Everton 'close in' on Sporting's Nunes

Wonder if Jorge Mendes is his agent?

OK, Portugal watchers and Brazil experts, check in and tell us about this player.

Transfermarkt says 3 goals, 3 assists in 39 appearances last season... mostly as a sub, not a starter.

Somebody tell me why I should be excited about this guy.

Because he's a ball carrying midfielder by all accounts Mike.

Seriously it's a long time since we've had creativity, or a player that can beat a man for fun, running forward, and putting teams on the back foot coming from our midfield, so although I know absolutely nothing about him, I already like this kids style!

Imagine if we got a manager from Andorra. 😳

Alan, thought the same so had a quick look. Seems like Mendes isn't his agent (attached to TFM agency) so that could be encouraging if he does join (if Nuno becomes manager) as it indicates either Nuno or Brands have seen something in him? I know someone else mentioned this, but I do wonder how Mendes fits in with us if as expected he does become our manager? Would we get first pick of rising talent on the Mendes books or the new guy at Wolves? Would Brands be happy to let an agent have such input?

Stop it Tony.

You are getting me all excited by the possibility of us signing a ball carrying midfielder. Next thing you'll be telling me he can go past people and pass a ball.

Wheres Steve Ferns ? This is right up his rua

Tony, yep, we definitely need at least one new player who does exactly what you describe. I'd just like somebody who watches Sporting to tell me if this kid is that player. Obviously Nunes was playing behind a top young central midfielder (Pedro Goncalves), but I'd really like to know why he played only half the available minutes this season.

Fernsie would know, Sporting is his club, but he resigned from the world this week when Nuno emerged as our likely manager.

We're beginning to build around not just one player, but a few. So if we are to sign him, I expect him to be out on loan, not the most exciting thing to do I know, bit we need more ready players to step our game up - fast paced skilled rb, cm and a winger. Other positions will depend on moving players on. I hope we get that dutch right back, gonna watch him play in a few hours.

Bit surprised by this move if true. Definitely the sort of profile we need (a central midfielder who can run with the ball frequently and score/assist on occasion. But this lad is fairly raw and with the likes of Onyango, Price, etc coming through I'd have thought if we did buy a player here it would be someone a touch more established.

There's a few young central midfielders around I'd say who are a bit more established and would cost a similar price (€15-20m) but if Brands (and Nuno?) like him then fair enough. In terms of buying players in their early 20s with the ability to improve a lot I approve; after that it just becomes about the quality of scouting and judgement (which has been fairly hit and miss over last 5 years).

Thanks for the analysis, Sam. But I think your parenthesis key will require replacement soon. Parenthetically speaking.

So he's a midfielder that can run with the ball. Shouldn't all midfielders be able to do that. It's football basics.

Darren @ 6, " Where's Steve Ferns ? This is right up his rua "

Aye, aye, mate ' Keep it Clean ' there may be kids reading these posts! :-)

Sam @ 9, I'm a bit surprised too mate, it was YOU who mentioned him on the other thread, and I had hitherto not heard of him, but he does sound a decent prospect. I also read that Transfermarkt had him rated at £4.5M. Maybe, Nuno has covertly met Brands already and shared plans/prospects and he will be announced officially as Manager/Coach tomorrow.

According to the Media Circus, Denzell Dumfries is almost a done deal too, but as always until he is standing for the picture shoot with the shirt at Finch Farm (or seen in a chippie nearby) I am Victor Meldrew!

Paul @11
Some of our lot, can't even run without a ball.

Goodison News reports that :

Jorge Mendes has held a meeting at a hotel in Milan over the future of Everton-linked striker Rafael Leao, according to CalcioMercato.

The Italian news outlet reports that Everton and Wolves are interested in signing the 22-year-old, while Ligue 1 side Marseille are described as a team to keep an eye on.

It is understood that Leao “could unexpectedly change his [club] in the next few days” with his agent Mendes warning AC Milan technical director Paolo Malindi offers are set to be made for him.

If True would this mean we will lose Richarlison or DCL before the start of next season, or would this lad be an addition to those two? Does anybody know anything about this player?

Barry, if there's any truth in that then he'd probably be a replacement for Kean. Two players of similar age and ability.

Some question marks over the work ethic and attitude of Leao whereas Moise was lauded for his off the ball work by many PSG fans.

Any semi decent Portuguese player is likely to be linked with us now. There's quite a few handy ones out there. I'd love Neto, excellent player. Also wondered whether we could offer Bernardo Silva some playing time if he wanted to stay in the North West?! Huge long shot of course.

Barry - While that report is riddled with clickbait phrases, he looks something on YouTube.

Tall, fast, ball-handling mid-fielder whose video shows him dancing or fighting thru defenders while maintaining control of the ball. If only. Turned 22 a couple of days ago.

Would love us to sign this type player. Unless they're seriously cash-strapped, though, don't know why AC Milan would want to sell him.

Not sure why you connect him arriving with DCL or Richi leaving.

Anyway, here's a clip: Link

James #15, Possibly ball carrying rather than handling ? Thanks for the link, Looks good, positive attacking play, but must ask the question. Can he pass back to Pickford from half way line, sadly a prerequisite and mandatory skill.

I don't know a lot about the player, but from what I do, he reminds me of Coutinho if that makes sense?

Quick feet, forward thinking attacking midfielder. Someone who also likes to drift wide and come in from the flanks.

Young as well.

James #15. Thanks for the clip, although as I watched it, I thought I might as well have been watching Ritchie so what's the point? Except perhaps that he's a bit younger and maybe a bit less greedy. Equally average finisher too by the look of it but obviously not easy to tell from that. So many flops we've signed looked great on their highlights clips.

Paul - YouTube highlights always come with the caveat. Didn't think I said to say it.

Beyond pace, I didn't see anything in common with Richi in that clip.

Anyway, never heard of him until Barry brought him up. If we get him, I'll be happy. We don't, we go for someone else.

Danny - Haha.

If he does come, I hope that's the one pass he refuses to attempt.

As I mentioned above, the media report Barry posted reads REAL clickbaity to me. Or it's just another one of Mendes' plants.

I'll be surprised if we see this kid posing with Brands holding up the shirt.

Anthony @ 5; If Mendes is 'representing' 2 (Or more) clubs and not just Wolves he can get a bidding war going where he can only gain.

I saw a link with Joaquin Correa from Lazio over the weekend too.

I know it's tenuous link silly season but this wouldn't be a bad move.

Exactly Thomas. Mendes will basically try and take over from Brands and buy and sell his own players like he does at wolves. This is like a fox guarding the hen house.

Derek (12) - Hope you are right about Dumfries being almost done. Scored the winner for the Netherlands in the 85th minute yesterday - cue an approach from Tottenham at the 11th hour.

Another one of a hundred players linked since Carlo left.
Total Yawn of speculation again.
Fed up with the Manager merry-go-round and player rumours.
Starting not to care.

Nunes is exactly the kind of player we should be going for really. Unfortunately its one of many current rumours that include Coady. Why we would need him l don't know.

Coady is a better centre half, in the english game, than all but one of our current centre halfs.

Three central defenders is Nunos system.
We will need reinforcements in that department.

I just hope we don't end up like wolves - a sporting creche for Portugal. Their away kit last year was very Portuguese too.

Santos is just the latest Johnny cum lately that our bosses have fallen for. Honestly cant see any improvement

He'd better not bring Carra's bastard son, Coady, with him. He's a rs to the core. It was bad enough having sammy ‘the dwarf' lee on the touch line we don't need another one!

Colin,

Morrissey, Harper, Sheedy, all ex reds who won Championship medals at Everton. Add Ablett,
Beardsley, Hutchinson etc. He wouldn't be the first.,

All this talk about who the new manager will be and the 26 players he will be bringing in is getting to become a bit monotonous, it cant be giving any of the present squad much confidence reading that they are going to be replaced. The way things are going we will most probably start the season with Ferguson in charge he will win a couple of games and be replaced by Rooney, with Lampard as his assistant.

Bill, you say it can't be giving any members of the current squad any confidence, reading they are going to be replaced. If they hadn't been so shit in the first place, then who knows, maybe Ancelotti might have stayed?

Maybe the lure of a return to Real Madrid was probably too great for Carlo to resist though, but he could have been leaving the team in a far healthier position for the new manager, if the present squad had pulled their tripe out a bit. They will be getting replaced because they deserve to be replaced.

Spoke to a Wolves fan yesterday about Neto.
Season ticket holder.

I asked him to compare him to Jota, was he as good a player as Jota.

"he is better. Thats why they kept him and let Jota go"

It's nice to speculate at this time. We are getting to see players on the World stage at the moment and can make our own judgments varied as they may be.

With new gaffer at the helm we all expect movement in the transfer market but in our case much may depend on who they can get rid of.

If Santo is in then perhaps he will have some pull on players from the Portuguese ranks.

Another class striker along with a strong, purposeful midfielder has to be the priority.

The dross we have seen in the midfield area over the last two years has been weak to say the least and a major contribution to many poor performances.

Let's get it on Santo !

Tom (34). For those old enough to remember, a 1966 vintage Eusebio and Torres would do fine.

Hugh,

Great memories.
What was the name of the lad who tried to kick Pele out of the game at Goodison?

A duuurty little bastard.

If memory serves me right, there was a Brazilian Nunes whose name was circulating around Goodison and was about to sign for us during Kendall's first spell.
We were not doing so well at the time and this rumor may well have kept him in the job 🙏
Does anybody else remember this ?

I forgot about Jota, Thomas, he might play for the other crowd, but he's some player that kid, so maybe this was the start of Nuno, getting fed up at Wolves, because it can't be easy trying to build something when you lose your best player?

If this Neto, is as good as Jota, he will already be one of the best players in the league imo, and if we can take a moaning scouse centre back, who never shuts up, and play him alongside Godfrey and Another, things will already be looking up for me!

Great player Jota, Tony.

I thought my mate was telling me what I wanted to hear to be honest so pushed him.
He was insistent on how he rated Neto compared to Jota.

He loved Nuno as well, swore by him. Said him and his mates were gutted he left.
He said the board moved the goalposts on him, promised him one thing and offered him another thing.
That was him stuck. Stay on and keep the wages or walk.
To be admired that he showed his principles.

Thomas In the game against Bulgaria, Pele was consistently fouled that left him injured and missed the next game against Hungary. he was brought back for the game against Portugal where a tackle from Joe Morais left him limping for the rest of the game and left everyone wondering why the referee never sent him off. Although Pele changed his mind, after that game he said he would never play in another World Cup.

Morais!!

That was him Bill.
I recall he caught Pele with a terrible tackle, Pele who was stong and could mix it, went down but bounced up and retained possession. Only for Morais to hit him with a worse tackle than the first one.
Not even booked if memory serves

I very rarely visit the Echos website these days, but just had a fleeting glance.

As well as this £15m for Coady.

Feels like assumptions guess work.

Nunes first signing according to Twitter.

If true extremely promising.

Urgency was sadly lacking in previous windows and the inevitable "same old, same old" devoured manager after manager as the slack jawed blockheads waltzed about oblivious to what was ACTUALLY needed

Terrific beginning if Nuno is indeed orchestrating things

Signing Nunes might indicate some third party interference with recruitment - even if he isn't of the Jorge Mendes stable. His style doesn't obviously fill one of the gaps in a Santo 5221 and we have a lot of midfielders on our books.

I'd be surprised if we don't sign at least one of Guedes and Rafael Leao too, for that reason.

As for Coady, he's become a very good player at Wolves. That is partly his determination, partly Santo's coaching and switching him to RCB in a three man central defence instead of DCM.

I think Holgate is at least as good a player and potentially much better. I know he looked shocking at times this season but he was arguably our best player the previous season.

So my guess is the Coady rumours are off the mark and our modest kitty will be spent elsewhere.

Fingers crossed Robert, we need to spend whatever kitty wisely and Coady isn't any upgrade imo. Unless of course Mina really is off... although l don't see that either. 3 or 4 in with Kean being sold. We can open hope with lwobi

You are probably right Robert, but I hope you're wrong though mate, because we haven't had an organiser for that long, it's as if we've forgotten how important they actually are.

When was the last time you saw one of our defenders bark orders out on the line, the shape and just shout at teamates in general when the standards drop.?

Not sure about Holgate getting potentially better. The lad turns 25
in a couple of months so can longer be regarded as potential.
He's gone backwards but maybe X,Y, or Z manager who comes can turn him around.

YouTube (yes, I know!) makes him look exceptional. Looks skilful, quick, and strong. At 22 he certainly looks worth a punt.

As Robert says; it'll be interesting to see how he fits into a Nuno system, and who's place he's likely to take in it. Perhaps Brands is thinking Allans no longer going to be the shoo-in he was under Don eyebrows?

Personally I'd have liked to see us sign a true destroyer in the middle. The next Kante or Gana…..but if Nunes is a player who can offer a pass to the defenders and move it forwards, then I'll settle for that.

Just need to sort RWB, Left footed CB, and some genuine competition for Richie and James in those inside forward / winger positions……..then move on Delph, Bernard. Iwobi, Siggy (perhaps after swansong year), etc. Plenty of work to do Mr Brands.

Gary (50). As you say - you tube - the problem is Gbamin looked great in that position on you tube - and might very well be great - if we ever actually get to see him play.

We not only need the players to arrive at Everton - but to stay fit when they get here, since on past performance we seem to have an inordinate number of injuries to new recruits.

I dare say someone will be able to trot out some stats that will make that statement sound ridiculous - but, its just my perception of things.

Interesting that this deal looks like.its being done (with the caveat of Nuno being confirmed).

I know nothing of the player. But the profile is a step in the right direction - 15 million, 22, pace and attacking minded.

Hopefully a sign of things to come.

We are desperate for midfielders that actually go past people, makes it so much easier to break down teams that come to defend and counter attack.

This kid looks like he has potential so worth a punt even if a season too early. Better now then him going to Barca in 12 months.

Pete Clarke 37 - do you mean Mueller I thought that fiasco was under Mike Walker. We didn't realise all salary discussion were supposed be net of tax.

This rumour seems to have legs. I'm surprised by it to be honest and didn't think we'd be in for a CM given the gaps elsewhere and the possible budget. It makes me wonder if the Nuno rumours are so strong because it's documented we are in for this lad (i.e. people are putting two and two together) or the Nuno deal is as good as done and this lad is part of the agreement of who he wants in? I echo an earlier call for Steve Ferns' input on this, any thoughts Steve? I know you love your tactics and are a Sporting fan, doesn't look like he's played much for the first team so how much is actually known about him.

Whichever manager signs will benefit from discussions between Ancelotti and Brands at the end of last season. Albeit the new manager will have his own preferences I'm sure, but having the input of Ancelotti cant do any harm

There are rumours now that this is a one year loan deal with a £20m option at the end of it. It's starting to sound like this could be happening soon.

£20m would seem a lot for a kid with only a handful of starts. Leicester are getting Soumare for less than that.

Prices should be lower this summer (especially from French clubs) so I hope a relatively untested player like this would be more like £10-15m.

Brands did a decent job of not overpaying last summer, hope he can do the same again as we have a few positions to fill and possibly not a huge kitty.

There is a lot of talk on this thread, and others, about influence of Mendes if Nuno becomes our manager. This is the wrong way around. Yes Mendes is nunos agent, however the link is between Mendes and wolves. Mendes brought nuno to wolves not the other way around. Mendes is paid, for use of a better word a retainer by wolves so be there almost part time director of football / scout. Will Nuno look at Portuguese players - probably, will he use his connections with Mendes - probably. Will Mendez have the level of influence at Everton that he has at wolves - no.

Buy young, buy high, sell higher.
Lookman, Vlasic, Kean..

A pattern or just unlucky that they didn't fit in with managers preference or tactics?

Nuno, Nunes, nanu, its all a bit Mork & Mindy.

This deal looks like it's nearly complete. €18 million. Don't know what that is in sterling. Dumfries next, left winger and make a decision on Kean, sell and bring in another striker or keep

Nowhere else to put this but BBC has reported that Wolves keeper Rui Patricio has agreed terms with Roma which begs the question of where that leaves Olsen in their pecking order.

Alan, he did say he wanted more game time so l don't know if he'd want to come back. Not a bad keeper though. I hope Virgina gets another chance out on loan.

David(#63); Wasn't aware of that as I thought that he and/or his family had been put off by the invasion of their home. While Olsen would be a very worthy understudy I don't see why Virginia couldn't handle the role albeit any injury to him or Pickford might just show us a little short in that department even though we might be allowed to bring in a keeper at any time if we are short.

Why didn't we try for Gilmour on loan?