Townsend announced as the summer's first signing

Puts into perspective the numerous "reports" of big targets we're allegedly after. Unless, we sell the likes of Kean, Richarlison and James no major signings are likely. Even then Rafa may have to replace them on a budget. A new look Everton is being assembled. No harm in my view.

A sensible two year deal too.

(Wow it took until post 8. I'm shocked.)

We're gonna win the lot!

Namely...pace, crossing and legitimate options off the bench. I know it's not the big time stuff a lot wanted but I'd much prefer this than another 30 million, 5 year contract type that we've wasted an obscene amount of money over the last few years.

If we add Gray and, hopefully, McNeil then you can guarantee another 15-25 goal season for DCL.

Unusually for a current player he’s done quite a bit of punditry and written columns. He certainly seems smart and has the proverbial “football brain.” His Dad is head of the KICK IT OUT campaign, seems like a sensible fellow too. I don’t know that he will become an Everton legend but he’s a good professional.

Plus he has a good shot as well.

Plus he has a good shot as well.

He's a real Match of the Day player. His highlight reel is amazing, but the basics are pretty poor.

You get this with Andros, from either flank and either foot. And he is also excellent in his delivery from the dead ball. Replay his corner from which Palace equalised in the 2-1 at Selhurst last season.

Wrong name. Wrong nationality. Wrong age. Maybe for some.

It looks a no-nonsense solid signing to me, addressing a lack many lamented last season. Reading his bio on the club site he has had a lot more loans and clubs than I imagined. Personally, I've always liked what I've seen from him, even though one could consider him a 'nearly but not quite' player.

Good luck to the lad.

Instead of boom to bust, extreme to extreme, did nobody think to try and do a Leicester of sorts and walk a diferent path altogether?

This seeming new model probably harkens to an Arsenal archetype – a holding pattern whilst paying for new digs.

A final thought to ponder: if Ancelotti had remained, what would he have been given to spend this window, do you think?

Alexandersson? That guy was slower than Bilyaletdinov with the courage of Li Tie. Andros is more of a blend of Kilbane/Lennon and Walcott. Hopefully showing the better attributes of the three rather than their weaknesses

Anyway, he's a decent signing on low wages. Better end product than Walcott and Iwobi and a fraction of the wages

Is the stadium plan not ambitious?

It's the least we should have/be doing moving to a ground to have similar facilities with our peers in the league and generate further revenues.

Actually played better than Zaha when we played Palace away last year - and will get balls in the box.

Not exactly great PR by the club to appoint Benitez and then announce a released player from Palace as his first signing - but then this is Everton.

Lurching from one strategy to another, one profile of player to another - never building anything for the long term and therefore always in transition in the short term. Repeat.

And no I haven't forgiven the calamitous selection of our present manager. Just getting right with the club in these trying times.

Last season at home against Sheffield Utd and other home games, Carlo looks down the bench for a winger to put the ball in and just sees a load of wide-eyed U23's and slow number 10's and centre backs.

This season, we have options in squad formation for a proper right winger or another wide player on the bench.

Were Sunderland and Southampton ambitious? I would say yes.

Do you think they were unambitious?

How about we actually let the guy through the door first? He'll graft, he's got decent end product, and he's clearly enthusiastic.

I think 12-15 more goals for and 8-10 less surrendered is a reasonable expectation for this season coming. And would have us in the CL hunt for sure.

We need more but Townsend will do for a start.

He will out score/assist Bernard, on a fraction of the wages. Get the supply into DCL & Richarlison.

Has lots of Premier League experience, gets in lots of crosses and on a free transfer to boot (excuse the pun)!

People like Barry @15 saying he can’t cross are disagreed with by the stats which say he had the best crossing accuracy in the PL last season.

A hard working pro on a short term deal. It doesn’t come much lower risk than that and I have a funny feeling he might positively surprise a few of the moaners on here.

I am glad Andros has signed - welcome to Everton.

Entirely reasonable and in my view correct.

I believe that there are two metrics that you can size a club with now, one is its brand/commercial presence/Streaming/TV and the other is the bricks and mortar stadium and matchday going fans.

On the commercial/branding side we're no bigger than any of the other prems established "also rans", the new stadium will improve us, but other than our silverware history, will we really be any bigger than Newcastle?

This new stadium has just become a huge millstone around our neck, it will drain any chance of competiton at the elite level.

When you consider that Moshiri/Usmanov are a busted flush with the money they've spent and failed to achieve anything, they won't dipping into their pockets again and we are thus in for lean times ahead.

Weir, Gray, Reid, Gough, Martin, Power, Sansom... to name a few.

Give him a fucking chance.

But, yes, the other signings you said were amazing. I also think Townsend will be a very good low cost bench option. He's only just turned 30 and can cross a ball unlike Iwobi and Bernard. I agree with others that he comes across very good in his first official interview and he'll give 100%.

Spoke well too. Seems keen to be here. Hope it is a good spell.

Obviously, the next three years will have to be a great deal better than the previous three and that will dictate if we can retain that potential. It'll take a better strategy and more investment during the next few years and if Moshiri or his pal Usmanov are in it for the long haul, we might eventually make it, but we'll need a lot of luck too.

If we fail to improve then the owners will likely try another project and as fans, we can do nothing more than hope for success.

Townsend is a smarter, more consistent player than Walcott. A proper winger who can link, pass and cross. Walcott was inconsistent and the words chicken and headless usually followed him.

We have James who offers better 'smart' central attacking options too play through balls. Townsend and Rich hard working wingers to create space.

I'd like Grey too, as we need right sided attacking competition and option's. Coleman was our best right winger last season and he can't cross for toffee.

Rafa Benitez's move for Andros Townsend is five years in the making. The England winger was the hill that he was prepared to die on as Newcastle boss, clashing with club chiefs in January 2017 when he urged them to broker a loan move for the Crystal Palace move that the Magpies argued they couldn't afford.

It was the first sign of tension in a relationship which was to disintegrate before he departed for China amid howls of protest from fans.

Townsend and Benitez enjoyed a perfect relationship during the brief time they worked together in 2015. The Newcastle manager extricated the best from him, helping him to earn an England recall by encouraging him to play in a more advanced position - while also maintaining discipline and tactical shape.

Townsend talks of "30 to 40 minute conversations" with Benitez in which he soaked up the manager's many years of experience, tweaking his game to get the best out of himself. For a football obsessive like the Spaniard, a kindred spirit who wants to learn and improve even towards the end of his career holds obvious appeal.

And he will back himself to get the best out of Townsend, who he knows remains one of the best deliverers of the ball in the Premier League. So for all that it is not a Hollywood deal, it follows the Benitez logic of recruiting good players to fit a defined system that can bring success rather than exceptional individuals who might need to be catered for tactically.

The move is pure Benitez. When at Newcastle he went hell for leather to get the club to sign Salomon Rondon, who had been decent without spectacular for West Brom.

Everyone questioned him, from the club's money men who privately railed against the "worst deal, financially" the club had done in Mike Ashley's team to supporters who argued Benitez must be recruiting from his C, D or even E list of targets.

But Rondon was right at the top of Benitez's wishlist because he was recruiting the right characters who would operate well in his style of management and had something to prove. And he also believed Rondon had the ability to improve Newcastle.

It turned out to be an inspired move as Rondon enjoyed the best season of his career. Newcastle had only brokered a loan move though, and the club hierarchy blocked a permanent move - which led to his St James' Park exit.

At Everton Benitez is being backed with money but more importantly his judgement. He always said to reporters in Newcastle that he needed to feel support for his recruitment calls - that his experience and knowledge should be enough to convince them to do the deals he wanted.

He'd follow that up with: "If I get it wrong, then I should be made to deal with the consequences." That's all he will ask with this deal. If it turns out to be another Rondon, Benitez will have every right to feel vindicated.

Good publicity and training.

Last season we were stuck with Iwobi on the right (useless), or even Coleman or Holgate in wingback positions. Townsend is a definite improvement on those. And free.

Not bad I'm my book.

Just cause he's the first signing, doesn't mean he is the standard of all our future signings.

All at the young age of 36…..

This could be a Lennon type signing who actually turns out to be very good. He’s hard working, won’t shy away when things get tough and can cross a ball.

If we get Gray as well, we suddenly have options on the wing. Gray, when playing for Leicester, always looked like he could be absolutely brilliant, but was also terribly inconsistent.

Personally, I’d prefer these two for less than £2m over spending £40m - £50m on some reserves at a big club. It’s about time we got a bit more savvy in the transfer market

Uncle Ed.

In other news. is Delph really injured again?

It was inconsistent displays of fight, general endeavour and guile that left us 3 or 4 wins from where we needed to be and with a embarrassing goal difference.

So whilst there clearly needs to be significant changes, i'm not too worried about "big name" signings that "signal our ambition". I'm hoping that RB can instill a togetherness and winning mentality that will restore some pride.

As for us, there’s a lot of positives so far, and with some of the unmentionables happening I might just change my mind and be glad that Benitez is here as we need a strong leader right now. There’s no doubt he’s that.

Still very concerned over the coaching though. Benitez is down coaches from China after Mikel Antia joined Charlotte FC in MLS as manager. He is down at least two more from Newcastle, and that’s not counting the goalie coach who he usually leaves to whoever the club have already. Ian Cathro was someone I hoped would reunite with Benitez. He left Newcastle to be manager of hearts. He was sacked as a laughing stock (google hearts’ laptop manager for more) but no one doubts his coaching ability. His old mate Nuno took him to Wolves and now to Spurs. Makes sense he went there, but would have been a real statement of intent if we’d got him.

I remember saying that Carlo was not what I wanted. Benitez is much more of a coach, but he’s not a proper coach. He’s still a delegator like Koeman, Allardyce and Ancelotti. He does his own tactical coaching but that’s only a small section of it. We need a manager who works on attacking movement and gets the players to do more than pass it around the back whilst all the forwards stand stock still. Carlo and Allardyce both subscribed to the view that the players are top class and can figure that out for themselves. Well they couldn’t and they can’t. We need to coach movement like Guardiola and Bielsa do.

Benitez is clearly going to have to work under the constraints of FFP. So he needs to improve the players he has. The coaching staff is a massive part of that. He needs more coaches and of a higher quality. Coaches are paid peanuts compared to players and I hope we set about recruiting the best we can get.

That said, the training videos do look impressive. I’m hoping it’s more than just clever editing. We need to bring through some academy players and it’s a massive shame that Thierry Small has been an idiot and is going to leave for a (far too small) tribunal fee.

All the best for the season blues, let’s hope it all comes together.

Stiĺl a great signing on a free. He will put a shift in and Benitez clearly rates him having wanted to sign him on a permanent deal at Newcastle.

Happier than the miserable Townsend. Never seen such a dour face since Lennon signed.

On Townsend, as before he signed, let's judge the player on what he does in an Everton shirt.

James maybe be our best player, but Digne is probably the most effective. Townsend couldn't be equally as effective.

Forget age, we just need to concentrate on good effective players for next season.

Well, here’s hoping anyway. Be gutted if he left before I could see him live. Think he’d find another level with the love from the crowd too.

The other, Antonio Gomez is just an analyst. He’s not a coach. This is why I have some serious reservations. I fully expect Benitez to address this, he always has in the past. But, I fully expected Carlo to go get the unemployed Paul Clement but instead he trusted his son and Duncan to coach the side. I was not surprised we were so woeful in attack. We have nothing to address this so far. We must hire more coaches.

I used to think Townsend was a reasonable player when he was younger but he is well past his best. Why do we continually set our sights on mediocrity?

The other chap I don't know much about. Wasn't long at Leicester and five minutes at Leverkusen. Sounds like another typical Everton signing. I'm sure Bernard would do the same job, given the opportunity.

Walcott costs us $20m and he is a freebie. Also his work on defensive work will give more protection to the right so Doucoure can play more centrally as a box to box rather than keep on drifting to the right to help out.

Clearly delighted an it's easy to say the right things. But he was saying the right things. Clearly delighted to have the opportunity to be back at a big club having being told it would be difficult to do so after leaving Tottenham. Showing respect for Everton.

Talking of Europe and also of understanding he will be viewed as having been brought in as a squad player. Realism, but not his intent. He has a point to prove.

If he can turn that intent and those words into reality, he may do well for us. I hope he is as motivated as he sounds.

But my biggest observation was watching the clips of Benitez. He looks a proper hands on coach, not one of those modern ones who stands from afar, arms crossed, with his subordinates delivering the sessions based on his briefings. He was right amongst it. And all the players were attentively listening to him.

Grey looked a player when he started, who for various reasons, has lost his way. I see him as a lower cost (again) gamble to see if he can find his mojo and at first glance nobody at Finch Farm seems to be handing out 4 and 5yrs massive contract like lucky bags this season either.

Demonstrating his "pulling power" ?

With Inter supposedly hinting about doing the same, any bets on Everton galumphing all the way across the Atlantic to play Millionarios?

Condolences to the US Blues who were headed down there, but this is starting to feel like it won't happen.

Looks like a good deal for us. I think he can do a job and above all has pace which we sorely lack. Iffy end product...but a better all round package than either Lennon or Walcott.

More importantly he will fit into the FTW's plans for how the team works - and this is going to be critical - making the whole greater than the sum of the parts.

I was hoping that Benitez when he talked about Duncan, being there, because he knows Everton meant that he was sidelined from his emphasis on coaching the attack. I have been amazed at cardinal rules in attacking play, being not evident in Everton's attack players. Basic stuff that I was coached in as a schoolboy. Even thought players should have been individually responsible as regards knowing the basics. i agree Davide and Duncan coaching the first team wasn't up to much. This was characterised by inconsistent performances, which ignored trying to keep improvement ongoing. individual performances seemed to fade week on week.

Benitez, tracksuit, on seems to be trying to do it all.

As Eddie@132 says Palace fans had a lot of time for him.

If Rafa can maintain Ancelotti's away form from last season and improve our home form, we might well be knocking at the door of the top six - or even the top 4, with the paper thin squad we had.

Hopefully, with the addition of the type of sqaud players Rafa is targetting, we can, in fact, beat our performances of last year and start getting into Europe on a regular basis.

Rafa has all his stats on his computer.

looks like Gray is a done deal too, 2 year deal with an option for an extra year. At 1.5 million pound in todays lucrative market I think that's well worth the gamble.

I've had my moments but experience has shown me that it's best not to be overly excited, or bitterly disappointed, by the happenings in football. I approach each season with an open mind, it's my belief that anyone with a minimum of two seasons experience of watching their favourite team, will come to the realisation that "Anything can happen in a game of football" – that's the reason that makes it so popular.

I have been ridiculed once or twice for stating that footballers are not programmed to play well at the touch of a button, even the most gifted have an off day, and if fans make an allowance for human frailty, they may take a bit more enjoyment from the game. But then I could be wrong.

He is a signing who is very reminiscent of the Moyes era, when we mistook perspiration for talent.

They still have a number of those players that they need to get rid of and I am surprised nothing has happened yet.

I like the Townsend acquisition as he can become an invaluable squad player for the short term and provide good competition for the deadbeat performers of last season.

to answer your question though, Everton are skint with massive losses in 3 of the last 4 seasons, FFP has us by the balls and limits our spending, and Moshiri financing the ground himself now (at least in part) is clearly dialling the spending back a bit.

Mr Moshiri is the man that helped make our chairman richer, Terry!

The wages Everton have given to a lot of players seem to be the real problem, but I think most clubs are having a few financial difficulties right now, so let’s just see what the next few weeks brings, and hope for a couple of surprises, as always!

If we sell James, potentially we lose millions in commercial income based on his celebrity status round the world. Plus what does 10 million plus whatever loose change we have get us as a replacement? Talk of 25m for Dumfries or 30m for McNeil. Financially selling him seems like a bad move versus say Bernard or Gomes who are no good, have no commercial value and are on big wages. Maybe no one wants them but still I reckon we’d be worse off football wise and financially without James.

Rafa's certainly the best for our club, considering the state we're in. I think the signings he's made, are just the start of what is needed to make Everton a team that's more combative, competitive and creative than we have been for years, except for perhaps Roberto Martinez' first year.

Lot's of if's and buts; but if we can keep James then financially it will help us perhaps massively, who knows. Football wise, I don't think there are many players around who are up to James standard. He can be a creator; with the likes of Doucort, Townsend, Digne and Richie providing the legs in midfield and attack.

I don't know much about how this FFP works but the end result is we're strapped for cash to buy players until we sell/give away, or have to put up with them until the end of their contracts.

If that's the case, then we have one of the best creative talents anywhere, that we're just paying his wages for. If Rafa thinks he can get James to create within the structure of the team Rafa wants to build, I think he'll keep him. If Rafa thinks that the team needs to be combative and competetive and hard to beat, then he might sell him. I certainly hope he stays, as I'd love to see him at the match instead of bits on the telly.

Out of the darkness when Ancellotti did a runner, we may just be finding ourselves watching a team being built; instead of a disjointed collection of players that we've been used to.

Kieran, I agree. I am hoping that I get the chance to see a genuine world class player (even if his very best days are behind him) playing for the blues.

I'm not saying I want any of the above to happen, it's just how I perceive things to be happening.

Bernard is gone by the way. He said he will miss the "1-2s" to Digne in a birthday message that made it sound like his move to Saudi Arabia or the middle east was done and dusted.

Jim, the way FFP works is very complicated. You need to be an accountant to understand it, but getting £10m for James will mean we have much more than £10m to spend. Same as i said above, getting what we paid for Kean will actually mean we have £10m to spend. It's not straight forward mathematics that we can spend whatever we get in.

Steve (152) Thanks for explaining a bit about the Financial Fair Play. Why the flying fuck the clubs don't do something about it, I don't know. It just allows the Slimy Six to sail off into the distance.

Anyway, about James, if he can stay fit and do a job for us, then I think he's worth buying a £20M player to try and do the same as him... well they couldn't. But I understand that he might be too much of a luxury for us, as we are now. I just hope he stays.

I think though, if it's an "if or "or" then it's 11 players, playing as a team, hard working and never giving up.

Kenwright is still relevant and Chairman.
Moshiri may own the Club, but Kenwright has control within the Club and through loyal staff dictates the Club Culture. Moshiri may have appointed Silva, Ancelotti and Benitez, but they all have to work with Kenwright loyalists on site. This gives him influence on the finances of the Club and adjustments that will bring them within the fair play rules or not. Ultimately Kenwright will have significant bearing on whether Benitez stays or goes.

As far as the Kenwright/Moshiri situation, I think fans seem to be forgetting what we were like under the ownership/chairmanship of Bill Kenwright.

Selling our best players to keep going, losing us the Kings Dock, trying to get us to Kirkby by saying the ground wouldn't pass a safety certificate, a free stadium in Kirkby, a phoney investor who came and went in the blink of an eye, when his partner reconised that Kenwright was ruining the club and wanted to take over, before investing in it.

I think if it hadn't been for Moshiri, for all his mistakes; we'd be up shit creek withouit a paddle.

I think his biggest mistake was letting Koeman buy the rubbish he di, and we're still feeling the financial effects of it now.

You got me thinking about the coaching set up. I checked the coaches and, like you have said, it seems we are keeping on Alan Kelly as GK coach and Dunc as Assistant Manager. Benitez is bringing in Perez as an analyst, Moreno as a fitness coach and Harley as Head of Sports Science from his time at Newcastle.

According to the Echo, Perez is a coach who specialises in opposition analysis with a forensic eye for spotting weaknesses and helping Benitez to formulate game-plans.

With this in mind, and also from what I know of Benitez, I am not sure there is room for an attacking coach. Benitez seems to want forensic control over his teams. I remember Robbie Keane saying that he just couldn’t get along with him at Liverpool as he wanted to completely change his game instead of letting him just go out there and do what he was good at i.e. score goals!

I do agree that it has been painful watching us trying to build attacks ever since Martinez left really. Sideways passing, so slow, and limited ideas and no obvious patterns of play going forward. I just hope that Benitez sees a way of getting us to do this - it appears we are going to try to play with more width based on our signings. This can only be a good thing in my book.

Hopefully he can get us playing this way without an attacking coach! I guess we’ll see…

Thanks for clearing that up for me

Does that mean all the other clubs who gave him a seriously wide berth were very unluky ?

I havent felt this lucky since the last wagon circler decided to take the heftiest contract he was ever going to get again.

Hope I've still got time to get a lottery ticket

I think the optimism surrounding these two signings shows just how far we’ve fallen and the acceptance by a sizeable portion of our fan base to accept dross, literally dross.

Ancellotti came and went. My view he's a great manager when he has all the great players at his disposal. His decision to scoot was, I think, realising that he had a gordian knot to unravel and a blunt knife to do it with. not for him, matey!

Perhaps we could have got Nuno, or one of the younger English managers. I don't know if the club wanted Nuno, or he wanted spurs or whatever.

We've got ageing players, who are on good contracts, who no one wants, or can afford. Or the players thjemselves may well be happy to sit out their contracts and not partic about moving.

We've also got that FFP which appears to limit us buying our way out of trouble. So it looks to me that that the club have to keep playing with additions that don't cost much. Until we can afford better players, then it looks like Benitez is bringing in players who he can depend on to to a job. Which too many of our pklayers don't look like they can...or want to.

Are you nay saying already? So you can say I told you so later?

But we'll have to wait and see what he does, should he get the chance. If we get Grey, they it will be the same for him. I don't think it's a matter of a majority of us accepting dross. I think both these lads are, sadly, better what we have in the under 23's and probably better than the two first team wingers I've already mentioned.

As soon as Dom's goal supply mainly came from Dixie Digne, then that dried up in the second half of the year, when other teams but the blocks on Digne.

I think that unless we get another expensive addition to the squad along with Iwobi, then I think that Townsend might well be, a very useful addition. Time will tell.

I'd love to see a top class winger and a top class right full back; and possibl;y a really top class striker. but I'm ready to accept we're not likely to till we've shifted some of the expensive real dross.

Might want to check your facts on that. Always amazes me how people cast judgement without doing even the most basic research.

Townsend played the 5th most minutes of any Palace outfield player last season. Statistically he was one of their best players especially in terms of pressing and defensive work. No one is suggesting he’s a world beater but he’s pretty decent and to get him on a free (saving us transfer spend for another target) is useful business.

There’s a whole load of interesting stats on Townsend and how effective he is. There’s enough there for Townsend to be a “moneyball” type player. Someone who is viewed negatively by most, but is actually very effective and can give great value.

No one is happy with Townsend being first team. I don’t think he will be. Not unless he earns it. But remember the bench at the end of the season, it was a joke, full of kids that Ancelotti wouldn’t play. At least this is another body who can be a plan B. Or if the moneyball line is correct, maybe he can be very effective for Everton in a way that went under the radar at palace and create a load of chances that Calvert Lewin actually capitalises on.

We’d all love to sign top quality, but the chickens have come home to roost now and the consequences of our poor acquisitions is that we now have to operate in the bargain basement as no one will give us any money for the overpriced, overrated players we signed.

Me, I’d have loved to have invested in Galtier and coached these players to a new level that I don’t think Benitez can.

Great response Danny, but we definitely need an attacking coach. Benitez may well be a great tactical coach, but that’s all he is. He’s never pretended to be otherwise. He’s used attacking coaches before, and we need more coaches than we have, not more analysts.

...but when he uses that time to compile exactly one goal and five assists, it's hard to describe him as an "effective" attacker.

Townsend's defensive stats are pretty spectacular for an attacking player, so obviously the work rate and attitude are there, and we need all of that we can get.

But as to whether he's good enough... let's wait and see.

But I randomly went on to the official site and then to the shop. There's an option to shop by player and they list six players. The link works on all of them except James.

Is this Colleen Rooney-level sleuthing on my part? Have I just figured out that James is adios?

It’s worth noting too that his crossing supply line for DCL could be fruitful. But it didn’t yield much at Palace for Benteke

Palace have won about as much as we have in the last 25 years, our new reserve keeper was with a team that got relegated and the third only seems to have managed 6 months before his latest club are prepared to let him go for what appears a nominal fee.

Let's just say that the scarf and rattle are at the ready but the sheets will remain in the airing cupboard until Xmas.

This is typical Benitez signing a player that suits his system and the club get stuck with. Look at his signings at Newcastle and Liverpool to see the dross he brings to each of his clubs.

For those proposing FFP as some sort of justification then this is not how you achieve taking your club to a top six finish. We have plenty of saleable assets that aren't indispensable and wouldn't weaken us such as Mina, Allan and Iwobi, while we have an excellent centre forward in Dominic who could be sacrificed alongside deadwood as a means of generating real quality in key areas where someone like Abraham or Jovic could be bought as a replacement with similar potential but at less then half the outlay to focus on the five or so areas we really need strengthening. Our neighbours did similarly with Coutinho and it was the making of them.

Buying players that were never good enough to begin with is not the answer.

Because we are absolutely not following a similar consistent and effective strategy, selling DCL could be a disaster because we have so few good players in the first place - and we have no-one coming through to replace him. Unlike our neighbours, we have a track record of squandering sale proceeds on more average players to prop up the short term needs of each 18 month (or less) managerial appointment.

Dominic has been exceptional for us and continues to confound his critics but personally I feel that he is not far from maximising his potential. I also feel that Richarlison has a deal to go next summer and if we aren't winning trophies then Dominic will want to be challenging if he has another great season and we could potentially lose both. I believe if Kean stays he will be a big player for us.

Let's take this scenario for example; sell Dominic (70m), Allan(15m), Mina (20m)Delph(5m) and already you have £110 million.

You could then loan to buy Abraham, Hudson Odoi £30 million, Neves £30 million, umtiti £30 million and Mukiele £20 million.

This gives you Kean who I feel is our best goalscorer and Abraham as options up front which I feel is really strong.
Right wing Udoi, James, Gordon and Iwobi
Left wing Richarlison, Gordon, Digne (Nkonkou left back) and Odoi (James right wing) as options.

Midfield either Davies or Gbamin could screen in a three.
Neves would bring quality and about five goals from midfield and could combine with any of our midfielders in a two. If Jp stays fit we get more athleticism as an upgrade on Doucoure and I would also use Iwobi in a three to see him in his best position to try and get something out of him.

Umtiti is an animal and would be perfect for the Prem with his aggression, leadership and power. He could play with any of our centre halfs (unlike Mina/Keane) and would also offer balance on the left of a three with either Mason or Seamus on the right.

Mukiele is the complete right back who reminds me a little of Lauren the Arsenal player though I like this kid better.

In my opinion this squad would be a significant step forward.

Stats and formations were unheard of in those far off days, with the exception of the W formation, with every club adopting this method, [five forward players facing five defenders, plus a goalkeeper]. There was certainly no false number 9, and the number 10 was an attacking inside forward. I'm not claiming that football was better in those days, but I believe that it was considerably more enjoyable, I admit that I may be looking back through "Rose Tinted Glasses"

When we kick off the new season, I will be in the Park End watching 11 players attempting to beat 11 opponents, and I will be unaware of formation or tactics, I see no reason to change my outlook it has enabled me to enjoy or endure games since 1948, and earning the nickname of "Johnny Mac Fossil" a sticks and stones situation.

Remember when we signed players for £20-30m who played one good game in five and can't be sold because of their high wages? That's why we've bought these two.

Our big transfer mistake under Moshiri has been buying what my arl feller used to call 'expensive fancy dan' players who don't deliver. At least under Ancelotti, we paid good money for Allan, Doucoure, who delivered, so much so that Ancelotti ran them both into the ground, and Godfrey, who is a gem of a signing.

Nothing wrong with buying 'underwhelming' players for next to nothing. If they play well, you've got a bargain, if they're average, they're an option on the bench. If they're no good, you get rid with a negligible loss.

More players like Townsend on the bench last season would have got us into Europe. I expect him and Gray to start in the first game this season and I'd be delighted if they take their chance.

Barkley? No chance. Over-rated when he was here, done nothing since. The classic talented, but largely ineffective footballer. Move on.

We just cant make any more big money signing until we offloads players because we are pretty close to the wire right now

Good pace, puts a shift in, gets forward and scores some goals. Happy to have him beef up the right side. Happily have him in the side over Iwobi. Also sounds sensible in interviews, as if he has more than the usual 4 brain cells.

Only slight downside is he's 30 but only a 2-year contract to start with.