & thankfully his contract runs out at the end of the season. Those of you who keep on saying Jags makes our defence stronger obviously don't watch him play.

If Kurt Zouma is available at 13 million then we should snatch their hands off. Chelsea don't want Zouma & at 23 years old & 6 foot 3 is worth a punt.

David @89,

"Chelsea don't want Zouma"

Before loaning out to Stoke last season, they signed him on a new long term 6 year contract. They have senior players ahead of him in the squad at the moment, but he's highly regarded by both their fans and club. In fact alot of their fans want him in now as they think he's better than who's been playing for them recently.

I definitely rate him though and think he'd be a great signing for us, he's got some great attributes:

Strength
Determination
Pace
Movement
Aerial ability
Work rate
Positioning
Stamina

He's at an age were he can still improve and at 6ft 2, would improve our defending of corners and crosses.

He's already premier league ready, and his current valuation is about £15 million. I don't think Chelsea would let him go for that, but if we are willing to pay up to £25-30 million for Mina, then we have some wiggle room to test their resolve.

Either that or if they definitely don't want to sell but don't think he's ready for them yet, see if we can get him on loan for a season and try and get someone else in on a permanent:

- Matthias Ginter, 24 yo, 6ft 2, valued at £25 million

- Wesley Hoedt, 24 yo, 6ft 3, valued at £15 million

- Ramy Bensebaini, 23 yo, 6ft 1, valued at £7.2 million

- Samir Caetano, 23 yo, 6ft 2, valued at £5.5 million

George #66 . Agree

I personally think that Mina wants to come. In fact I expect he agreed to the move a while ago. It's Barcelona playing silly buggers. We wanted to announce a double deal. As far as we were concerned we had them both in the bag. Barcelona refused the double deal because they are holding out for a mug of a club to bid £35 million. I think Barcelona are the problem, not Mina.

Tommy 88, You forgot to include,
Sharp scored over 20 goals in 1986 and was a very good player for us. He helped the club win 2 league titles, 1 FA Cup, 1 European Cup Winners Cup and played in 3 other FA Cup Finals.
World class players like Southall, Rush, Robson and Lineker all rated him highly.

“Graeme Sharp wasn’t even that good”.
That ones up with the best of them.

He scored goals on a consistent basis for years. His contribution to Everton and his team mates year after year can’t just be measure by his goals (but it could be). He brought out the best of all around him. He struggles with the word ‘definitely’ in commentary but apart from that... he wasn’t that good. Tears form in my eyes thinking about that mid 80s team; were any of them that good. Or is that we are that bad now that they seem that good...

Maybe angel delight isn’t that good either.
Polish girls aren’t that good.
Guineas isn’t that good.
My Gibson hummingbird isn’t that good.
Maybe the Beatles aren’t that good.
Pet Sounds wasn’t that good.
But Graeme Sharp WAS that good. (Ffs)

Jeez Dave.

Comparing a Gibson Hummingbird to Sharpy!!!!!!!!

Tell you what though, i'd never swap all the Hummingbirds, Les Paul's and Stratocasters in the world for that derby goal at Anfield.

David # 89 & Michael # 90 - Jake Cooper, 23, Millwall, 6'-6"+, left-footed and English. Gerard has put a bid in for him of £3m.

All good reasons why we should put in a bid.

Manchester Evening News believes Mina to the Reds is almost done. I guess that means Rojo to Everton is next on the centre half merry go round. Anything has to better than watching Jagielka wander around the pitch like a geriatric.

We will sign players this week. Keeping the faith.

Mark @97,

I'd take rumours with a pinch of salt buddy, until you see a breaking news, CLUB NAME has agreed to sign PLAYER NAME for PRICE from CLUB NAME, player is on his way for medical.

Here's just an example you mentioned that one paper source has quoted that a deal is almost done.

Here's another quote from another newspaper today:

The Sun

"Jose Mourinho is in panic mode five days before the transfer window closes after Manchester United's £35m deal for Barcelona defender Yerry Mina collapsed."

Michael Morgan (#90),

Can you forward that list to M&M, they're all good shouts. More the type of signing I was hoping for when Brands came on board.

Thanks Martin @100,

Seriously though I just done a simple search on Google for the top 10 over 6ft 1 centre backs under 25, and found this link below:

Link

I then looked at videos of the players, and found another useful site which showed player attributes, and whittled it down to availability and price.

It took me about 45 minutes, I was really bored at the time lol.

Out of all the names being touted, who of any of them is left-footed?

Whoever comes in needs to be left sided,we are so unbalanced in the centre of defence, with a constant stream of right-footed partnerships; Williams, Jagielka, Holgate, and Keane all right-footed.

We have sold Funes Mori who is left-footed so that ship has sailed. I was no fan of his though and feel Rojo is of the same ilk. We need a decent left-sided centre-back, a new version of Joleon Lescott.

Such was Silva's irritation with Jagielka yesterday that it is unthinkable he will go into next Saturday's opener without a new central defender.

Whether the signing he makes over the next few days is right for the job of saving our season (even before it's opened!) is a different matter as some of the names being mentioned here would hardly be an improvement. But that signing must be made!

So busy has Brands been in finding openings for those of our players deemed surplus to requirements that I don't think we have seen too much of his powers as a recruiter. We may have to make that allowance if what he comes up with in this window is decidedly underwhelming!

Michael, I did a similar albeit slightly briefer search last week for top Bundesliga center backs and there was a few good ones on there.

Sam @ #41' should send his list to Brands as well.

I see on the BBC site that Man Utd have supposedly pulled out of the deal for Mina in a row over agent's fees. However, the original story was attributed to The Sun.

According to Sky Sports Utd will be signing Alderwierald in the next 48 hours. The whole thing has been a media and agent driven game. We will probably sign Mina this week but I'm not sure he's going to be enough.

And who do Spurs sign?

Spurs have Vertonghen and Sanchez as first choice pairing, and Dier as a back up. I can see them getting someone not quite first team ready, Poch likes buying young players and moulding them.

Just a guess. Although Mina-Sanchez have a good understanding, Spurs under Poch, as far as I can see, do not buy bench warmers from other clubs.

I see Digne has been quoted as having told Mina to come to Everton and that Man Utd's deal for Mina has fallen through due to agents fees.

Also PSG are now in for Rojo.

It's going to be an interesting week.

This morning's good news is that Gibson has signed for Burnley, so that's another mediocre player out of the running!

Why are people so obsessed with a left footed centre half? It is absolutely not essential. Think of the best central defensive partnerships in just the premier league era :

Pallister and Bruce
Henry and Berg / May
Adams and Bould / Keown
Terry and Cahill

All of them right footed.

I could go on with the list but the point is clear. Whilst it's a nice luxury to have the right foot left foot combination it is not as important as some people on here seem to think

Mike, I'd settle for that, but I would be surprised if we get either of them to be honest, but as they say, you never know.

Let's put it this way, if we don't get at least a capable CB, if that was all we were to get, I envisage a struggle for most of the season.

Talkshite are saying Lindelof could be available on a loan. If we have to get one Man Utd reject defender he'd be the man.

Dave 97, my favourite Sharpy goal was the one against Spurs. Remember that one? I was sat in the old family section, which for some strange reason was upper bullens. If we didn’t have memories, long ones, what would be left...