Everton land Iwobi in £28m deal

Welcome Alex.

This guy has been so under the radar because of a succession of "superstars" at Arsenal that he may turn out to be an inspired signing. Welcome and good luck. Just do your best and let's see what happens!

A very high risk buy that may flop but I welcome him and wish him the very best. He could also be a really amazing buy too.

Exceptional window for Everton too.

Welcome. Let's hope he works hard and kicks on.

I think this is a good signing. Pacy and full of potential. Only 23 so his talent curve will only go up.

Wilfred who?

Welcome aboard kid. Go on, shine.

Young and improving and an improvement on what we have. Considering Lookman was not much cheaper l'd say we did well.

All in all a good window, and after we get a few more wages off the bill in the next few weeks we should have money to spend in January.

Now lets get off to a flyer

Welcome Iwobi!

While we all know who Iwobi is, can anyone honestly say they know that much about him as a player? I certainly can't, but his highlight reel shows talent, some pace strength, loads of skill and a decent cross on him.

My mate is an Arsenal season ticket holder and he reckons Iwobi can be class, and does have bags of talent. He just never got to show it enough with Arsenal due to the players ahead of him. As a first team player he can be a real handful. He's also Jay Jay Okocha's nephew.

Jay Jay Iwobi some Arsenal fans affectionately call him. I quite like that.

Looks good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edd-yDseuPU

I've just been for a swim and was contemplating Iwobi.
We have sold Lookman for 22.5m and bought Iwobi for an initial 28m.

He has more physicality than Lookman and probably fits the team profile better than Lookman. Silva must think he can operate in our system to better effect, with a bit of tuition. I think he is more of a team man and player too, not a prima donna.

When I think of it in these terms it seems a logical deal for a young player with good experience who could be improved and also slot into our system. he is fast, strong and will contribute both defensively and in attack. Lookman never really did both and Silva saw this as a weakness .

The proof will be if he can affect games with assists, or goals and at the same time be single-mindedly disciplined in his defensive duties too.

Where did the £40m come from then?! Feels like the press spinning it to make out we've been mugged. Even BBC cannot bring itself to state £28m rather a fee 'up to £34m'

A model of organic growth to hopefully bigger things. It feels like a far more pragmatic and sensible approach. Let's get behind it

I think that's a good signing, I'm happy about that and although we didn't sign an alternative centre back to Kurt Zouma, I really think that collectively this has been a positive transfer window and we have brought in quality players.

Well done to Marcel Brands and Marco Silva, I am confident that we are going to have a good season.

Young, fast, and skilful. A lot of good attributes and potential to improve.

With a choice of Bernard, Iwobi, DCL, Kean, and Richarlison we have a great number of options and pace up front. Options on the bench, and to change the first 11. No opposing team will 'know' how to line up against us, because we have such variety. And no player can get in a 'comfort zone' because they have a similarly skilled teammate chomping at the bit to take his place. Both Iwobi and Bernard can operate at no10 too, so our options going forward really are plentiful.

COYB

Thought just entered the empty shell that is my head.

If we get Rich to grow some dreads, we can have an all dreadlock front three.

I don't know why, but I'd love that.

Welcome Alex. There is some serious pace up top, across the field now. I am excited for the start of the season. I hope they all bed in quickly and Silva moulds them how he wants. There are fewer and fewer players now who have had to endure the horrendous 3/4 years of constant changing managers which cant have been good for the dressing room. Step up to the mark Marco and make us proud again.

Not the player I thought we would sign but he’s ours now so gets my full support.

Question is where does he play is he a straight swap for Walcott or Bernard?

I’m also confused by how much we’ve paid how much is it?

Gotta say that I'm pretty happy with this signing.

Zaha was closer to being the finished article but Iwobi is a strong lad, a good athlete, a very skilful player and his best years are still to come. If Silva improves his game as much as several of his former players claim, he couid be a very, very good signing.

Daniel - for me a swap for Walcott.

Jamie.#15. I disagree. Just the thought of that fills me with . well, DREAD.

Welcome. I can see us being very dangerous on the break this season. On another note, does anyone know the latest on Mina and that gambling blunder. Will he get a ban?

He has loads of pace and skill, and an upgrade on Lookman. Wish him well.

Did you say goodbye to your compatriot Henry Onyehkeru?

A 10CC reissue anyone?
A Dreadlock Deadline Day.

What an odd thing to say, Keith

The Dread Line. Scaring the shit out of opposition defenders since 2019.

I like it.

Welcome Alex.

Re Saha, I would like to believe that M & M were never going to play Palace’s games, and cut and run well before the so called media updates.

Can you honestly see MB paying £70m plus 2 players; I don’t think so.

Saha would have been a very good signing, but we move in.

Skillful, works hard but not the finished article. Welcome Alex, good young signing. Could go far under Silva.

Glad to see the positive comments. I think this lad will surprise a lot of people with his skill, popwer and pace.

So of our signings in order of impact to the first team thoughts?

1. Kean regular our great hope
2. Gomes regular. fits us well
3. Gbamin … regular … unknown but looks promising
4. Iwobi … 50% of time … our top 6 reject young player
5. Sidibe 50% of time … depends on Coleman fitness
6. Delph … 20% if fit … our top 6 reject old player
7. Lossl … not saying a bad signing just only one slot

I would say a good window, not such a great last day, would of loved Zaha, Iwobi not a disaster not inspiring and feels expensive, no centre half a miss! We need to get away from the top 6 hand me downs, fortunate to miss Rojo

Sean @25, Henry has been leaving all summer to go elsewhere, so why not say hello/goodbye.

Key thing here "“Alex was one of our main targets" so says Marco Silva. All this BS about "desperation" and what have you. Obviously, they identified he and Zaha as targets probably hoping to get one. Mission accomplished. The fact it happened late in the day is probably due to a)offloading players as Brands had said many times they would ne to do, and b) Arsenal signing Pepe so Iwobi was available. If this is the guy the management wanted having done their homework then that is good enough for me.

I'm happy with this final signing of the window. And at £28m, I'd say we've got a bit of a bargain.

Overall, one of the best transfer windows I can remember. Kean, clearly, is the highlight - I still can't believe we've managed to snag one of the brightest young talents in Europe - but the rest look pretty decent too. And it's good to see us buying from some top clubs, and mostly young players with the bulk of their career ahead of them.

Can't wait for the new season to start!

Glad this has gone through. Sick of seeing Walcott do nothing. This guy looks tricky and could be a handful if he can deliver a final ball often enough.

A far better signing at 30 mill than Zaha at 80 mill.

Happy at this. Lot of potential.

Found an old copy of the St Luke's parish gazette from 1925. The "Toffees prayers of the week" section had a letter from a Mr Marsh esquire saying "please pray for our club as they've just signed a bag of shite striker from Tranmere named Dixie." #Fans

It's nice he gets a mention on here, but I can't help but feel we won't miss Henry Onyekuru.

If we view Iwobi as a direct replacement, hopefully upgrade, for Lookman +£6m; then that looks sensible business.

But if he’s the alternative for NOT landing Zaha... last-minute panic 2nd prize. I hope not.

In the back of my mind, my fear is we gave Arsenal £28m toward their budget for them buying Zaha in January window.

Even I think we had a good window, we should have signed a Central defender. From my point of view it was a must for Everton. Now we will have to trust on Holgate and Gibson, and considering that Mina is so prone to injuries, I am sure we will suffer a lot. Anyway Brands and Silva have done a really good job for us during the last 3 windows. COYB

So we expect to finish in the top 6 by buying of their cast offs.

Pete Baker @31, I said it on the live forum but why does the last day define the whole transfer window? It doesn't matter what goes on before, if we don't sign a load of players on the last day its seen as a disappointment. It's just a load of old Sky Sports News bullshit that people get suckered in by.

As far as I see it was a solid performance. The only player they didn't get was Zouma. Good player for us but, two seasons ago, he was in a relegated Stoke side, so we move on. So we put faith in the circa £60m pair in Kean and Mina. Also Holgate and Gbamin can play that role. Rather that than Rojo.

Zaha would have been a £100m package for 8 goals a season at 26.

This 'poor last day' lark is just nonsense to me.

My Arsenal mate is laughing at us for signing Walcott and Iwobi.

I don't see why people make such bold statements about individual players - football is a team game and as such performances are determined by the collective. It's all about blend. Look at Leicester a few years ago.

You can have all the best players, but that doesn't mean they'll be any good together. At some point things have to come together. Or they don't. Either way, it won't be because of any one player.

Nothing wrong with the price.

£28 million with add-ons is actually a pretty good deal. But what do you want to bet the media will keep on reporting it as £40 million, just like they continue to claim we paid £50 million for Richarlison?

Silva must see something in him to spend that amount and the Arse mustn't see the same potential.

Will interesting to see who's right

My Arse mate (season ticket holder) laughed his head off when we bought Walcott! Well he's not laughing now! Welcome aboard!

Chris 43# - not poor last day but poor that no centre half signed and no replacement for Gueye unless you view Gbamin as such.

If it takes Gbamin a while to get up to speed (which is to be expected) who breaks up play?

Do you expect Mina to last 6-10 games in a row? No problem with Holgate although I see him as challenging Keane as opposed to being a left sided centre half and then we now have no Jags, no Pennington, nobody else in a position which demands experience.

The good news is Holgate will get plenty of chances

@45 James Marshall - spot on its a team game. we've recruited a blend of players that allows us to shift formation. so often we've swapped like for like when struggling against the opposition. sticking to the same formation. now we have the opportunity to play 4-2-31, 4-4-2, 4-3-3 with some confidence

Paul @48, Is he crying with the addition of Luiz.

Hard to see this as anything other than a panic buy after being priced out of the move for Zaha.

Curious seeing Silva describe Iwobi as a winger, most Arsenal fans will tell you that is not his position. He rarely scores, averages 3 per season, so I can't see the logic in this.

Zaha is box office and gives you double figures, goals and assists. Iwobi hasn't done that in 3 seasons combined. Not a signing that will get us anywhere near the top 6, we need goals.

Like James Marshall, I know who Iwobi is but know nothing about him. Did he score that offside goal against us last season?

Looking at his wiki page, I see he is 23 (good), an international (good), has played a lot of games for Arsenal in recent seasons (good), is described as a winger/forward (good) but only managed 3 goals in 35 league appearances last season (not particularly good).

But that age, eh? He has plenty of time to come good (good).

Iwobi stats compare favourably with Zaha in his all round game. He has more assists than Zaha and has a good defensive records and pass completion records. He also has a good scoring record. At 23 he can improve more and has a better work rate and attitude than Walcott. At £28 million he is a really good buy.

I am glad we got Iwobi, rather than Zaha.

I'm still busy doing cartwheels about us signing Moise Kean, so adding another young, strong, pacy forward is just the icing on the cake for me.

FYI, the cake has "Best Young Striking Talent in World Football" written on it in blue icing.

I believe this was a great tranny window for Everton. Kean being the absolute jewel; in my Serie A watching last year he was the top young player that stood out for me. I knew he'd be a gem and can't believe Everton got him.Or as we say in italino: Lo non credo!

"Alex was one of our main targets for this window"

Hmmmm that would explain why we spent so much time and effort chasing Zaha, and why this only went down "at the eleventh hour".

So much bullshit spouted from every conceivable source and then some, rising ot a crescendo of Sky inspired madness by the end of the transfer window. I'm not convinced it's a worthwhile investment of time to track every twist and turn, but I'm happy to wait until it's all done and dusted. Let's hope we done good with the incoming, though I expected to see a lot more departures.

Again like I believe the Delph signing this will be a shrewder deal than people give it credit for. We have a strong first XI but lacked real squad depth beyond our bench. CB aside I’d say we have competition all over the park for places which will only serve to improve the side as players have to keep performing.

Roll on Palace Saturday!!!

and as a follow up. didnt Alf Ramsey say - I didnt pick the best players. I picked the best team. roll on Saturday!

Paul (44) Must say an Arsenal fan I know was disappointed. Said Iwobi works his arse off and he obviously has talent - would rather have kept him and moved on the likes of Ozil and Mkhitaryan.

As a few posters have said...he’s definitely an under the radar sort of player. But the difference with him and Lookman is the amount of top level football he has played. He has played at a higher level, he has played and scored in a European final mere months ago, and is one of those “he’s only 23? Really?” kind of players. There is potential but also product.

I also believe that this wasn’t a panic buy - it seems as if we were somehow trying to buy both Iwobi AND Zaha and although the latter is the flashier signing, I think this could prove to be the better business.

Barring injuries, the centre back signing shouldn’t come back to bite us. With the likes of Senderos, Gardner, Ferrari, Mangala all being fairly recent attempts for panic-cover in that position, I would rather see the likes of Holgate thrown in rather than a Rojo or a Smalling.

Chris (43) is spot on...we can’t judge today as the story of our summer. We’ve recruited - on paper - really well. And even if you were taking it just on today’s evidence, we have bought Okocha’s nephew for the kind of money that would have shattered our transfer record a few years ago. Let’s stuff Palace and win the league, yeah?

Talking of ‘best young striking talent in world football’ does anyone know what happened to the Reinier Jesus link? It was mentioned he would be joining us in Jan once he turns 18...would be great if this is happening but seems unlikely now.

Far better than Walcott in my eyes. Very undervalued, I believe he will help the cause. We could use another striker, a midfielder and a center back but it was not to be. Teenager Gibson will be happy. A lot of deadwood still has to go. I would keep Tosun till January though. Overall I see this as a positive transfer window and I have to say I really like the recruitment policy we have under Brands. Bringing in young hungry talented prospects is the way to go, the tricky thing is we have to deliver in order to keep them through their best years. Did we cash anything from lukaku's deal?

Adam 61 - think City would have probably paid us to take Mangala off their hands so it seems odd that we didn’t look at that. Seems he would have been at least on a par with Rojo?

Clarence 57

“Tranny”?!

Michael 58, I think you're underestimating Brands and forgetting how things played out in the past. The whole talk pre-window was Zaha to Arsenal. In the end Zaha went nowhere and we landed a £34m Arsenal player. I think it's been an extraordinary transfer window, just like last summer's. I have huge faith in this guy. Plus, lots of time left for Europe-bound departures.

Wnats not to like about this lad.

He has twice the workrate of Lookman, more assists per minutes played than Siggy and can score (at least more than Bernard).

At 23 for 28m plus addons I believe we got a good deal and for him to get in a side that boasts Lacazette and Aubyang says a lot about his quality.

I know we're all disappointed about not getting Zouma but lets be honest who else was available of that quality that would have paired with Keane. Would anyone have paid 80m plus for Maguire?

Michael #58

I believe Zaha was the big money buy that Moshiri was reported to want in the middle of the transfer window. The negotiations had none of the Brands trademarks. In my opinion Kenwright was involved. Fortunately it was a complete Horlicks.

The Iowbi transfer was Brands real work and he is actually a better buy than Zaha. As Adam #61 a Arsenal supporter has verifies his attitude and ability. Miles better competition for Walcott position than Lookman ever was or would be.

Personally I am surprised Arsenal sold him.

"We wanted Zaha, Malcom or Pepe. They didn't want to come, so we reluctantly copped for Alex Iwobi. He's alright, but nothing special."

Hardly going to go down well with the lad is it Michael? Of course he's going to say he was one of the main targets all along. He will spin it as they were trying to sign both Zaha and Iwobi, and maybe even a centre back and so money was tight, and it needed to be concluded at the death so they had every penny in case they could do another deal as well. That could even be close to the truth.

I bet we've spent £4.7m on Iwobi, with further payments of £4.7m each season as it's a 5 year deal.

I am shocked that we haven't bought a centre back and would love for Brands to give us some sort of explanation as to what went wrong. We knew all summer that we needed one and apparently had all of our targets sorted out months ago. So it was quite a surprise to see us scrambling around for Utd rejects on the final day.
Everything about this window had been fresh and ambitious. Utd rejects seemed a thing of the past, so I'm pleased we didn't end up with one. I'm just baffled as to how it came to this?
I don't doubt that Brands had a plan and that this has more to do with other clubs refusing to sell than a lack of foresight on his part, but it is a huge fuck up. Mina will more than likely get injured at some point and we will have to rely on Holgate, a player I like but fear is too small to be a top CB. You can get away with being a shorter CB if you have bulk and strength, but he doesn't. I believe this is why he is shoved out to right back so often. Silva said last week that Gibson is not ready to step up. So we could be in a spot of bother.
Up until the final 2 days I felt that this was going to be an all time great window and one that would propel us into the top 6. If Zaha had come and replicated last season's productivity then he would have added 20 goals to the team. I assume he would have taken Bernard's place, and so (using last season's stats) it would have been a loss of 4 goals and assists and a gain of 20. In addition to the strength in depth that we have brought in, a Zouma equivalent CB would have allowed us to continue the solidity we were showing at the back at the end of last season.
With Zouma and Zaha we would very likely concede less and score plenty more than we can hope to achieve with what we have. For this reason I am disappointed. Plus I really wanted for us to say a big fuck you to the many pundits that didn't think Zaha should come to us.
Anyway, they aren't our players so time to move on. If, and it's a big if, Mina stays fit, then I think we can be a lot stronger than last season. My concern is that Leicester appear stronger, as do WHU, and Arsenal. I think Wolves will suffer through the Europa and Man Utd will struggle. Hopefully Chelsea too.
I think we had a real chance to put the fear of God into the top 6 but came up short.
However, I still have full faith and admiration for Brands and believe he'll put right what went wrong in the next window.
I was reading an Arsenal fan forum last night and many of them believe Iwobi could be better than Zaha in 2-3 years time. I hope they're right.

Jerome #68, why on earth would Brands step aside and allow Kenwright to negotiate for Zaha? How does that make any sense? You think Zaha was supposed to be Moshiri's statement signing. So why on earth would he allow Kenwright to do the negotiating?

Are you suggesting that Brands refused because Zaha was Moshiri's choice and not his? Or do you think Moshiri asked Bill to deal with potentially the most expensive transfer in our history, so Brands could continue working on other smaller deals?

That is total nonsense. You read a daft click-bait website, which clearly had no idea who deals with our transfers, and you believe it? Why?

Clarence @57

I'm guessing English isn't your first language.

A mate of mine told me that he likes to shop for talent in the... ahem "Tranny Windows" of Amsterdam.

Kind of happy Marcel didn't go Dutch this time around. I hear their quite expensive and know a trick or two.

Chris, it's not just us, it's Leicester too. It's a shame we couldn't try for Rugani or someone like that. Anyway, Maguire went for £80m, Bournemouth wanted £75m for Ake, and players like Duffy were slapped with £40m price tags.

Nathan Ake is a top centre back for Bournemouth, but I bet Silva would say no. He does not fit the silva profile. He is only 5'11" or 1.80cm. He's too small. Silva likes giant centre-backs like Mina. Zouma is 6'3" and that seems to be about Silva's minimum requirement, as he's never signed anyone smaller, not in 8 years as a manager.

If we signed Ake, we would have problems in zonal marking again. Notice that we signed a load of big guys? Gbamin is 6'0" so much bigger than Gueye. Andre Gomes is 6'2". Sidibe is 6'0". That's our defensive players getting taller. All slots in nicely for zonal marking.

Silva wants someone like Zouma, tall, fast, and comfortable on the ball. And for a reasonable price. Those players aren't cheap, and probably don't want to come here.

Also, lets not forget Gibson and Holgate. Perhaps they are doing well, and so Silva is saying to Brands, divert all the cash to Zaha, I can make these kids work. Which contradicts his comments to the press.

Brands cannot come out though, he cannot be honest, as it will not be good for the first team players. Let's just trust that we ever get Zouma in January or get someone else in, or even Gibson does great and makes us not want anyone.

It's all about the banter from these Arsenal fans. My 2 best mates support Arsenal and Chelsea. One made fun of David Luiz re-signing 2 years ago and is now happy to replace Koschelny with him, whilst laughing that Iwobi has signed for us. The same Iwobi he was praising for showing Arsenal's starting 11 how to play in a Europa Final when he came on as a sub!

Welcome Alex. Take on your man, feed Kean and DCL and Goodison will roar for you!

My view is we shopped around for plan B "Zoumas" and couldnt get anywhere after waiting on Chelsea to make a decision on Zouma. Chelsea then offered us Tomori on loan which we thought was in the bag only to find Luis is sold to Arsenal and Tomori is no longer available.

It may be they are bannking on Zouma being available in JAnuary so looked around for some loans Smalling and Rojo but Utd thought they would play hardball and demand a fee for Rojo and sell him outright.

Thankfully we didnt bite so it gives Gibson and Holgate the incentive to play out of their skins when given a chance and hopefully we can get Zouma in January when Rudiger is fit again.

Spot on Jay.

I can add that Rudiger is already training and so cannot be that far from a return.

Hopefully the move will give the lad a new lease of life and he will kick on and become a consistent player for us.

Interesting to see MS squad and starting team on Saturday.

Strength in-depth across the team except at CB, but a very good window, all considered.

Ray Robinson #2

Spot on.

Welcome To Everton Mr. Iwobi :)

Steve, I agree with your comment, but Leicester arguably had less time to prepare as they may have been hopeful that Maguire would stay. But yeah, solid CB's appear tough to come by. Holgate isn't big enough and Gibson is simply too inexperienced. I don't want us to develop a young CB in the first team. We simply do not have the patience for mistakes. We are close to being very good and require experienced CB's who can be relied upon.
Brands explained last year why we overpaid for Richarlison. Maybe he'll give us an honest review of what went wrong. Everyone knew we needed and were after a CB, so I can't see an explanation upsetting any players.
Although, understandably, he probably doesn't feel he owes us an explanation. It is what it is, and I don't doubt that he was the hardest working man in world football over the last few months.

Michael @ 58. You and Lyndon often repeat that the TW rumour mill is possibly the most visited and popular feature on TW. The threads and (some) of the hysteria generated in the last 48 hours rather enforces that.

Personally, I very much take a back seat during any transfer window, preferring to wait until a player IS signed before commenting and also waiting for the window to close before assessing in detail all our dealings. Even now it is too premature to do so in this window because other European Leagues can still buy/loan Everton players surplus to requirement.

What I can say is that in my eyes there is clear evidence our buying, selling AND loaning policy under Brands is not random. The gravy train of perpetually extending academy players in the hope they 'come good' has been derailed. Players are scouted, studied, researched and identified as possible targets, presumably with more than a single option for the target position and a hierarchy of which is the number 1-2-3 prefered player to land.

As such, I don't consider Iwobi a panic buy. He would have been on our list. Where on that list, no one can say with absolute certainty other than the inner circle at Goodison Park.

For the second summer running since Silva and Brands arrived, there were also international tournaments to contend with. Last summer the WC, this summer 3 international continental competitions in North and South America and Africa. We had our own players and targeted players competing in these tournaments.

As such, some transfers could not be initiated or concluded early. Nor do Everton operate in isolation. Other clubs also have to take into consideration multiple-factors. Take Gana Gueye's departure. He signed for PSG on 30 July. Just 3 days later we recruited Gbamin from Mainz on 2 August, both of whom were at AFCON.

Then take the Zaha-Iwobi situation. Arsenal tried early to land Zaha and were rebuked and knocked back by CP for their derisory offer. Instead, the Arse landed Pepe but only on 1 August. As a result, it is only in the last week that Iwobi (himself involved at the AFCON during the summer) was aware his starting place at the Arse was under threat.

Everton bid for Zaha before then, but some reports are emerging that our last approach was on 28 July and we were not prepared to go to £60 million, let alone the 80-100 million 'the medjah' claimed.

Now Everton may well have been looking to sign both Zaha and Iwobi. Or possibly, just possibly, it was a 'feint' by Brands and Silva and Iwobi was the primary target and the (alledged) Zaha interest this week was in fact to double bluff Arsenal into selling us Iwobi at the price they did. Arsenal is a club that is very careful with its finances and possibly wouldn't wish to risk missing out on recovering some of outlay they paid for Pepe.

I for one am relieved we didn't shell out the reported fee for Zaha that other TWers were squealing for us to pay, and screaming today when it didn't happen.

People question the lad's stats, especially in contrast to Zaha, the player 4 years his senior. A truer comparison is to look at Zaha's stats at the same age as Iwobi is now...and Iwobi's numbers are better. And at that age Zaha was not as CP, but already at United, not getting a game, before being shipped back to CP.

Now Silva may be gilding the lily a tad when claiming Iwobi was one of his prime targets. Or alternatively, he may be - just maybe - speaking more than a tad of truth.

All round an excellent transfer window which has added youth and pace to the side.

I'm pleased we swerved Zaha and think the stories of us offering £70m plus two players was a load of media hype.

We have players who can step in, if need be, and do a job at CH.

So “Alex through the Tranny Glass”. It’s like the mad hatters tea party

More pace. Excellent news.

Could have done with a centre half but -we dodged a bullet with Roja.

A very promising squad now.

Please God Keane and Mina stay fit.

I'd be surprised to see Zaha playing on Saturday.

COYBl

I must admit I didn't believe for one minute that he was on the radar, as a priority signing for us, but he's with us now so has my support. The more I look into this kid the more it seems a decent bit of business.

I have obviously seen him playing for the Arse, but never associated him as being a possible target in the future, he has always struck me as being a decent player. One criticism that seems to be levelled at him is his limited goal scoring rate.

Being the optimist it may have been the style that Arsenal employed, and instructing him to get the ball to Lacazette or Aubamayeng, but he is capable of scoring, let's just hope the limitations of scorers we have, encourages him to find the net more often.

I cannot disagree with anything you said Jay. I do rather enjoy the silly season, being a bit of a dreamer. Chatting with lads like Sam who seems to enjoy it even more.

When we look carefully at the undisputed facts, we have made the following signings:
- Andre Gomes from Barcelona for around £22,000,000
- Jonas Lossl from Huddersfield for Free
- Fabian Delph from Man City for £8,500,000
- Jean-Philippe Gbamin from Mainz for £25,000,000
- Moise Kean from Juventus for £24,500,000
- Alex Iwobi from Arsenal for £28,000,000

We also know Everton did not put in a second bid for Zaha, meaning they acknowledge they did put the first bid in. They didn't say how much but Arsenal were rejected at £40m and we were meant to have offered £52m.

So all the signings were for sensible amounts, all under £30m. The offer for Zaha was at a comparatively acceptable amount. This all points to control and restraint by Brands. That is a complete contradiction to the press and the news now articles. So you could assume that the vast majority are a load of crap and Jay was quite right to swerve them all and wait and see.

Brands did a great job and we are safe under his control.

Jay#74

I agree Tomori was the loan target. Similar history to Zouma. As you say Luiz Arsenal move was unexspected. It angered Lampard. Luis had recently signed a contract. This finished Everton plan and Lampards agreement was withdrawn.

It has left Everton shallow in the Centre Back position, but money was spent on Mina and it is time he stood up to the plate. Everton have to know the answer to that question of Mina.

Of course Everton should have had better plans, but it worked well last year, but Luiz didn't do a bunk.

It brings it home how crazy it would have been to pay £25m for Marcos Rojo when David Luiz went for just £8m.

Jay, if that is the case mate with Brand’s studying every target and having A,B,C option’s what happened with the proven quality centre back our squad badly need’s and is now missing ahead of season full of games?

I wonder if there are any free-agent centre-backs that might still be genuine options to come into the squad.

There are a few out there. Left-footed centre-back Timothée Kolodziejczak (spent last season at Saint Etienne). Martin Caceres (ex-Juve). Daniel Scwaab (ex-PSV). Roman Neustädter (ex-Fenebahce). All four played at least half the games for their previous club last season.

Probably none are worth pursuing; they'd be after decent contracts so would be expensive emergency stopgaps.

Silva will no doubt have his own contingency plan; perhaps Gbamin to step in. Or shut-your-eyes-and-hold-on-tight-and-get-to-January-1st-by-the-skin-of-our-teeth... and then go after who he actually wants.

Regarding the apparent failure to land a third choice centre back:

“You can’t always get what you want...

...but if you try sometimes, you just might find...

...you get your Gbamin”

Zaha was ok for £25m.. £60m+ ridiculous.

John:

Plan A - Zouma
Plan B - Tomori
Plan C - nick a player off Utd

Plan A fails and Brands goes to Plan B, he gets a deal for the season on loan and even agrees a deal in principle for Zouma in January or the Summer, subject to performances for Chelsea. Then Luiz does the unexpected and they have to sell him and can't sell us Zouma or loan out Timori.

Utd get wind, believe we are desperate and are the same old Everton. Brands walks away after agreeing with Silva to gamble on youth (Holgate, Gibson and Feeney) and see where we are at in January, as we could still use the cash on Zaha (who may really kick off now and force a Jan move) or Zouma if Rudiger comes back strong and Zouma doesn't get games.

Complete speculation on my part, of course.

Pete (31)

Couldn't agree more with your judgment of the signings at the moment. I think most Evertonians would agree at this point in time.

Clearly, give it 12 months and we can all be wise sages after the event!! 🙄 But I'll nail my colours to your mast tonight.

I hope he fulfills his potential. I welcome him on board and here’s to a bright future.
On another note I believe that was the only chance we had to sign Zaha. I believe that come January or next summer he will be an Arsenal player.
Not that I really care, but just pointing it out.
COYB

I would also add that strong positives to come from today were not getting Rojo and not paying £100m for Zaha (good player that he is)

AND we've still got time to ship out Mirallas, Bollasie, Martini, Niasse (possibly Tosun) to unsuspecting foreign clubs raise a few more pennies

Daniel Schwaab is a free agent as discussed above and probably the best available and he's got 24 caps for Germany. However he is supposed to have declined a new contract with PSV as he wanted to be back in Germany with his family. Brands shoud know him as he played the last 3 years for PSV. You never know a season long contract until Zouma is available. Plenty of trips home. A definite step up from Jags / Williams.

Steve, good summary at #84.

Re #91, I'm pretty sure there weren't just three plans, especially given that they knew Plan A was a very, very longshot from the outset. Brands is a thorough professional. He would have pursued other possibilities that we knew nothing about.

And I personally think that what derailed all the plans was Maguire blowing up the market for CBs. Everybody's price went nuts after that.

But I've said before what you just said about Zouma and Zaha coming later... we haven't struck out, we can go back in for either of them at a later date if we want.

John @ 87.

Wot Steve said @ 91.

I and others have already said on other threads that is the one negative from this transfer window. The finesse Brands tried for didn't come off PRESUMING the attempts to sign/loan Kouma/Tomori were indeed true.

The flaw I immediately see there is going for two centre backs from the same club, a club hamstrung by a transfer ban, under a rookie manager wanting to assess everyone before letting anyone go.

The chances of landing either evaporated all the more in the final 24 hours with the David Luis to Arsenal move.

I'm not going to condemn Brands or the club for this failure (for that is what it is) when they got so much else right in this window.

Are you?

I'm not so sure Jon @92,imo we had a very good window, we would all have liked Zaha but we simply left it too late.

But
We addressed our striker issue.
Gomes signed.
Coleman has real competition.
Llosel is a step up from Steklenburg.
Delph and improvement on McCarthy.
Iwobi and Gbamin are both young players who are at an age where there ready to step up, if we trust the judgement of Marcel and Marco then we should be happy.

Loads of dead wood released or sold, only major casualty was Gana but it was to be expected.

All in all I think I'd have been pretty happy with that business had I been given a heads up in May (end of last season).

Imo Iwobi is a very talented footballer who may thrive in the right soundings, he looks a special player when he plays for Nigeria, he created more chances than any other Arsenal player last season, despite taking no set pieces and playing limited minutes.

Let's trust that the men in charge know what there doing, they nailed pretty much all the signings last season.
Richalison has doubled in value.
Bernard was a free, yes a free.
Mina still has a bit to prove but he is still just 24, relatively young for a centre half, and when you consider he's from another continent then we can allow him his season bedding in, hopefully now is his time.
Gomes on loan, and now complete for £22m, look at the prices being put out there and try telling me he is not the bargain of the window !!
Zouma on loan to excel despite looking bang average in a relegated Stoke side.

I'd say the men in charge deserve our trust.

I read someone said in here that he did not want to develop a young CBs in the first team. What kind of weird logic is that? How is a CB ever going to be good if he has to play elsewhere at some lower level to develop?

About Gibson and Feeney. I have not seen them play, but I have heard that both have been impressive. What is so wrong with giving them a chance to try themselves in our first team?

I quote from evertonfc.com "he returned to the side in impressive fashion, playing a key role as the Under-23s secured a Premier League 2 and Premier League Cup double.".

If we want to get our own products up the ranks. If this was not good enough, what is the good enough?

I feel optimistic about our position after this transfer window. Koeman/Walsh did the mistake of buying a bunch of players they expected to go more or less directly into the starting 11. An old famous Evertonian said that, that does not work. And I choose to believe that.

The difference now is that we are buying 5-6 players that are not expected to go directly into the starting 11 to dominate. Rather buying players that fit into a balanced the team in the long run and with future potential (young players). Our squad looks pretty well balanced I think. Personally I would like to have more offensive options in the central midfield, but you can not get all what you want.

I would have liked Zouma to come in but I choose to stay positive with us having the option to try not 1 but 2 youngsters with big future potential to step up if needed (Gibson and Feeney).

Where is the central defender? Two jobs this window, centre forward, good, no great, addition to the team and a central defender, where is he? Not a midfielder, not a winger, Christ we have had nothing but wingers coming in at one stage. Keane is a reasonable defender who has improved but I fear for us if we have to rely on Mina who quite frankly is Bilic Mark 2, always fit for his country not often for his club.
Holgate, well he is just an accident waiting to happen. A flawed diamond who can't do the basics like tracking a player. Hopefully when I wake up there will be a late late deal done for a centre back. Fingers crossed.

Peter I agree in regards to both Feeney and Gibson being given chances, but I think a lot of blues have written off Holgate.

I'm not one of these fans, I'm a big believer in Holgates talent, after seeing what Zouma done last season I believe Holgate will step up his game and be ready to take his spot.

The central defence could be a problem if there is an injury.
Silva was getting desperate going after a player like Rojo who quite honestly would have been a liability.
Maybe Holgate or Gibson might fill the bill if needed.
Hopefully the all the options in midfield will be sufficient to ease the pressure on the back four this season. Fingers crossed.

Jay # 79 Well put!

Si #101, I think most folks here would agree with you about Holgate. Problem is, Silva does not appear to have the same opinion. Remember he gave Holgate a five-game trial last summer and then completely banished him, first to the stands and then out on loan. And Holgate hasn't played a minute at CB since.

My guess? Holgate will play only if either Keane or Mina is injured.

Welcome Alex!

I think he will surprise many

Mike 104.

I'd be inclined to agree with you mate, but Holgate has gone out on loan and come back higher up the pecking order than when he left.

Yes he had a five game run and became banished, but he left behind Keane, Mina, Zouma, and Jags, now he is 3rd choice behind only 2 senior players who both cost in excess of £20m.

Maybe Gbamin is ahead of him at CB also, maybe Sidibe is too, but until we see them all fit and available it's tough to see which way it's going to go.

One thing I would say is I'd imagine we will find out soon enough as theres always something happening In terms of injury or suspension at centre back before too long into a season.

Window closed, here's to finding out 🍺🍺

I think we have made an excellent signing in Iwobi. Every time I watched him last season I was impressed. He is speedy and not afraid to take on players. I am sure he will prove to be a very popular player.

I think Iwobi will be a solid player. Nothing more though. It’s a decent signing

As another on here put it, he’s a vast improvement on Lookman and when you offset the purchase of Iwobi with the sale of Lookman then he’s not actually cost too much.

On another note, our registered no.7 Yannick Bolasie appears to have not generate much interest. Unless he moves in the next month then I would not be against seeing him get some game time.

What can he give us consistently over 90mins? Not nearly enough would be my answer. However he is capable of the ridiculous and sublime and I think could be used as an impact substitute. We are paying him so we might as well use him

I can’t believe we haven’t bought a CB. I reckon there’s about a 10% chance that Mina stays fit for more than a half dozen games AND performs well. Even if he does, the Keane could get injured or shown a red, what then? We’ve lost Jags and Zouma and not replaced them, let alone strengthened at CB. Another major cock up that is highly likely to come back to haunt us.

We were raging that we didn’t buy a striker last summer and ultimately I reckon it cost us a top 6 place. Now we’ve made exactly the same mistake but ta CB. Genuinely amazed by Brands allowing this to happen.

Other signings are good, but wont paper over a lack of cover at CB.

The main reason Everton don't have a centre back back up is the botched Zaha saga. Moshiri and Kenwright where involved. This had two effect. Brands in the final week found himself having to get involved in a botched negotiation which was a distraction from persuing alternative centre backs. The Zaha saga was also in danger of eating up the transfer budget and playing havoc with the wages budget. This left Brands pursuing Tomori as a loan. The unexpected Luiz request ended that.

What a bloody brilliant player Jay Jay Okocha was, I used to be mesmerized by the beautiful way he played the game. Never got the recognition he deserved. If Iwobi can be only half as good as his uncle then we have ourselves a player.

I work with an Arsenal fan and he couldn't believe we put a bid in for Iwobi, didn't think he would leave and didn't want him to.

I think we've got a decent player on our hands although can be a bit erratic at times. Pretty versatile too.

Not signing a CB might come back to bite is but we have Holgate who may well have improved after last season while Gbamin can fill in adequately at CB. Maybe a perfect time to blood Gibson too.

I know we hardly scored in preseason but we've actually improved our front line so I expect more goals than last season.

I work with an Arsenal fan and he couldn't believe we put a bid in for Iwobi, didn't think he would leave and didn't want him to.

I think we've got a decent player on our hands although can be a bit erratic at times. Pretty versatile too.

Not signing a CB might come back to bite is but we have Holgate who may well have improved after last season while Gbamin can fill in adequately at CB. Maybe a perfect time to blood Gibson too.

I know we hardly scored in preseason but we've actually improved our front line so I expect more goals than last season.

John @111, we would have improved our attacking even if we'd signed me, and I'm 50 next month!

Hurrah, good to see more positivity (or at least balance) on here this morning and less of the 'doomsters' to quote a phrase of our incompetent scumbag of a PM.

Totally sympathise that we all thought we'd land Zaha, but the fact that we all believed that was odds on (and the fact we're even seriously having a go at players with £60M+ price tags) in itself surely shows there's been a sizeable step up in ambition.

See also securing one of the hottest prospects in European football and having a go at the new new Brazilian wonderkid (whether or not it comes off).

The fact we stuck to principles and DIDN'T panic buy into spending £20M+ on a defender we didn't want is also reassuring - under Allardyce or Koeman we'd have most of Utd's backline cast-offs now.

On the centre-back issue I do believe we had been given some hope over Zouma earlier and then had a deal agreed for the young Chelsea prospect and then got fecked over by David Luiz's utterly unpredictable last day transfer request ( I mean seriously? What was all that about? Agent agitating for last payday?).

Anyway we were then left to scrabble and despite sensible offers to take un-needed players off their books, Utd played silly buggers - if you think we have any transfer problems look at Old Trafford, it's been an absolute joke this summer.

Jay 99, 100% I’m going to hold it against Brands for not finding us a player in a key area of the pitch which was the downfall of our season until Zouma got settled with Keane.

I have zero faith in Mina or Holgate to keep us clean sheet’s against the top opposition we will face this year.

Holgate has had his chances and has clearly shown he is not a top centre half and Mina isn’t worth talking about for me I think he is as bad as Per Kroldroup and the fact they have failed to get their house in order and nail a target has ruined all the good work they have done.

A case of fur coat no knickers as they say!

Welcome to the club Alex!

May you bring terror to opposition defences, score plenty and set up plenty!

A good window by the club bar getting an experienced CB it looked like was neeeded.

Hopefully both Holgate and Gibson can do a job if called upon and step up a level in their career progression, we know Holgate has shown glimpses of being a cracking player, Gibson was bought for the youth set-up from Newcastle because of the serious potential shown and has made the step up to the 1st team squad during pre-season, if either player is able to step up when needed they can potentially force their way into the squad long term and save the club a good chunk of money.

Gbamin and Sidibe look like quality options to bring in giving a more dynamic look to the squad.

Delph will be a revelation, not just what he can bring to the team on the pitch but his mentality and leadership in the dressing room as was shown in the Man City documentary.

Kean is a massive coup for the club and the lad has the potential to be a world beater.

COYB!

John@118 I agree in many ways with your point. I think failure to add a quality CB with pace will cost us points and maybe a tilt at top 6 this season. But to compare Mina to Koldrup is where you lose me. Koldrup could barely head the ball whereas Mina will win ALOT of headers this season. I think the young Colombian will likely make some big mistakes but once he settles he will prove an important player. Just a shame he’s not playing with someone quicker.

28 million isn’t bad at all for Iwobi - but that isn’t the benchmark of whether it’s a good signing.

Have we done what we needed to improve on last season I.e. add goals to the team? In a word, no. We’re still going to be massively reliant on Richarlison and Siggi to get goals.

We needed a left footed winger who could get 10+ goals to play on the right wing and let us move Richarlison back to the left. With that and Siggi we’d have had goals in those three playing behind dcl.

It hasn’t been a good window, it hasn’t been bad either, just not what it could have been. At the end of last season a good window would have been: keeping the team that finished the season together adding Kean and adding a winger to play on the right who could get 10+ goals a season. Had we done that our chances of cracking the top 6 would have been pretty decent. As it is, a season of battling for best of the rest beckons.

I am happy overall with the business, but the CB situation is a farce, we really needed cover with Yerry's injury record , needed a plan B.

Going cap in hand to Man U for a loan for Smalling then Rojo with 2 days to go was lazy. I mean there must be half a dozen CB's with great potential in Europe who would jump at the chance of being back up with the opportunities that brings for him. Why was one not targeted ?

I am surprised to be thinking that we would have been stronger and more secure if we had kept Jags for 1 more year.

The time has come for Mason Holgate to become a man and prove he has got the toughness and maturity to step into the role when needed.

Peter #99, it's very naive to believe Gibson or Feeney can just step up to the first team. If they were either ready or good enough, then we wouldn't have been desperately scrambling around for a Rojo on the final day.
Just last week Silva said that Gibson was not ready to step up. I can't see any reason that he would have said that if it wasn't true. You don't get 19 year old centre backs in the Premier League. It's a position of such responsibility that you need experience. You can play teenagers at full back and on the wings but you rarely see them at GK, CB, or CM (rarely, not never). They have to be a real special talent to be Premier League ready in the spine of a team.
You think it's weird logic to have Gibson continue his development away from the first team? I don't, and neither does Silva. Once we bring a new CB in (hopefully in Jan), Gibson will continue in the U23's or perhaps go on loan.
It doesn't help a young player to be thrown in when not ready. Mistakes at CB lead to goals and fans will get on the player's back. Young CB's who need further development will get it elsewhere on loan as we can't challenge for top 6 with a youngster who isn't ready. Do you still think it's weird logic, or do you want to see an unknown quantity, whose manager doesn't believe is ready, thrown in against a City, Spurs or Liverpool?
It's reckless and counter-productive, and it won't happen.

Jay 99, 100% I’m going to hold it against Brands for not finding us a player in a key area of the pitch which was the downfall of our season until Zouma got settled with Keane.

I have zero faith in Mina or Holgate to keep us clean sheet’s against the top opposition we will face this year.

Holgate has had his chances and has clearly shown he is not a top centre half and Mina isn’t worth talking about for me I think he is as bad as Per Kroldroup and the fact they have failed to get their house in order and nail a target has ruined all the good work they have done.

A case of fur coat no knickers as they say!

I think we’ll do ok once everyone’s bedded in. Lot of versatility across the front four with Rich, Bern, Iwobi, Kean and even CL capable in more than one role and able to mix it up, then Bolasie and Walcott, if still around literally waiting in the wings. Schneids will play more and hopefully be over his hump, Gbamin looks the part, Gomes to kick on, and Delph to play elder statesman a la Gaz Baz. Interesting to see how it pans out for Gylfi as he is not truly adaptable beyond what he does but he does do that thing very well. He needs to get his dead ball mojo back though. At the back we seem covered at FB with Sidibe, has he ever played Central? Got to hope Mina is over his injuries but also hope Holgate can get the belief to push himself and Marco to start more, the kid has it in his locker if he wants to get it out. Pickford needs to calm the feck down and gently boss the four in front of him. Everything will be better soon, COYB!

Some interesting stats on Iwobi.

https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/1159562676294627328

https://twitter.com/Dezildezzz/status/1159073541523984384

Massively underwhelmed by this signing. I hope I maintain my impressive track record of being wrong. Good luck lad,

I have struggler over the last 24 hours with the people who feel this was not a good transfer window. Or more to the point are letting the fact that we didn’t sign a centre half destroy all the other good work that was done.
Ask yourself the question - what defines a good transfer window? Net profit, increased squad numbers, decreased squad numbers, technical improvement, squad age reduction, the list can be added too. However I believe that the only way you can truly measure how successful the window has been is if we improve our stats standing with points being the number one area. Trophy’s won in cup competitions. Then goals scored vs goals against. Then the next level is tackles won, passes completed etc.
My point is no one really knows for certain. I go back to the same point last year and I clearly remember people not being to overjoyed by the Zouma signing yet a t the same tim generally people were delighted to have signed Mina.
So let’s sit back now and get behind the team and enjoy the ride, it is going to be an interesting one. We can then say (whatever way it goes) I told you so. COYB

I don't get the negativity on this buy. This was sensible business that works on many levels. He is better defensively than Lookman, however, needs work on refining the art of tracking back(A Silva must do). He is probably the strongest person we have on the flank with speed to boot. He is a unique wide-man.

Additionally, he can play across the board to spell Bernard, Richarlison and even Siggy. A quartet of Keane, Richarlison, Bernard and Iwobi would kill with speed that only a few clubs in England can match. Think about that. A demoralized defense would be further run ragged with this guy supplying our front three.

It's an excellent buy that may take a month to work properly but it provides our squad with a different look when a defense turtles the match. Zaha wasn't even a guarantee that he would supplant Bernard. We saved over 50M by going sensible now. We're a year away from getting the players we want anyways. Start winning now and get to Champion's League and the players will want to come. Look at Zaha and Rojo crying because they didn't come to Everton. When was the last time that happened?

Just had an Iwobi youtube feast and am now excited to see this lad play. Of course there were far more tricks and skills than there was end product, but he will certainly occupy 2 players everytime he gets on the ball. His dribbling skills will get bums off seats, and I have no doubt that Silva will improve his productivity.
The centre back issue has tainted an otherwise excellent window, you can't really argue otherwise. It doesn't mean that Brands doesn't deserve huge credit for all of his other fantastic work. He'll know better than anyone that it was a failure on his part, and may cost us points. But I don't doubt that he will put it right in January.

Iwobi is a player I have taken notice of for the last few years. An Arsenal supporting mate has been in my ear for years about the way they coach and play their youth compared to us, i.e. we are about physical brute force and defensive consistency, they are about technical skill, attacking intent, possession and 'recycling. I've said that the likes of Davies are what we need and looking for and the likes of iwobi are tippy tappy tinsel on a Xmas tree that rarely lights up. The arsenal lads would never actually make it to the 1st team but iwobi did.

He's all jumpy, fients, cutbacks, backheels, blind alleys, plays with his elbows up, a modern day Kilbane if you like. To the point of watching him come on in that Europa final and saying to my mate just watch what a joke this guy is.

Then he did something pretty exceptional with a goal that an Everton youth product would never have even attempted for fear of having strips torn off him.

Maybe, just maybe, we will have something we've been missing, speed, technique and attacking intent. He will get my support.

–https://totalfootballanalysis.com/player-analysis/alex-iwobi-2018-19-scout-report-tactical-analysis-tactics

Brands has done a great job and overall it has been a good window for us. However, Iwobi was most definitely a panic buy because they couldnt get Zaha. We are moving forward as a club now and things are looking positive but in my opinion we will all be saying in a year or two’s time that Iwobi isn’t good enough for we’re we want to be as he’s got no end product.

Very interesting and versatile player. He could be a very obvious competitor to Bernards' place and he excelled at Arsenal in feeding their overlapping left backs to then hit balls across the area. Iwobi got alot of 'second assists' where you play the pass before the assist.

But I think he could also be very useful in a central position.

He has quick feet and crucially genuine intelligence and vision. He is very good at playing the cute little balls into space when there is movement in front or next to him.

I'm not sure whether his goal threat is sufficient to replace Sigurdsson but it could become an option if he improves his finishing. He often plays the 10 role for Nigeria and does so very well.

I'd also be interested to see him tried in the ball carrying 8 role that Gomes has. Iwobi is a better dribbler than Gomes and a better short passer too I think. His long range passing is not as good so perhaps it depends on whether the opposition leave space out wide or through the middle. Crucially, for me, he's much quicker than Gomes and so able to recover when we are being counter-attacked (something I fear with a Keane/Mina partnership).

Having Iwobi and Gbamin in the middle would give us more athleticism there than we have had in a long time and help mitigate the lack of pace in the back 2. I don't know whether Iwobi has the positioning instincts for the role but from all accounts he's a very quick learner and intelligent footballers can usually adapt quickly. Defensively he would have to work harder but could not be alot worse than Gomes.

Sam, no offence mate but we must watch a completely different game. I don’t think you would find any Arsenal fan who would say Iwobi has excelled at anything. From what I have seen and been told by match going Arsenal fans it that his vision and decision making are very poor and that’s why for all his pace and dribbling ability they are not bothered he’s left.

Sam Hoare, if you speak to any regular going arsenal fans, and I know a few, one of the biggest things missing from Iwobi’s game is intelligence and decision making contrary to what you say. Moderate natural ability but no tactical awareness or intelligence

Some posters have to realize Iwobi has the pace and the skill and the physical attributes that many footballers for his age do not have.
As for his decision making, hell,l he is barely 23 ! don't you think that side of is came will come with experience ?
Let Marco deal with that side of the players development and enjoy the evolution.

Let's just wait and see shall we.

I remember a lot of negativity when GG signed for us.

Some called him a championship player at best.

Gary Carter @ 136.

"if you speak to any regular going arsenal fans"

And David Thomas @ 135.

"I don’t think you would find any Arsenal fan"

before both of you go on to deride Iwobi.

Arsenal's average attendance last season was 57,054.

You both must have a disproportionate number of Arsenal mates in your social circles.

Interesting comments from Silva on the CB situation, he is talking having three CBs, and so disregarding the young lads. Is this because he is not planning on using them or because he is taking the pressure off them. Time will tell. He is clearly not happy over it but he is optimistic. He pointed out that people thought that Zouma was not a good signing, but that he (Silva) got him ready and now it's his job to get Mina, Keane and Holgate ready. He is mentioning Holgate and so think he has a big season coming up.

Now, as for the utter failure of Everton to sign a centre back. There is strong mitigating circumstances here. Man Utd wanted a centre-back. They were told £80m for Maguire and said no. They looked everywhere. They have far more pulling power than us. And then at the end of the window they came back to Leicester and gave them the £80m.

Leicester had all window knowing Man Utd were likely to come back for Maguire, and that they would get £80m. They knew that they had to have a plan in place, and yet they did not sign anyone. They go into the new season with three weaker centre backs than us. We have Michael Keane, Yerry Mina and Mason Holgate. Leicester have Jonny Evans, Caglar Soyuncu, and Wes Morgan. I'd take our trio over theirs. I'm ignorant over their youth team, but I doubt they have anyone on Gibson's level, an u17 World Cup Winner, no less. I had first team hopes for Feeney for this season, not as a significant part of the first team, but as the Jagielka replacement and to play a similar amount of games. Gibson has leapfrogged him on the basis of pre-season.

We have two talented young players here. 19 and 20 years of age. Not excessively young. It's time to have some faith in them and in Silva's coaching ability. It's an Evertonian quality to have a bit of blind faith. What else have we got.

All clubs have a target list - arranged in order of preference. Iwobi may not have first (or second) choice, but if he was on the list - and Marco reckons he was - then he's hardly a panic buy.

If he works out as well as that crock with the bad knee we wasted money on (Peter Reid) or the ex-bin man from Bury - yes Bury !! - that excited nobody whan he signed (the club's record appearance holder Neville Southall) I guess some on TW may be satisfied.

Let's give the lad a chance shall we.

The actual quotes from Marco:

"I'll be honest with you, of course it's not the best scenario for me as a coach. Again we had our targets since the first day, not just one or two players, but a list of targets for many reasons we didn't achieve. But this is football, it's not the best scenario in this moment."

When asked about Zouma he said:

"Of course he's no more our player, it's not the best to talk about him. Since he's left we knew it would be difficult, but we tried to get different players also. Now, we have to look at Mina, Michael and Mason who are our central defenders - getting them better.

When I chose Zouma, maybe you all didn't believe how he could perform at our club, and I didn't have doubts. We helped him to perform well, and now it's my job to do the same again with Michael, Mina and with Mason."

Huge opportunity for Mason Holgate to step up.

John Stones wasn't much older when he was performing as a starter for us, Mason has some good experience now and he can show us all he is up to it.

The year at WBA will have toughened him up being in that physical league, to me he needs to be able to not be bullied out of crosses or outjumped by an imposing opposition forward leaning on him. I am hoping that side of his defensive arsenal has improved.

Steve@140.
Good post. Some people think that all M and M had to do was pop into Waitrose and buy a quality centre half.
Don’t think it’s that easy myself.

David@135 and Gary@136, just check out any of the official Gooners fan sites and you will find plenty of Arsenal fans saying complementary things about Iwobi and plenty that are upset about him leaving. So I find it difficult to understand how you two only know of Arsenal fans that never liked the player and never rated him.
We all have our own opinions but don't try to prove a point with suggestions that are untrue. It may well be that more fans disliked him than liked him but, the fact is he was popular with some of them

Iwobi is experienced in the Prem young and has improvement in him. I for one was happy he was on the bench when the gunners came to Goodison last season.

Have not seen to much of him but he seems to be a player that fits in with what Silva and Brands want at the Club.

Everything done by Silva and Brands seems way ahead of the previous idiots who wasted fortunes on players we are struggling to rid ourselves of.

David #133 "Iwobi was most definitely a panic buy because they couldnt get Zaha".

No. Iwobi was most definitely not a panic buy. Brands had assessed him and many, many others as well, and had him on his list - not as first choice but as a contingency buy in case higher priorities didn't work out. That's not panic buying, that's planning.

Have read a lot of the reports from Arsenal fans regarding Alex Iwobi's departure, and must admit the majority are saddened to see him go.

Of the naysayers, their biggest criticism of him was as a forward, it was the lack of goals. I mentioned on another thread it may have been his remit, only go for goal when you know you can score, otherwise give it to Lacazette or Aubameyang, only speculating on that one.

Obviously hope he can add goals for us, as we are a bit short in that department ourselves, but am also hoping that attacks may be a bit quicker than of late.

Obviously we won't be able to see what he can do till at least next home game, and presumably that will be from the bench.

David@135 and Gary@136 I live in London and am good friends with quite a few Arsenal season ticket holders. Suffice to say they are the ones who believe him to be a clever player. Not perfect of course and the end product could be better but certainly capable, creative and smart at linking play.

He’s only 23 so of course he still has a lot of tactical learning to do and decision making to improve but don’t think Emery would have played him as much last year if he was deficient in those areas.

Steve, after reading your comments above I am more confident that things will work out at the back, certainly Silva does have options in that sector.

One thing the transfer window has done is to further reduce the age profile of the team.

I expect that the manager will slowly introduce the new signings into the team over the coming two months and by the end of September he will know what his best eleven is.

Most of his highlights seem to show him getting to the byline then realising he doesn’t have a left foot.

I actually thought he was a good player whenever I’ve seen him against us. Bad news is that I thought the same about Bolasie.

Hi All,

I’ve watched Iwobi play live about 40 times so I’ve got a good idea of whether he is a good player or not.

He will be a player who will have you on the edge of your seat as he goes past defenders and then pulling your hair out when he skies the ball over the bar or hits the first man with his cross.

I hope you are all right and I’m 100% wrong but I’m highly doubt that will be the case.

Jay # 139, this site is about opinions, yours is not the deciding vote.
You can clearly see, they claim to know a few not 57,000
Please don't deride another's opinion.

Watch Toffee Tv, they do an deeper analysis of him. His stats read better than a 23 year old Zaha and the number of balls he puts in to the box outdo our current crop of players. Let’s also not forget that he was coached largely by an Arsene Wenger who forgot how to improve players at the end of his reign. Over the next two seasons he could improve greatly and hit his peak as a much more rounded player.

He'll do for me, anyone picked so many times for Arsenal must be able to play a bit.
Its about results I know, but we have now a few players that can go past the opposition and create chances.
It looks to me that he would be worth a go playing more centrally.

OK I admit it was a little underwhelming when I first heard we were linked with this fella, but he is now one of our players so let's stop sticking the knives in and get behind him.

James @ 153:

"Jay # 139, this site is about opinions, yours is not the deciding vote. You can clearly see, they claim to know a few not 57,000
Please don't deride another's opinion."

Phtt! Where to start?

Unlike some on TW, I welcome ALL opinions on TW. That doesn't mean I agree with them or that I will refrain from commenting on opinions contrary to my own.

As in my post you referenced, I have never claimed - nor will I EVER claim - that MY opinion is the only valid one. So jog on with that false allegation.

Secondly, what both David and Gary CLEARLY (your word) do in their posts is make an inflated claim that ANY Gooner would not have a good word to say about Iwobi.

My (playful) post flags up the absurdity of the claim. Taking TW as a barometer, point me to ANY EVERTON RELATED SUBJECT on which there has ever been 100% agreement. You won't find one.

Ergo, I don't need to trawl through Arsenal fan forums (as some have evidently chosen to do) to find evidence that contradicts David and Gary's claims. On the law of probability, there will most definitely be Gooners who rated Iwobi and are sad/angry/whatever that we have signed him.

The way David and Gary penned their posts negates this possibility and as such does not lend credibility to their claims.

Thirdly and finally, why pick out my post to be so haughty about when Annika @ 145 and Sam @ 149 echo my very simple point, Annika possibly more scathingly than my own post?

Perhaps you should consider the validity of your own opinions before taking umbrage at others, eh James?

Just my opinion, like.

James #153, in my opinion anyone claiming to speak for vast numbers of other people, as David and Gary did, deserves a bit of gentle derision. (And that was so gentle as to be merely ironic.)

On the other hand, David's post at #152 was entirely about his own experience/views, and therefore well deserving of the respect you promote.

On yet another hand, however, I didn't find your comment to be the least bit "haughty" and I applaud your expression of concern.

Just my two cents.

Steve #140, I'd take your observation one step father. To repeat something I posted yesterday afternoon (my time), I believe the Maguire deal actually blew up the CB market, inflating prices so high that even the smartest shoppers in the Prem, like Brands and Leicester, couldn't find the CB replacements they needed at rational prices. Utd's own reversal on Rojo was, in my opinion, a symptom of that sudden pricing balloon.

To endorse James #154. The ToffeeTV analysis of Alex Iwobi is worth a watch.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laBF802WjtY

We all have opinions most of it based on hearsay or youtube flashes.

A lot of us have Arsenal mates who just like ToffeeWebberes have widely differing opinions.

The only opinion that matters right now is Silva's so lets just wait and see what transpires.

In the absence of a "Zouma" we may change tactics somewhat but we have a relatively easy start to the season so lets build some confidence and get behind the lads.

COYB.

https://tbrfootball.com/arsenal-alex-iwobi/

Comments from the arsenal fans say it all leading up to this one. Completely agree with them.

Phil, there are also plenty who make a completely different twittering of an opinion to these people. Can we not just give the guy a chance? It seems some have already sentenced the guy, let's have him hung, drawn and quartered eh?

Annika Herbert, please refrain from calling me a liar, of the 5 Arsenal fans I know, 3 of which are season ticket holders, they are all very pleased that they sold Iwobi as they don’t rate him and can’t believe we paid the money we did.

Just because you choose to go on to fan websites where half of the people commenting have probably never seen Iwobi play “live” doesn’t make me a liar

Iwobi is now an Everton player. What he did at Arsenal could prove to be totally irrelevant. MANY players benefit significantly from a change of club and he will have coaches who have a completely perspective. Whatever you may feel, he DID display excellent football skills.

DeBrunye is a perfect example of a player who needed a change of club, along with different coaches in order to become the player he is today. Please give the lad a fair chance. Forgetting football,there are many individuals who only need a change of job in order to demonstrate their full potential.

Forget what Pundits think about Iwobi. They are usually self proffessed egotists who were once payed to kick a football. often quite badly.

What I like about this kid is that the ball seems to stick to him. He seems to receive it in tight spaces, hold on to it with pressure and move it on. Gomes is great at doing this too against the bigger sides. Evidenced by the reds away last year. Hopefully with the permanent signing off Gomes and new signing of Iwobi we won't concede possession as easily against the supposed top 6 as they press so much more effectively than the rest of the league. In the past we'd get possession, get pressed and give the ball away as quickly as we gained it. Hopefully now it won't be a counter attack only strategy against the bigger side away. Iwobis biggest knock is lack of end product, as long as he gets the ball, hold on to it and gets it to Gilfy or Richarlison, he'll be an improvement.

I wish the lad well in an Everton shirt I just don’t know enough about him to comment on whether it’s a good bad or indifferent signing.

John Boone # 165 - “Please give the lad a fair chance.” What a reasonable request! (Given he hasn’t put a foot on a football pitch in a blue shirt yet).

I will.

Jay, you do make me laugh,

Phtt! Where to start?

Unlike some on TW, I welcome ALL opinions on TW.

Erm... you don't. If you did, you wouldn't go 'Phtt'!

And you just make me roll my eyes, James.

Your selective editing misses out the next two sentences which read:

"That doesn't mean I agree with them or that I will refrain from commenting on opinions contrary to my own."

Rather than pout at my posts, then pout some more when the inaccuracies of your claims are exposed, care to contribute anything on the thread subject other than expressing you are 'massively underwhelmed' by this signing?

Or should we take you at your word @ 127 when you write about yourself:

"I hope I maintain my impressive track record of being wrong...?"

Zouma will do well at Chelsea, we won’t see him back here I very much doubt.

I would like to take umbrage with a repetitive viewpoint on this thread for anyone who has questioned this window as not being the bee's knees.

I don't tend to be very negative and will try to back the club and managers as much as I can but we have to call things as we honestly see them.

IMO, Brands made a major cock-up by focusing on the Zouma/Timori solution and got screwed and, judging by Marco's press conference, it was clear at least to me that Iwobi, though not a panic buy, was further down the list than second choice. I would guess that Zaha wasn't even first or second choice.

I got stick for calling out Walsh's nightmare very early and, last year, I was absolutely delighted and surprised as the one signing I questioned, Zouma, turned out as good as any (except for a loan-to-buy agreement).

For me, there has to be a doubt about this being a 'great' window and as positive as last:

1) We have lost two of our three best players from last season where our defensive solidarity enabled our two good runs.
2) I accept this is only a gut feeling but I feel we have lost our most exciting young talent who will come back to bite us (even though I accept he wasn't happy)
3) Defensively we are left with two senior centre-backs who have similar strengths and weaknesses and have to prove they can form an effective partnership which must surely be a doubt.

On the opposite side, we have brought in some exciting talent

1) Kean: I can't believe we got him and for a steal. He is the player we have been waiting for years.
2) Gbamin: Only remember him play in one game but he stood out. Hoping he is as good as some Twebbers say.
3) Iwobi: he has everything you want except the most important, ie, end product.
4) Sidibe, Delph and Lössl: they will provide competition and experience to areas where we were a little short last season.
5) Gomes: great signing and class act.

Again from this window we have improved the squad, reduced the age and got rid of some more deadwood so you can say long term it will be a positive window.

But short-term, some of our fans are expecting a top 6 finish and as hopeful we all are in my opinion for that to happen we would need Gbamin and Kean to be absolutely on fire from the start and the centre-halves to hit top form, maintain it and stay injury-free.

For me you could have called it a great window had we kept Kurt and Idresse and added Gomes, Pepe and Kean and we could all have begun to dream.

I don't feel it can be considered great when we are clearly weaker defensively though going forward we are going to be really exciting.

I predict Sidibe will be the surprise package and I wonder if he can play centrally also.

Nice post Conor.👍

Jay Wood as your replying to my posts please can you answer me one question - how many times have you seen Iwobi play live?