Tosun won't be match-fit until November

I don't know how we're going to cope without his goals until November.

He'll be like a new signing

...

[Sobs...]

2 years. Sheesh. There's a good chance that he'll spend all of that recuperating and then on loan before leaving for free.

Invest in youth. Please.

Get rid.

It’ll be impossible getting rid of him whilst he’s still out for months. No club will take the risk of his wages and a transfer fee.

Has he ever been match fit? Save for one uncharacteristic burst of pace against Palace, he's the most plodding footy player I've seen.

I hope he hasn't lost his pace.

Maybe the club should identify whoever it was who caused him to be signed (other than the cheque-signer I mean).

I will always have sympathies for a player taken down and badly injured as Tosun has been. It is now highly likely that his career will trend downwards as a result of what has happened. To his credit, he always wanted to stay at Everton and always wanted to succeed here and he does know where the net is but sadly his limitations are all too common throughout the majority of our current team and squad.

The injury will have destroyed much of the player's value, just our bloody luck and when we really need the money and to offload too.

Nobody likes to see an injured player and we all hope he makes a full recovery. But in real terms... for various reasons, he'll be lucky if he kicks a ball in anger for us ever again.

I think his future lies back home in Turkey... another one who didn't sign himself, or set his own wages.

He has had chances to return to Turkey but he obviously likes the life of a Premier League footballer. I will be surprised if he goes back before his contract expires.

Another loan that seems to have backfired. Are Palace or the insurance paying part of his wage?

I really cannot believe the absolute shite we have bought over the last 5 years.

Pat K@1, a few songs, or words from songs spring to mind.

'Tosun ain't going to shine anymore' – Walker Bros.

'Don't let Tosun go down on me' George Michael & Elton John.

Ah well it's the best I could think of at the time, I'll get my coat on the way out! :-)

£60M on Tosun and Bolasie. The dangers of buying players in their late twenties. Gbamin has also had terrible luck with injury but will be 24 or 25 (hopefully) when he returns with a decent shot of getting his career back on track.

No-one will buy or loan Tosun this summer surely so he may get a few games with us this before Christmas to show what he can do with a strike partner.

John #6. You haven't seen much of Sigurdsson or Gomes then?

A decision will need to be made as to whether Tosun is included in the squad for the coming season. We simply cannot afford to use up limited places with the likes of Walcott and Delph as well, not to speak of Gbamin. With a truncated season looming we must not have so much of the squad missing from the get go.

Besides, we need to make room the the latest batch of thrilling signings like Ben Schwarmer or Ivanovic.

Aye, Paul (#13) — I feel bad just writing these articles up, and editing the information in our player profiles. Such an astounding waste in terms crap players, dreadful loans, heart-breaking injuries... or, in his case, all three!

You couldn't make it up.

I like Tosun (not especially as a player) because he genuinely seems to love the club and the fans and gives his all. Plus he has never really been given a shot with a mobile strike partner.

If we can sell him back to Turkey (which is probably best for all concerned) then we will be lucky to get £8M for him.

Another bad bit of business by EFC. Jeez, a penny for Moshiri's thoughts, eh?

Michael #17, it must be soul-destroying at times. Thanks to you and Lyndon, as ever.

Tosun, Walcott, Sigurdsson, Schneiderlin and Bolasie. What's the in transfer fees. Approximately £150 million. We'll recoup 10% of that if we are lucky or if any clubs are daft enough to take them. Most will probably leave on frees. A terrible amount of money spunked away.

Steve #18

Are you sure it's not the £60k a week he loves?

I think Don (8) hits the nail on the head, asking who was the scout who suggested we sign Tosun. The answer is Walsh who along with Allardyce gave the nod for Everton to bring him here. I know this is true because it came from Walsh at the AGM in the Philarmonic Hall.

He stated that, when they were signing players, both himself and Yards of Arse had to agree on the player or there would be no signing. I wonder what they were drinking when they saw him? Whatever it was, they must have had plenty of it.

It's been soul-destroying watching him, Peter, a centre-forward that rarely gets in front of the defender. Like every player I gave him a chance, but if we've signed some shite since Niasse, then Tosun is really as bad as any player I've watched in an Everton shirt.

Maybe playing up front alone hasn't helped him, and he has got a good return when playing for his country, but “everywhere the ball has just been” is how I'd unfortunately describe Cenk Tosun.

Not quite strong enough to be a target man, and not quite quick enough to play down the sides means he definitely needs a partner, and I remember a Turkish fella saying he always struggles to begin with whenever he steps up another level, but he's possibly the only “trier” who has genuinely exasperated me because his movement is so poor.

I hope he gets fit and proves me wrong though, because, despite all the negativity, he does know how to finish!

Tony, with our isolated striker upfront which has been the situation for 90% of the time since approx 2002, Rom was the only striker or forward we have had who actually managed it.

James Beattie came with a good scoring record that went tits up in this system. Tosun isn't as good a player as Beattie was, but I agree he's not suited to the isolated role, most aren't. He's also slow.

Like someone stated on this site last week, we have had plenty of good defenders over the years, but decades of lack of goals + boring football = little quality upfront. All top 6 teams last season had goals in them; this is a mountain for Carlo to climb.

Seems almost unbelievable how we have made mistake after mistake in the buying of players; most were never good enough in the first place which is highlighted by the fact that nobody is remotely interested in our deadwood.

They will all see out their contracts as no other club is stupid enough to pay these duds anything like the money we pay them. They will all at some point say how much they love the club and how amazing the supporters are – what they really mean is I am here till the end of the contract because I won the lottery when I signed for this club. Bolasie haven't heard from him in ages but since being sent back from his loan from Sporting has gone on a charm offensive with the fans posting on his twitter account most days.

I look across at the dark side and I don't see established players on long-term loan deals with other clubs, because their transfer policy is in a different league to ours. Not in terms of money spent, just in the type of player they buy; apart from Allison and Van Dijk, we could have bought all their squad.

What's really amazing is Koeman was in charge at Southampton who had both Mane and Van Dijk yet he didn't try to sign either. And before anyone says well Southampton wouldn't let him take their players, they said the same thing about they wouldn't sell another player to the dark side but they did. Money talks and we had plenty before Koeman and Walsh wasted nearly all of it.

There used to be a saying that managers live and die by the players they buy, but in our case it should be managers live and die by what DOFs buy.

I dislike Allardyce immensely but something he did say was very true: he said make sure if you spend a lot on a player make sure they are the right ones, as the fans will never forgive you if you get the big purchase wrong. Just a pity he didn't heed his own advice – Tosun and Walcott really.

A bit like Eddie Howe what possessed him to pay £19 million for Solanke, he couldn't even get a game for the other lot. Again just highlights how the other lot always get top dollar for their cast-offs unlike us.

I mean Coutinho was a good player for them but £145 million for a midfield player, makes the money we got from Man Utd for Lukaku look very cheap considering he was one of the top goalscorers in the Premier League at the time.

My guess is he'll be back in Turkey in January. A natural goal poacher who seems like a player from another era. Strange signing from the disastrous time that should really never be mentioned in good company. Awful shame about the injury – it seems to be the only thing keeping him here and doesn't do either club or player much good.

Another scrapheap signing that failed spectacularly to even come close to justifying the fee.

We never seem to hit the jackpot signing strikers straight from European league's, have we ever got one right!?

A prime example of a panic-buy in January. We paid over the odds on a player who isn't suited to the Premier League.

I think even big Sam said something along the lines of 'He is the best we could have got in January' which didn't exactly whet the appetite.

Let's hope he finds a club in January.

Maybe it's not the players that we sign that are rubbish, but the managers who manager them. I'm sure Tosun, if he was playing in a 4-4-2 system, would score us goals. Maybe Everton is the problem.

Hopefully fully fit before December and in time for a Carlo Christmas present.

We then won't need any January reinforcements as we battle for a top 4 finish. With a fresh pair of legs and an appetite to score many an important goal.

Life's good!

Match fit or not, he's not good enough for the Premier League.

The strikers (Richarlison and Lukaku excepted) that Everton have signed in recent years have been average at best when starting. Walcott, Mirallas, Bolasie, Niasse, Calvert-Lewin, Sandro and a bunch of others who rarely played a game.

We need more class up front because when Richy is injured or heavily marked there is nobody who can step up to the plate.

Yes, Calvert-Lewin tries hard and has improved a tad this season but he is still sadly not up to snuff.

I think Sam and Walsh paid a little too much attention to the 4 goals he scored in the Champions League that year, at least 2 of them were absolute belters.

What I think they should have given greater consideration to was that the Besiktas side was set up to make the most of his finishing. They had this wonderful no 8 playing at the time called Ozyakup who had a symbiotic relationship with Cenk (I remember reading an interview with him about this) and also the extremely gifted Talisca on loan playing just behind him, he had a lot of fed balls.

I like the guy but the folly of spending £27 million on an ordinary player of his ilk shows how profligate we were. It will be very hard for us to find that kind of money now.

Steve S - correct. If you play in the best team in a very weak league, you will be used to chances coming easy. If you then move to a middling Premier League side, the football will be so much more defensive, the chances much harder to come by – and a lot more effort expended on winning back the ball.

Tosun had a good but not brilliant goalscoring record in a weak league. That was always going to translate poorly to the UK – especially given his age we were buying the finished article. Add to the fact that he had none of the physical attributes (pace, height, power) to make a nuisance of himself as a lone striker and it just adds up to a stupid waste of money.

Sam and Walsh basically said, "Well, we've got a budget of circa £25M. Who can we get that costs circa £25M?" Instead of using a bit of intelligence and thinking who might suit our system, our club and our future.

Brian #26, it was known that Mane & Koeman didn't get on and that Van Dijk expressly stated he wanted to go to Liverpool.

The time to get Van Dijk was when he was at Celtic, for £10M. Martinez & Kenwright decided to buy Funes Mori instead, which, for me, sums up our procurement policy in a nutshell.

Paul @38 correct, Van Dijk should have been coming to Everton and not Southampton. You are also correct in his hissy fit childish tantrum as he wanted to go to Liverpool and no other club.

Jim #29, I can't think of one either, but Celtic have one I'd buy in a shot. I'd make them a cheeky offer of £15m for Edouard and, if successful, let Kean go back to Italy.

Steve @18,

For £60k a week, I could even learn to love the shite.... at least I could learn to say I did.

How about Ollie Watkins from Brentford for his £18m buy out clause? Promising, hungry young striker who's good at linking play and has played out wide a fair amount?

I think he'd be a good partner for Calvert-Lewin as Watkins is good coming deep and then you could play Richarlison on the right which guarantees goals and hard work from midfield.

Pickford
Kenny Holgate Gabriel Digne
Richarlison Allan Gbamin Iwobi
Watkins Calvert-Lewin

Not that I think we'll bag Gabriel. Or Allan.

Rob @37 – it beggars belief mate really doesn't it?

I'll try not to get on my soapbox about Steve Walsh (mainly because I then struggle to get off it again) but Moshiri must rue the day the hired that complete cockwomble.

Sam, Watkins is Calvert-Lewin. They're the same physical type and play the same game.

I'd rather leave Richarlison where he is and get a dynamic midfielder.

Not sure why anyone is thinking he has any chance of playing for us, or being registered for the squad. He'll be getting rehab until November, then offloaded on loan in January.

His £60k pw wages are nothing special by EPL standards but too much for any team from Europe that may have interest in him. Best we can hope for is a successful loan in January, hope he proves his fitness then bring in a loan fee next summer and say 50% of his wages paid until his contract is up.

I had major misgivings when we came in for him. 26 and never played in a major league. A good season at Besiktas after taking a good while to break intro their first team. What could go wrong?

Seems like we signed him off him scoring a couple goals in the Champions League, one against a French team, iirc. Brilliant stuff!

Tosun has a good attitude and is a natural goalscorer but unfortunately he plays like he is carrying a 10lb bag of potatoes on his back.

He is totally unsuited for the speed of the Premier League and whoever recommended him should never have been on the recruitment team.

Going off-topic. But this has made my blood boil. Arsenal are making staff redundant. But offer Willian a multi-million-pound contract. What a shocking way to treat people.

Paul #6,

This is the way accountants work and think mate, for example, at my local Supermarket they spent £6M on basically a greenhouse shop entrance and yet refuse to employ sufficient staff to get stuff onto the shelves! £60,000 out of that £6M could have been used to employ 4 members of staff full-time for a whole year!

The tax system is what it is and dictates that the world has gone mad. Only those at the very top have a voice and society is unravelling as a result.

Oops, sorry, Paul #47, my mistake.

Paul #47,

Well, we may have many faults as a club, mainly on the playing side, but thank God we don't behave like Arsenal. They have released a statement saying "Our aim has been to protect the jobs and base salaries of our people for as long as we possibly can, unfortunately we have now come to the point where we are proposing to make 55 people redundant."

So, if each of the 55 are on £35,000 per year that will save Arsenal £2 million from their wage bill, which last season was £232 million. They earned £3 million for winning the FA Cup, let alone what they will make for qualifying for the Europa League.

What a sickening bunch of people now in charge of our football clubs, we have had some of the wealthiest applying to use the furlough scheme, and now this. Seems like there are no depths these owners think is a step too far. I will be very interested to see Arsenal fans reaction, or don't fans care about their clubs acting morally any more.

Mike@44, not quite true. Calvert-Lewin's best facet is the amount of headers and high balls he wins. This is one of Watkins's worst qualities.

Watkins is much better at coming short and also running in behind. He's not necessarily a creative forward but far more so than Calvert-Lewin. I think they could make a decent pair.

Also, I just think £18M is decent value for the best striker in the Championship who looks an excellent prospect and is fairly versatile. I prefer Edouard but he may well cost £10M more.

Lot of frustration.

Sandra, Tosun, Bilyzxqxdinov (couldn't be bothered to check the spelling but you know who I mean) Besic, Klaassen and probably others. Great where they were but totally not suited to the very different Premier League in England.

Somehow whether they will be able adapt or that their natural game is already Premier League ready is never in the minds of the management.

Quite right, Brian @50. Horrible, greedy bastards.

Tosun was bought to mitigate the mystifying and inept signing of Niasse. Some of our past incompetence beggars belief to the extent it makes me wonder whether there was corruption of some sort.

Interesting talking about Calvert-Lewin. I was really disappointed with his form these last nine games. He looked very flat to me and to an extent going through the motions. I really hope he flushes that out of his system. I suppose the team was so disjointed, he wasn't the only one underperforming.

Moise Kean (if he stays and is not sold, traded or loaned) will be seriously challenging to start matches next season so Calvert-Lewin had better watch out. Moise won't win the headers so much but he has a bit extra in his locker when it comes to being a natural and direct striker.

We will have to adjust our game plan to start with Moise but, judging on the last nine games, that could be no bad thing.

Arsenal, shame on them, heartless opportunistic scumbags.

Turkey

Strewth - I missed that Russian League goal machine Oumar Niasse from my list.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Jesus, from post 1 to post 13 Tosun has been battered. The truth is he's a bloody good footballer who was not used as he should have been. Silva ruined him. He would (if fit) be a great foil for Richarlison as a two upfront attack.

Bobby @57. A sensible post at last.

Bobby – Tosun is okay. He's not bloody good. His best attribute is he's a good finisher and is intelligent in his play. However, he's not very effective and he's not at all suited to being a lone striker.

On the Ollie Watkins theme... He's a bit like Che Adams at Saints. Late-ish developer – turned himself into a good player. Could do okay but we need better than 'okay'. We shouldn't really sign anyone who isn't Champions League quality (at least in potential).

Edouard is in that category – really good – but we've got Kean so academic.

We could all really do with an incoming transfer. It would cheer me up anyway.

He was another dreadful signing.

Tosun was a punt (not rhyming slang!); the issue is whether £27M could ever be value for a punt?

Surely we can gamble on players at lower fees & wages and save a bit of money for more expensive safer bets?

Our buying strategy appears to be like the drunken stag parties who stagger round the betting ring having £100 on horses they like the names of.

Paul, it could only happen at Everton. The one thing we are European Champions at is wasting our own money.

Bloody good footballer' nice to see a touch of comedy during these difficult times! ,"Bloody good footballer' nice to see a touch of comedy during these difficult times! ,,,1,20:54:03,,77.98.181.238,ok,14085,08/05/2020 20:54:03,tonylovestoffees2,reader,,,no 1084056,39754,toffeeweb,05/08/2020,Paul Tran,,"Pete, I'm hearing that in the voice of Harry Enfield's Tim Nice But Dim.

Paul.. 😂

Tosun. Just the mention of his name brings me out in a cold sweat!

I remember his debut vs Arsenal (a 5-1 hammering if my memory is correct) and thinking he looked like a Sunday league player!

Then he went missing for 2 months with Fat Sam claiming he wasn't used to the cold weather in January and February. The lad was born a grew up in southern Germany which makes our winters positively spring like!

Yet another dreadful signing that'll we will struggle to offload.

Sam #42, I note you have Iwobi starting in your fantasy side. He's another one I'd add to the file marked “truly awful signings”. Thankfully (or rather unfortunately) it's a big box!! He shouldn't be anywhere near the starting XI. Ever.

Paul,

There were many shrewd judges on here who rejoiced at the signing of Tosun. I remember a few of the YouTube set offering bets and pledges about how many he would score. I said that, by signing him, we had now signed both the Turkish and the Spanish Andy Johnsons.

For my part at least, I did come back and admit I was wrong. I offered my profound apologies to Andy Johnson.

Yes, Darren, I remember when we signed him, at least half a dozen Turkish taxi drivers in southern England told me we'd got a bargain and he'd score for fun.

I was excited till I saw him play.

Darren 67 surely more of a Turkish James "Meaty" Beattie than an Andy Johnson? ;)

I still hold some regard for Johnson, probably because of the derby brace he scored.

Sean@ Iwobi was certainly pretty awful last season. But so were 90% of our squad! I think he can do better next season playing off the left or at 10. He’s capable of better and there’s not a lot of convincing alternatives currently. Also we can’t afford to write off our £30m investment in him so financially I hope he does get more time.

That particular spilt milk has been cried over enough Sam.

Like so many of our signings we will never see a decent return for the investment.

#71 Sam, I was pretty underwhelmed when we signed him as a cut-price alternative to Zaha but thought it harsh of the Arsenal fans who reckoned they'd mugged us off getting rid of him for, what? £27m? I'd only really seen him on MotD and thought he may work out.

Nope. Not as quick or mobile as I'd thought. Offers zero goal threat. Easily dispossessed. Little creativity. No defensive contribution (hardly unexpected coming from Arsenal tbh). Cannot play out wide, only as a central attacking midfielder. Bang average player.

I do not see him suddenly improving, unfortunately, and think we should be looking at moving him on ASAP whilst he's still relatively young. We'll take a hit on the fee but that can't be avoided. I hope he isn't on stupid wages because that'll complicate things somewhat. 😕

Kevin, he was clocked as one of the fastest players at Arsenal. And the season before last he was one of the more creative players in the league. We've not seen enough of that yet but there were solid reasons we bought him.

If we sold him now, I'm not sure – post-coronavirus and him having a terrible season – we'd get much back. It would represent a big loss on the spreadsheet in terms of FFP. So I'd be very surprised if that happens.

Hopefully he can do better next season.

Not sure about that, Sam.

The advantage of buying poor players on a 5-year contract is that the loss (if any) is slightly mitigated. In FFP terms, I'd rather his wages were spent on a player who is useful.

Since he's been here, he's given me no indication as to why he was bought, or what he's meant to do. The stats can say what they like, my eyes tell me he's a poor player that goes missing – a common theme with Brands's signings.

It would be good if Brands started buying players who make an impact quickly, rather than this 'might be good next year' nonsense.

Paul, I'm no accountant but I believe his amortized value is quite high early into his contract. If we sold him now for £15m then the loss on the P&L is much bigger than if the same thing happens in 2-3 years time.

We've had our debates about the uses of stats and I know you won't be convinced but Brands and Steinsson do use stats and that will be partly why we bought him. I'm not sure I can think of any player that hasn't gone missing this season. It's been wretched.

I hope Iwobi will do better next season but I'm not sure he's suited to a 4-4-2. I also think he's not looked fully fit often (a bit like Gomes). Either way, unless he can be included in a swap deal, I'm 90% sure he'll be playing for us next season, likely contesting the left-midfield spot with Gordon and Bernard.

I'm not an accountant either, Sam and that probably shows!

The wages is the real issue here. Iwobi, Bernard, Kean, Gomes, Delph, Pickford are all on high wages, would get us decent fees and wouldn't be missed by me. Sell three of them, replace with effective players on similar wages and I'd say we'd be heading in the right direction.

Easy? Not necessarily. But isn't that why Brands & Ancelotti are on big money?

Paul, if it's a question of wages then Iwobi is not the big problem. I believe Bernard earns twice what he does. In fact, Iwobi's wages are pretty low at £50k compared to rest of the squad.

I'd happily lose Gomes, Pickford, Delph, Sigurdsson and Bernard who are all on around £100k plus whilst not leading the team in any helpful way.

Not aware of that wages discrepancy, Sam. If true, that pushes Iwobi back a couple of places in the queue!

Sam the amortization costs are spread evenly over the period of the contract so if Iwobi was bought for say £30M and given a 5-year contract he would be amortized at £6M per year and his annual wages would go against the P&L also.

Mina, being on high wages and high amortization, would be a good one to sell on as would Delph albeit at much lower saving.

There should be a clause in the loan agreement that, if a player gets injured whilst he is with the club that is loaning him, then they are liable for any losses. It’s unfair that Everton take the full hit on this.

The only good thing is that Palace must be paying his wages until he’s fit!
We are the worst run club in this league with regard to recruitment and unfortunately our neighbours are the best.

Nick Strong #81, Good point raised, should be 50:50 at least. Quantifying figures would be very tough though.

Sam #78,

Like yourself, I would be happy to see the back of Pickford, Delph, Bernard, Gomes and Sigurdsson to a greater or lesser degree.

I have sympathy for André obviously because of the horrible injury he sustained but I do not really think he is right for the Premier League and certainly not right for Everton with the squad as it is around him, to my mind he would work in a 4-1-4-1 formation or as the central attacking midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 but little else, we too rarely utilise these formations currently under Carlo. Defensively, Gomes is a liability!

Like yourself, I have hope for Iwobi but do not think he is well suited to a 4-4-2 formation and like Bernard, Gomes and Sigurdsson, I feel he would be best in a 4-2-3-1 formation in the central attacking midfield role, particularly with Kean playing down the centre of the field. I just hope the squad imbalance can be addressed in the coming weeks and at least some of the very high earners (you mentioned) moved on.

I always felt Tosun's attitude was to try to justify his huge wages and transfer fee. I remember him congratulating Pickford on a save as he prepared to kick the ball out of his penalty area. Pickford seemed bemused why he was there. The backline was outside the penalty area anticipating a kick out.

It wasn't his ability that justified his contract. He did work hard when he played, but could not beat his marker with guile or speed. His shooting is and was hopeless.

Maybe Tosun could not believe his luck to be on such a contract. When he goes back to Turkey, he will be a wealthy man.

Tosun was an awful signing and a waste of money. Not suited to the Premier League and another one we will be stuck with because of high wages.

Tosun was mooted as a great character when we signed him. That might be the case. Agree he has to play in a two up front.

But Kean is the real future... fast, energetic, wants to test the opposing keeper. Just raw. What can Carlo and co do to improve that? I predict he has the capacity to overtake Calvert-Lewin next season.

A competent player, like so many others before and after him, that are not utilised properly by the club. Everton really are top of the class for headless chicken signings but worse still then for not playing players in their preferred positions.

Everton are the problem: let's see if Ancelotti, with all his experience, falls into the same trap and buys a player too old for the Premier League. Surely not and Brands still thinks he is buying players for the Dutch league with sophisticated players, not two out-and-out midfield destroyers. A typical Everton move is to buy one rather than two that are required and then wonder why we still struggle.

I'm glad Kean had a good showing on the final day. A much better fit than Tosun – a very limited player who failed in Germany and managed to turn himself into a good player through sheer hard work in an easier league.

It's no secret that I don't really see the point of buying anyone over 24 (perhaps with the odd exception) – and our focus should be on potentially world class teenagers.

Alisson, Robertson, Van Dijk, Wijnaldum, Mane, Salah and Firmino have all been very gettable in the past. You just have get them younger and accept a few failures along the way (who can still often be flogged for a good price).

What I liked about Kean's goal on the last day was it was a far post tap-in.

He was unmarked and in space. It was a natural goalscorer's goal. He was in the right place at the right time with nobody around him.

He was never a good buy even Allardyce who bought said he wasnt sure about him. Just shows the mess of a club we are when a manager signs a player and publicly admits he isn't sure about him. This wasn't taking a punt on a player for little money, he and Walcott cost us in excess of £50 million.

Just when we begin to think maybe Palace will take him off our hands after his loan spell, he has a bad cruciate injury, and won't be back till November, so no chance of Palace buying him in the next window. Plus, like so many of our mediocre players, I am sure his £60,000 per week will be a turn-off for any possible suitors in the future.

Seems our DNA is buy expensive mediocre players, put them on 5-year contracts for eye-watering amounts of money, then within 12 months when everyone realises we have bought another dud, we try and loan him out while paying most of his salary.

I wish we could learn something from our neighbours, they buy in most cases cheaply and sell very, very expensively. Courtinho sold to Barcelona for £150 million and they bought Van Dijk and Alisson with the money. Sold Solanke to Bournemouth for £19 million when I don't think he had started more than a few games for them. You can bet, if they sell any of their 26-man squad players, they will get at least double what they paid for their players.

Phil, spot on. It takes a very good striker to score such an easy goal. Calvert-Lewin, whom I do rate, has not been getting into those positions. Like others have said, I suspect Kean will overtake Calvert-Lewin next season.

Phil, Robert, I enjoyed his goal too, right place, right time, Lineker made a career out of it!

I think he will be starting many more games next season. Calvert-Lewin needs some competition and next season he will be getting it, so he will have to improve. I think duties will be shared to an extent, horses for courses.

Moise Kean looks like he has a natural confidence about him, essential for a striker, with a few more goals and positive headlines he could really come good in a big way.

I haven't seen any rumours of loans or anything back to Italy, so I assume that Carlo has told him he is in line to be starting matches throughout this season.